I just aquired a Winchester "Hop Brook" off ebay, and I was wondering if anyone knew if this rod by chance might of been made during any of the
Edwards (Eustis, William or Gene) years at Winchester?
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Winchester "Hop Brook"
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 jhcoffeebum |
Winchester "Hop Brook" |
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Posts: 51 06/21/2008 20:16 |
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pcg |
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Posts: 1598 06/21/2008 20:50 Admin |
During the Edwards years at Winchester (1919-1924) the rods had serial numbers only. About two years after he and Gene left (Bill was never there), Winchester
named all the different models (Kilde, French River, Western Fly, Hop Brook, etc.). During his tenure your rod model, instead of being named, was designated
the 6030, 6035 or 6040, depending on length. So, based on the catalog record, it's likely your Hop Brook was built sometime between 1926 and 1931.
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jhcoffeebum |
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Posts: 52 06/21/2008 22:35 |
Thanks Pat
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jhcoffeebum |
Winchester "Hop Brook" | #3 | ||
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Posts: 66 02/10/2009 15:05 |
Hi Pat,
I'm starting to eye the old Winchester for a restore. It deserves one since it's lasted this long IMHO. The rod sections are either delaminated, beginning to show delamination or probably will delaminate {assessment of all three sections  }. So I am going to completely restore it, but I guess it would
be nice at an estimated opinion on the company who made these for Winchester. My guess is H-I, do you have either knowledge or a guess? I will attach pictures
after the restore, before hand I don't think anyone would be interested.
Thanks, and I'm still waiting for my friends to send those scans of the Winchester 5 panels for you, Jack |
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freestoner.fiberglassflyro... |
#4 | |||
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Posts: 58 02/11/2009 00:50 |
H-I was doing the rods for Winchester after Edwards was out. That's my impression from the non-Edwards Winchesters I've looked at (the Edwards
Winchesters are fairly distinctive- although I think that H-I did put some effort into copying some of the cosmetic touches on the Edwards models- the H-I
Winchesters look more dressed up than most H-I rods, with notably better cork, for instance.)
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pcg |
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Posts: 2113 02/11/2009 09:16 Admin |
Winchester did NOT farm out manufacture of its rods. Why do so? Edwards left behind a cadre of very skilled rod makers that he trained--several of whom were
(& remain) unheralded craftsman. The quality of post-Edwards rods, for at least some examples, was quite extraordinary. There were clearly several makers
in-house who rivaled some of the better makers of the same period. And they advertised themselves as the world's largest rod factory. (Much of this history
is discussed in "Playing With Fire.")
The rod department had a large number of employees--that didn't change when Edwards left--and they continued to make all rods, in large numbers, until 1930. It's possible that some production went into 1931, but my impression is that by that time they were simply (and somewhat desperately) unloading inventory. (Freestoner--H-I is not known to have ever made Winchester rods. Winchester production records are all available, and show that production was all in-house.) Pat Garner |
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Housatonic Quill |
Winchester French River? | #6 | ||
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Posts: 727 02/11/2009 18:27 |
Pat -
Every French River I've seen has been Montague, and VERY high-grade Montague at that. What does the Winchester French River look like? Dave
The more I think I know, the less I know I know.
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freestoner.fiberglassflyro... |
#7 | |||
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Posts: 66 02/11/2009 19:11 |
Patrick, thanks for the correction. I must have been misled by the hardware.
Sometimes I see grips on the post-Edwards era Winchesters that look as if they might have been assembled from Edwards components or stock. Those short and stocky grips. |
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pcg |
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Posts: 2119 02/11/2009 20:03 Admin |
Dave, it's possible that Winchester was using Monty hardware in its last 5 years. My point, however poorly worded, was simply that rods themselves were
built in-house. Quality too was all over the place. Some of the later rods were exquisite, but many were genuinely low end. They were apparently trying to save
money on a large part of the stock--logical in post-1929--and could well have been buying hardware from Montague and others.
Freestoner, Win continued building the Edwards-designed upper end rods to Edwards' specifications. But I'm relatively certain that Edwards himself was not supplying hardware to Win. There was no love lost between the two parties. In fact EWE within two years of leaving was running ads in national magazines trying to differentiate his rods from theirs. (Winchester up that point was still claiming their better rods were "Edwards-made." I suspect that Edwards sent them a legal "cease & desist" because the Winchester claims ended quite abruptly.) My original point was that H-I is not known to have ever made Winchester rods... I discussed this at some length with Phil White, the Winchester historian. He's pretty adamant about the in-house production and I've seen nothing that contradicts his research. If you've got anything different, I'd love to know. We're all doing our best, but new info is constantly bubbling up! |
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