Leonard Rod Co. blanks

[jim royston]

I have just come into possession of the 1963 Wm. Mills an Sons, Inc. catalog. It opens with photo story of the Leonard factory. Here's a very interesting snippet.
At this stage, the semi-finished Leonard rod, or "rod blank" as it is called. is still seven inches longer than it's eventual length. This permits Chief rod builder, Harold Reynolds, to determine the point of optimum taper and power, and trim the rod blank accordingly-for example, taking one inch off the top and six inches off the bottom-until it is down to it's final size. Depending upon where Mr. Reynolds trims off the spare 7 inches, he can produce every conceivable shading of rod action, from fast, powerful dry-fly to sensitive whippy nymph.
It raises a variety of questions
BTW, it's an awesome catalog which concentrates much effort on the Leonard Rod.

[Seabowisha Salmo T]

I have just come into possession of the 1963 Wm. Mills an Sons, Inc. catalog. It opens with photo story of the Leonard factory. Here's a very interesting snippet.
At this stage, the semi-finished Leonard rod, or "rod blank" as it is called. is still seven inches longer than it's eventual length. This permits Chief rod builder, Harold Reynolds, to determine the point of optimum taper and power, and trim the rod blank accordingly-for example, taking one inch off the top and six inches off the bottom-until it is down to it's final size. Depending upon where Mr. Reynolds trims off the spare 7 inches, he can produce every conceivable shading of rod action, from fast, powerful dry-fly to sensitive whippy nymph.
It raises a variety of questions



BTW, it's an awesome catalog which concentrates much effort on the Leonard Rod.

yes, the trimming of rod blanks to produce multiple rod actions particularly by fred thomas has been noted here previously.

regards, jim w

[tapermaker]

the swell is always just in the right position. above the grip. this would seem to be something that would limit or refute this claim. I can see how the tip cuts would work in this system ,but adjusting the butt would mess up the swell.

[Seabowisha Salmo T]

the swell is always just in the right position. above the grip. this would seem to be something that would limit or refute this claim. I can see how the tip cuts would work in this system ,but adjusting the butt would mess up the swell.

hello, dennis;. . . . many of the earlier f e thomas rods i have do not have this swell at the handle (grip). i am in the process of getting them all out for the number study and will check how many and what number are without a swell and try to get images.
regards, jim w

[tapermaker]

my comment had leonards in mind. though fe thomas rods had swells in the examples ive seen . your research may add additional knowledge to the subject. i will look forward to your findings .

[bluesjay]

Hi Guys, I suppose that the 'swell' could pertain to not necessarily a 'swelled butt', but the swell in the taper above the grip on many rods.

Jay Edwards

[Seabowisha Salmo T]

Hi Guys, I suppose that the 'swell' could pertain to not necessarily a 'swelled butt', but the swell in the taper above the grip on many rods.

Jay Edwards

hello jay, see:meredith wilson, trouble with swells .
regards, jim w

[ozarkwater]

Interesting. Walton Powell did the same thing. Except a lot of his rods were not standard length. Would give a QC tech a headache for sure!

[slw]

Whacking off rod sections to make a particular desired rod isn't new news. Nor is it limited to Leonard, FE Thomas, or Powell. In a conversation a couple years ago with Bob Summers, he told me his 735 was made from his 275 rod sections. He was very matter of fact in his statement, saying about his 735 that he "just chopped it (his 275) off". I didn't ask where he chopped it. They're both good rods.

[jim royston]

I have heard that Powell employed a similar method of trimming blanks to different lengths. Not to ruffle feathers, oh, what the hell, but maybe the "delicate subtleties of tapers designed to impart infinitesmal action changes not capable of being duplicated" is a bit if a crock!

[jeffkn1]

I have heard that Powell employed a similar method of trimming blanks to different lengths. Not to ruffle feathers, oh, what the hell, but maybe the "delicate subtleties of tapers designed to impart infinitesmal action changes not capable of being duplicated" is a bit if a crock!

+1

[16pmd]

Don't know if E.C. Powell did the same thing, but using just "Powell" confuses Walton and E.C. who had different practices in rod making and design. Moreover, E.C. Powell's most common taper, the B Taper, was a straight continuous taper with a constant increase in flat-to-flat dimension over every given length of the rod, so may not have caused significant action changes if he did alter a blank.

Cutting a blank at different places was also a common practice among glass rod makers like Winston who could use the same blank to make e.g. a 6 wt. or an 8 wt. from the same blank by cutting it at different points.

[perfesser]

.

[snorider]

Cutting a blank at different places was also a common practice among glass rod makers like Winston who could use the same blank to make e.g. a 6 wt. or an 8 wt. from the same blank by cutting it at different points.

Winston does the same thing with cane rods. They make long blanks and then selectively cut sections to make different rods. Heard it from the "horses mouth"