It's your fault. Yes, I'm talking to you. I'm pretty new here, but I hadn't nosed around these pages very long before you fellows introduced me to Chris Barclay and his fine custom fly rods. Once I became registered here, I used the search engine to read all I could find on Barclay's rods - and there's a great deal of information to be consumed.
The hook was firmly set - I was determined to have one. Perusing Chris' site, I learned two things. The first was that these rods are pretty spendy (not undeservedly so) for an old retired codger without much income. Worse yet, it seems Chris was taking a sabbatical, and there was no opportunity to order one, even if I could afford it. As luck would have it, I came across one on the big auction site, and it was at a price I could swing, but there was a catch.
It was one of Barclay's very popular "79" models, but it was quite badly beat up. The tip section was about two inches short, the cork damaged, the wood body of the reel seat chewed up, and - inexplicably - the reel seat cap was in place but the sliding ring was missing. I examined the fuzzy photos as closely as I could, and with just a little trepidation, hit the "Buy It Now" button.
I told my wife about my soon to arrive treasure. She gave me the rolled eyes, which is shorthand for, "I love you, but you're an idiot."
The damaged cork was my first repair task. I considered trying to glue in a section of cork to keep the Ritz grip, but eventually decided that turning a stubby cigar nose was the easiest approach.
There was no question of what to do with the shortened tip. My only option was to add a suitable tip top. With that in place, I stepped out back and cast a 5 wt double taper without a reel. I found the rod delightful to cast, even in its slightly abreviated configuration. However, it did require a slightly slower, more gentle casting tempo to come to life. I guess I now understand Chris' motto, "Slow Down."
The repair I was a little uncertain about was the reel seat. There was a significant amount of wood missing, and it looked as if someone may have whittled on it. I tried a heat gun gingerly in an effort to remove the wooden seat body, but it showed no sign of loosening up, and I was worried about causing damage to the blank beneath it. I'm no great wood worker, but I broke out the chisels, and commenced carving a mortise to remove the damaged wood.
I didn't have much on hand in the way of hardwood, but I found a few scraps of curly maple left over from a flintlock longrifle I built some years back. I cut and fit a block of this as best I could, learning only after I filed and sanded the waste away that it had failed to fill one corner of the mortise. There's a bit of epoxy showing, but oh well, I wasn't going to chisel it out and start over.
I had contacted Chris Barclay, asking if I might purchase a correct sliding ring from him. He's a swell fellow, and we passed a couple of messages. He was mighty kind, even offering to do some of the repairs. But as it happened, I had soon completed all of the repairs and was anxious to get out on the water with this sweet rod. So I turned a replacement sliding ring on the lathe, making it as close to those Chris uses as I could manage.
So now my "wreck" is all back in fishing trim. I hiked it in to a little creek near home, prospecting to see if it held trout. No trout gifted me with their presence, but I had a splendid time none the less. It was mostly tight quarters, so roll casts and even a few "bow and arrow" casts were the order of the day. The Barclay 79 performed splendidly, and I look forward to getting it out to larger water where I can stretch its legs a bit.