Mitchell rod

[hatch]

Had a sport at camp wanting to catch brook trout on this William Mitchell rod. Mission accomplished. Reel is marked "Spaulding".

[Woodlakejag]

That’s a lucky sport!
Is that tube original? Any bag with it, or just tube?
Thanks
-George

[munsey w]

Wow! beautiful set up.

[Pentalux]

Lions and tigers and bears - oh my! That is a magnificent piece - scary beautiful - thanks for sharing!!

[Shrimpman]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is going on with the mids? is that a flamed hardwood? Sexy!

[Tom Smithwick]

Hi Shrimpman - The mids and likely the butt as well are snakewood, which can range in color from the mottled look you see in the mids to almost an ebony black. The tips are lancewood. Absolutely gorgeous old rod. I have made a couple reel seat inserts with snakewood, It is great to work with and easily takes on a smooth polished appearance with just oil, and is quite durable.

[jeffkn1]

Butt and mids are made of snakewood, a wood that naturally has that appearance without any flaming. The tips are lancewood. Mitchell was known to have done a lot of rods using snakewood. It can be difficult to turn snakewood on a lathe but Mitchell was unusually talented in that area. The only thing flamed in that photo is the tube.

[Shrimpman]

Thank you for the education, fellas!

[hatch]

That’s a lucky sport!
Is that tube original? Any bag with it, or just tube?
Thanks
-George

Yes, I believe the tube is original and the bag is inside

[18cspfish]

The tube is original and the bag for the snakewood sections and the lancewood sections are inside the bamboo tube. The handle is from a different Mitchell rod. There would also have been a bag to contain the short handle and the bamboo tube. That external bag I do not have. Chris.

[Seabowisha Salmo T]

Had a sport at camp wanting to catch brook trout on this William Mitchell rod. Mission accomplished. Reel is marked "Spaulding".

mr. hatch; could you check the spelling on the reel? the half dozen rods i have managed to beat spaldinger out of are all spelled spalding like the tennis racquets.

regards, jim w

[Seabowisha Salmo T]

hello, the reason i mention this insignificant (quibble) question is that there were a number of spalding rods passing around in the 1950's with misspelled names and i wondered if you had possibly located a bogus reel it looks good in the image.

regards, jim w

[Montanachooser]

I have finally found another!! Here is an unfished WMitchell rod from 1800’s

[Montanachooser]

Hi Shrimpman - The mids and likely the butt as well are snakewood, which can range in color from the mottled look you see in the mids to almost an ebony black. The tips are lancewood. Absolutely gorgeous old rod. I have made a couple reel seat inserts with snakewood, It is great to work with and easily takes on a smooth polished appearance with just oil, and is quite durable.

Here is an un fished W Mitchell rod.