I’ve made much progress in my efforts to recreate my father’s 1975 Cabela’s/Fenwick kit rod. However, after purchasing a one piece Fenwick SP-841 honey yellow blank...I’ve come to the realization that I’m still eluded by knowledge I don’t have of these old Cabela’s kits and Fenwick blanks. The blank I purchased has the action, length, and color...but the taper is wrong from butt to tip. I’m at an impass, standing ready to listen to someone with the knowledge I can’t seem to acquire from Fenwick or Cabela’s. If I can’t identify the blank on my father’s rod...then I’m obviously rolling the dice on any purchase.

Items acquired:

•Mildrum Carboloy casting guides and tip top
•Varmac OEM reel seat (dark green, gold trim)
•Dark red and black size A twist thread
•featherlight Sizematic aluminum ferrules (gold) to be seen if they’re the correct size or not.

Item eluding me:
7’ Honey yellow whippy action blank (one piece) Fenwick OEM.

I’m almost certain that the blank and reel seats were OEM items sold in bulk to Cabela’s for the kits. Not uncommon. I became convinced of this by finding the reel seat on a Wright McGill Eagle Claw rod. The one on my father’s rod has no engraving, but the one on the Eagle Claw rod is engraved as Wright McGill.

Humbled again...
-Raymond

the majority of the parts you will not be able to get the guides are still made Tungsten Carbide Boat Rod Guides Model CSB & CSBB the seat being a varamac is aluminum the same for the feather weight ferrules they are measured in 1/64 inch the thread was from Guidbrod and is no longer made as for the blank what are the measurements of the original OD at butt and the OD of the blank you purchased

the ferrule for the rod of that era was set either at even length tip and butt or it was 4 inches less on the but and longer on the tip section.
it seems that it is the wrong blank for a casting rod as the SP denotes spinning rod 84 inches and 1 piece

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

I’m convinced these kits from the 70’s were put together as almost grab bag type sale items. Almost as if they were efforts to rid themselves of overstock or old stock, maybe even put together haphazardly. A guy in a warehouse grabs an unmarked OEM Fenwick casting blank, throws in the Sizematic ferrules, OEM Varmac reel seat, a spool of thread, and some guides...and then calls it a pack rod kit. I don’t think they had very many single footed guides for spinning rods back then...so a spinning rod was mostly built with what we’d call casting guides today. The kit didn’t come with epoxy....so my father varnished the wraps.

As I said, I’ve identified virtually everything...but this blank his rod was made out of. It’s either a casting blank or a spinning blank...but it’s certainly has a wider butt than the SP-841’s which I just acquired. I took the butt cap off my father’s rod and measured the butt. His blank is at .60 inches and has a .01 inch tip. Pretty sure it’s a 1 or 2 power blank, meaning it’s pretty whippy.

I failed to mention that my father’s rod was a three piece cut from a one piece blank.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2018 03:50PM by Raymond Faus.

Why worry about the taper if the rest of the criteria is there, the blank is going to get whippier as you add the guides and ferrules, you can only do what you can do. Tape on the guides and ferrules where they go and see how the blank feels then, no need to cut the blank to get a feel for where your at.

can you post a picture of your dads rod and the blank you have a close up of the handle on the original along with the ferrules and a shot of the existing guides

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Hi Spencer,

I realize that from an outside perspective...some of these little hiccups may seem minor, but there’s a long backstory to getting it right. I’ll share it with you via email. I really appreciate what you’re saying, as there may come a point to this 20 year project when enough is enough. If I can find the correct ferrules for the SP-841 blank I recently acquired, then I may go ahead and call it good. However, they’ve proven to be as difficult to find as any of the components. I’ve even gone as far as researching having an individual or blank manufacturer lay up a blank for me. It’s an option, but not preferred, as those old Fenwick blanks are nearly impossible to replicate in their weight and action. They’re old tech which most likely can’t be duplicated with today’s fiberglass, mandrels, and processes. I think the blank is out there...but until I identify the original blank it’s crap shoot that what I’d be buying is correct. I was certain these SP-841’s were the real deal. Alas, they’re real close...but just not right. Without any identifying stamps or markings, I’m reliant on the dimensions as well as the probability that it’s a Fenwick blank. Who knows....maybe Lamiglass or some other manufacturerer sold OEM blanks to Cabela’s for these kits...

How about looking on craigslist, @#$%&, ect, for a used version and rebuilding that?
Good luck.

Raymond,

Isn't this build all about memories? Is it that important that the blank is slightly different from the original blank?

Just wondering.

Be safe

I’m not gonna lie, Roger...it’s one of those things people do when they lose a loved one. However, it was also a challenge laid down by my ol’ man years before his death. If I can find the correct size Sizematic ferrules for that SP-841...then I’ll probably call it good. However, Mathew gave me some hidden knowledge via email. It might not be a Fenwick at all. It might be a tournament blank from Betts St. Croix. Evidently, they had a relationship with Cabela’s in the 50’s & 60’s. Even though this blank was built out in ‘75, that doesn’t exclude Cabela’s from having thrown it together to rid themselves old stock. I remember my dad saying the kit it was on sale.

I’ll share the story with you via email. I’m actually writing about the journey to build this rod, as I’ve been cataloging the experience since around 1998. It only intensified after I lost my father in 2010. He was a mastered trout fisherman from Lycoming County Pennsylvania. We still have our trout hatchery as part of the local sportsman’s cooperative.

I’m a big believer in when preparation meets opportunity...good things happen. I’m hoping that with the butt and tip specs...maybe someone with old catalogs might be able to help me definitively identify the blank. Right now, I know some older gentleman whom has been holding onto a a hundred vintage blanks, has one of these...just waiting for me. Someone whom doesn’t see their value because he doesn’t build rods anymore. Someone like the guy on Staten Island whom I bought the SP-841’s from. He gave up rod building a long time ago and just happened to have a pile of Fenwick blanks laying around.