Show Your FE Thomas Fly Rods

[Old Creel]

Great rods and some nice provenance. First time for me seeing 3 digits.

[Woodlakejag]

From the Thomas book page 171
1938 rods had a circle and numbers 1-521 individual rods. So I believe this is the 160th rod of 1938.
For the others, 5 is 1915, the 9 is 1919, and the bullseye with no numbers is 1898-1909.
Hope that helps
George

[tunafart]

‘Hi Darrell - regarding your recent request for comment:

Check the butt cap inscriptions on the #7 rod in post #263, and the rod in my
recent post #268 above: both have a ‘6’ (or ‘9’?) with a dot on the loop side of the digit.
A careful review of ‘The Book’ by others (which for sake of disclosure, I have yet to read )
and other discussion on the Board suggests these are ‘9’s, and indicate a 1919 build.
IMHO, your #3 rod is a 1919 build.

paul, traverse city mi

[Flykuni3]

George and Paul, many thanks.

[ibookje]

Wonderful rods Darrel

[Flykuni3]

Thanks, appreciate it. It has taken decades to assemble my collection. If I died tomorrow I'd die happy, with my rods and reels in my double-wide coffin.

[cwfly]

For what it is worth, I agree with the above number explanations.

[thomasrodco]

That looks like a square-160 to me rather than just a punch or a Dot.
The square was used for all rods made in 1938.
What color trim wrap does the butt have at the winding check?
The ledger serial number Square-160 shows in the ledger as a 7' Fairy.
None of the other pre-'37 numbers have definitive documentation to support, but it is thought that the 5 was for 1915 and the 6 for 1916.
I'm not completely sold on that theory...
Let me know on the 160 rod and I'll send you the full detail on what I have.
Steve

[Flykuni3]

Yes, Steve, it could be a square punch, thanks for the keen eye. Trim wraps are brown, in the 3-7-3 pattern; the rod has been restored, by whom I don't know. I don't know what to make of the 7' listing in the ledger, the tube which appears to be vintage and original fits the 6'8 length perfectly.

[thomasrodco]

Yes, Steve, it could be a square punch, thanks for the keen eye. Trim wraps are brown, in the 3-7-3 pattern; the rod has been restored, by whom I don't know. I don't know what to make of the 7' listing in the ledger, the tube which appears to be vintage and original fits the 6'8 length perfectly.

The trim wrap I referred to is a single band just ahead of the winding check, before the 3-7-3 wraps.
If it still has this wrap, the color should help identify it further.
If the rod wasn’t cut down, then it was probably just an error on the person that was recording rods that day.

[Flykuni3]

It is the same brown thread, tipped with golden yellow. The bag is the green one they used.

[Woodlakejag]

That looks like a square-160 to me rather than just a punch or a Dot.
The square was used for all rods made in 1938.
What color trim wrap does the butt have at the winding check?
The ledger serial number Square-160 shows in the ledger as a 7' Fairy.
None of the other pre-'37 numbers have definitive documentation to support, but it is thought that the 5 was for 2015 and the 6 for 2016.
I'm not completely sold on that theory...
Let me know on the 160 rod and I'll send you the full detail on what I have.
Steve

Steve, the book says a dot was used in 1938 and square in 1939. Is that incorrect?
Also, I think you meant a 5 for 1915 and 6 for 1916. I understand there’s no documentation for this pre 1937 numbering theory, but are there any other potential explanations or theories? It seems to me that all of the single digit marked rods are in the 1910-1920 era, based on rod characteristics alone.
George

[Flykuni3]

I flipped the image and lo, it indeed looks like a square punch (I never knew Thomas did this). Thanks Steve for the info.

[/img]

[thomasrodco]

That looks like a square-160 to me rather than just a punch or a Dot.
The square was used for all rods made in 1938.
What color trim wrap does the butt have at the winding check?
The ledger serial number Square-160 shows in the ledger as a 7' Fairy.
None of the other pre-'37 numbers have definitive documentation to support, but it is thought that the 5 was for 2015 and the 6 for 2016.
I'm not completely sold on that theory...
Let me know on the 160 rod and I'll send you the full detail on what I have.
Steve

Steve, the book says a dot was used in 1938 and square in 1939. Is that incorrect?
Also, I think you meant a 5 for 1915 and 6 for 1916. I understand there’s no documentation for this pre 1937 numbering theory, but are there any other potential explanations or theories? It seems to me that all of the single digit marked rods are in the 1910-1920 era, based on rod characteristics alone.
George

Yes, that’s what I meant to write.
Dot for ‘38 and Square for ‘39

[thomasrodco]

It is the same brown thread, tipped with golden yellow. The bag is the green one they used.

The original trim color was blue for Square-160

[thomasrodco]

That looks like a square-160 to me rather than just a punch or a Dot.
The square was used for all rods made in 1938.
What color trim wrap does the butt have at the winding check?
The ledger serial number Square-160 shows in the ledger as a 7' Fairy.
None of the other pre-'37 numbers have definitive documentation to support, but it is thought that the 5 was for 2015 and the 6 for 2016.
I'm not completely sold on that theory...
Let me know on the 160 rod and I'll send you the full detail on what I have.
Steve

Steve, the book says a dot was used in 1938 and square in 1939. Is that incorrect?
Also, I think you meant a 5 for 1915 and 6 for 1916. I understand there’s no documentation for this pre 1937 numbering theory, but are there any other potential explanations or theories? It seems to me that all of the single digit marked rods are in the 1910-1920 era, based on rod characteristics alone.
George

It just doesn’t make sense to me that they wouldn’t stamp a 1 in front of the 0 for 1910.
I also don’t think every year from 1910 on has been accounted for. I could be wrong, but has anyone seen any 17s, 21s, 27s? Seems like most rods are the same half dozen different numbers which makes me think it is more likely a model than a year.. we’ll never know for sure

[thomasrodco]

Even more so if you think about 1911. Picture the guy is stamping the butt cap on a rod and he has the number 1 die in his hand. If he was indicating 1911, why would he not take the extra two seconds and stamp it twice for 11?
That just makes no sense to me. It’s not like people called 1911 “1” or something like that. Just not logical to me..
I’d love to know the actual answer. It would sure make the daily calls and emails I get simpler to answer!

[Flykuni3]

Thanks Steve, wish we could nail it down for good, eh?

[davidk]

I picked up a bamboo tip tube with a tip in it the other day on ebay for under $70 and accidently found another one if anyone is interested. It also comes with a metal tip tube for $150. I don't know if that's a good price or not.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/384481722803

[Jersey boy]

Honored to be the latest caretaker of this original 8' Browntone 2/2 5wt die-stamped 8 on end cap awaiting field testing. Looking forward to fishing it this spring!
Mitch