Calling Fishing Rod Historians

[Member]

I have a very old steel fishing rod approximately 5’ (1500mm) in length with a wooden grip/butt section and a small centre pin reel that was given to me many years ago that I am now trying to restore.
After straightening all of the guides and their support wires and stripping back the paint that had been applied some time later over the whole thing, I have found that the shaft starts out at around ¼ inch or 6mm square and tapers off to the tip at around 1/16 inch or 2mm square.  The guides of which the tip guide has a porcelain insert have been bound on to the shaft using copper wire then sweated (soldered) to the rod and the wooden butt is decorated with what would have been polished brass fittings.
Question is does anybody know how these old rods were finished?
Was the steel rod polished, varnished over, or painted originally?
Any help idea’s greatly appreciated.
Cheers
CCFISHER

[Member]

I think you'll find that your rod began life as an aerial on a tank during WWII.  Original finish would have been Olive Drab.  It was possibly made during the war, or the aerial purchased at auction at the end of the war. 

[Member]

Dale's right!
Tank aerials were in pretty good supply post WW11.
We had dribs and drabs via US Army surplus equipment that was left here for us to scavenge/dump.
These were years preceding the availability of the solid tapered fibreglass rods from Jarvie Walker and Len Butterworth.
 

[Member]

You should mount it on your Stratos Dale

RG

[Member]

Dad had a couple when I was a kid.  We stripped them down and made bows out of them.