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Harnell rods

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1dozenraw

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Thank you, Oc1

Back in the day seen a lot of 542’s with squidders an jigmasters. 552’s would see with 4/0, 6/0, an 6/0 wides on them. My 542’s back then had Newell 454’s on them an my 552’s had penn 6/0 with black marlin kits. Now I have updated reels on them with faster gear ratio’s.  

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Man, that's really nice. You do good work.

 

Here's a bit of Harnell trivia.  I was unwrapping a little Harnell 640 spinning rod.  I'd cut the end of the thread, pull and let the rod spin in my hand as it unwound.  You know how you do.  On some of the ornamental wraps a red band adjacent to a yellow/gold band would the same piece of thread.  The red thread didn't end and a new yellow thread didn't begin.  It was all the same piece of thread.  Here's a picture of a section of it

 

harnellthread.jpg

 

I don't know if it was dyed that way ahead of time (on the spool), or dyed or painted after it was on the rod.  It was definitely a factory job though.

 

-steve

Edited by oc1
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This was my mentor in the late 50s his name was Moishe owner of Moishe's tackel shop in Coney lsland NY where l also live at that time as a teenager ,  look at what rod blank he is using, he made me my first surf rod on a Harnell 9ft blank before l new how to make rods,

Moeshe's tackel shop.jpg

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OC1, Some of my personal ones that I have still have original wraps with factory varnish. This one here is actually my first attempt to wrap one back to look original. This is for a friend an he wanted epoxy. He uses his stuff pretty heavy, so epoxy would definitely protect threads better. I got 7 out of my whole collection I use. Those would be 540, 550, 701, 702, 721, 552, an 553. An always have someone ask if I’d sell them, when I hit the local piers or jetty. 

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  • 1 year later...

I have multiple Harnells, my most prized possession is my grandfather’s Harnell 644. It’s in almost perfect condition and my grandfather added some wrapping on the tip and on the ferrule. Does anyone have the specs for it? I want to catch a striper on it for the memories but I want to know the lure weight so I don’t snap it. 

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Here's a link that mentions an 644, 8'4" and 10 lbs.

 

I don't think you are going to break it.  If the lure weight were enough to break the rod then it would feel so sloppy you wouldn't want to fish with it.

 

Tying the intended lure weight to the tip and giving it a good waggle will tell you a lot about how it is going to perform.

 

-steve

Edited by TimS
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