Second hand store bamboo rods

On Aug 25, 11:46*am, DerekO wrote:
I recently ran across a bamboo rod in a second hand store. *Can anyone
tell me if they are still good? *It seemed to have some good action.
I was just unsure of buying it, using it and having it break. *Anyone
with any experience?

Despite the smart-aleck comments you've received, the answer is
probably yes. If you're talking about the kind of second hand store
where the rod is priced at under five dollars or five pounds, or five
Euros, depending on your location, even if it does break, you're not
out very much. If you tested it and it seems to have good action, it's
worth trying to fish with it, or even taking it to a dealer of some
sort to see if it's an antique. Buy it, treasure it, brag about it,
throw it in the face of these smarties.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:05:47 -0700 (PDT), Michael
wrote:

On Aug 25, 11:46*am, DerekO wrote:
I recently ran across a bamboo rod in a second hand store. *Can anyone
tell me if they are still good? *It seemed to have some good action.
I was just unsure of buying it, using it and having it break. *Anyone
with any experience?

Despite the smart-aleck comments you've received, the answer is
probably yes. If you're talking about the kind of second hand store
where the rod is priced at under five dollars or five pounds, or five
Euros, depending on your location, even if it does break, you're not
out very much. If you tested it and it seems to have good action, it's
worth trying to fish with it, or even taking it to a dealer of some
sort to see if it's an antique. Buy it, treasure it, brag about it,
throw it in the face of these smarties.

Er, no. Given the information provided, there is no way to give any
practical information - IOW, he got about as good as he gave.

As to the rod, for example, if it happened to be a Gillum of a certain
period, the glue could be iffy, and an attempt to fish it could turn a
monetarily and historically important rod into kindling. On the other
hand, if it's some 10 ft. Japanese souvenir tomato sta...er, rod for
$25-50.00USD, in need of some TLC, and DerekO's intended quarry is tiny
little trout in some NC under- and over-brush, it's probably not worth
it even if the cane is perfe...well, it won't be "perfect," but
"fishable." Moreover, a cane novice isn't likely to be about to tell
how a particular rod might fish waving it around in the store. And if
DerekO can't take a little ribbing, he can **** off...you can feel free
to do so as well...if he can take a little ribbing, he should feel free
to post some actual useful details, and I suspect he'll get actual
useful information.

HTH,
R

On Aug 26, 11:11*pm, wrote:

Er, no. *Given the information provided, there is no way to give any
practical information - IOW, he got about as good as he gave.


Heh heh, all the more surprising that a number of people did so anyway
eh?

( By the way, I think you may be looking for a tractor, preferably
with a trailer.)

With regard to a comment in another post. it is a very bad idea to
flex ANY rod by grabbing it at the tip and bending it. If you want to
test a rod under load, then thread it up with line and tie the line to
something or other, or use weights.

Testing old unknown bamboo rods ( or any others for that matter) by
bending them, pulling the tips, or indeed anything at all of that
nature is a very very bad idea. When it breaks, the shop will make you
pay for it.

A visual inspection, looking for various points, some of which were
given in the above posts, is ample.

On Aug 26, 3:11*pm, wrote:

Er, no. *Given the information provided, there is no way to give any
practical information - IOW, he got about as good as he gave.

Probably so, I'm not disputing that. But I've seen fishing rods in a
second hand store and they usually want two or three dollars for them,
and have no idea if they're crap or not. Usually, they're ancient
fiberglass spinning rods, often with broken tips and missing guides,
but if there was an actual bamboo fly rod in such an establishment, I
would snatch it up and march to the counter immediately to purchase
it, and worry about the quality later. Cuz if you buy a bamboo rod for
five bucks or something, even if it is a piece of crap, you've still
got something useful for a piece of fishing artwork or something, and
maybe, just maybe, it would be a decent rod.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:58:57 -0700 (PDT), Michael
wrote:

On Aug 26, 3:11*pm, wrote:

Er, no. *Given the information provided, there is no way to give any
practical information - IOW, he got about as good as he gave.

Probably so, I'm not disputing that. But I've seen fishing rods in a
second hand store and they usually want two or three dollars for them,
and have no idea if they're crap or not. Usually, they're ancient
fiberglass spinning rods, often with broken tips and missing guides,
but if there was an actual bamboo fly rod in such an establishment, I
would snatch it up and march to the counter immediately to purchase
it, and worry about the quality later. Cuz if you buy a bamboo rod for
five bucks or something, even if it is a piece of crap, you've still
got something useful for a piece of fishing artwork or something, and
maybe, just maybe, it would be a decent rod.

IMO, a piece-of-crap rod (or anything else) is what it is, be 5 dollars
or 500, and that it is a _bamboo_ rod is not material. And if you're
standing there with it in your hands and don't know whether it's crap or
not, and are perfectly free to put it down and walk away, but buy it
regardless, well, that ain't too sharp...YMMV.

HTH (but I doubt it will...),
R