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Housatonic,

Pardon my long response, but the rivers here in Jackson Hole are all blown out and I have too much time on my hands!! I too have read the rumors of Andrus making Sedgwick rods, but this is not a theory I hold much weight on. In George Black's book page 118, he said he found "a note from H.R. Sedgwick of Hartford with a secret arsenic-based formula for oxidizing ferrules. That one pleased me, because it confrmed the ties I'd suspected between Sedgwick and the Edwards family." Unless Andrus enjoyed writing letters under a pseudonym, I am at a loss as to how else it can be inferred from this that HR didn't make rods. Someone can amuse me with a response though.

We do have to remember he was a Sedgwick, so I think we can all agree he came from money/connections so the thought of pulling old records to determine his career records is to me not worth a salt. Maybe rod making wasn't his primary profession or simply he lived off his Sedgwick $$ and name and built rods as a passionate hobby. I know many master builders today who would fall into this catogory now or did at one point in their lives. I also know if I had Sedgwick dough I would likely have my primary profession on the census listed as "playboy" and moonlight as a rod maker...but that's just me.

As far as your statement below "it is always possible that Sedgwick arrived at the level of mastery necessary to make the twenty or so known (and exquisite)rods that bear his name without any history of rod-making or any "practice runs" and, in the process, duplicated the style of his much better-known contemporary." I think we all know more than our fair share of makers whose primary job and thus tax records (let along 80yr old records) are that of something other than "rod maker". Some of them I know have made reletively few rods. Two makers who come to mind are Dave Collyer and Joe Arguello. Neither's primary job has ever been making rods and I'm sure many others aren't as well. Dave owns a sign shop and I think Joe was a mechanic, but both build rods as well. I know Dave & Joe have exiled themselves from this site, but anyone who's held one of their rods can attest to the incredible qaulity and neither have made many. At the time of Splitting Cane, Arguello had barely made many rods at all before Geirach told Engle to go out and interview him. In the case of Dave....he's made less than 65 rods and that's a fact. I own some from the early days and trust me, he was hitting home runs early on. A mere 65 rods later and he is building some of the finest mortised rods made so can I believe a guy like Sedgwick was a quick learner as well, I think I can. I know other makers like Bill Abrams primary profession for a time was a carpenter but I would bet he made rods on the side when he was first learning...and I bet he made fine rods to boot.

Maybe a better theory is Sedgwick did make rods on his own. Perhaps he was friends with Andrus...why not, they both lived nearby and share a passion for rods. If they didn't live in the same town, I'll say sorry to all you CT residents, but for us folks that live out West, entire states like CT, RI, MA are no more than a zip code change. Maybe Andrus showed him the rods building ropes and like many rod builders today, Andrus's style carried over (ala Dana Grey / Sam Carlson). Would it be so atypical for him to duplicate Andrus's style....or dare I say maybe Andrus duplicated his. I am guessing in 1920, books on rodbuilding weren't common and assume Sedgwick learned from someone. Could have been anyone, but Andrus is a good pick. We already know HR knew Eustis Edwards. I hold no weight in the theory that Andrus build HR rods simply because they are very similar. Talk to Summers and ask why his rods are practical clones of some Youngs, or talk to Pickard as to why his resemble both Youngs and Summers. Maybe Reams, Brandin, Hidy and Karstetter can say why some of their rods share resemblences in many ways. Its just the nature of the craft to imitate styles...and sometimes dare I say even copy. I bet an early Summers is probably indistinguishable from a later Young. Copying styles is not uncommon now and I am sure wasn't then either. To convince me otherwise, I am going to need Andrus DNA on a Sedwick rod. Knowing some of the folks on this board I may eat crow with this proclamation.

Just my two cents and treads like these are why I love this board.
CR

I still think everyone is ignoring George Black finding a letter from Sedgwick to Edwards that puts the claim that Sedgwick wasn't a rod maker to bed. This was a claim in a prior post I was trying to put to bed. I was also careful to only cite known facts from blacks book and not "opinionated experts," that yes are also part of Black's book. I simply cited Sam's own words and an actual letter Black found confirming Sedgwick made rods. I think CW's post below helps confirm this. I also think its important to note the letter Black referred to was to one of the finest makers of that time. I know I am not sending random letters to Bob Summers on how to oxidize ferrules unless I know or thing or two about rod building.

I actually think Reelsmith has a good point when he says "But, none of us were there at the start. Maybe he never brought a rod to market until he was satisfied that he had perfected his craft and the rest went in the trash." This wouldn't be atypical from any other maker. Many of todays makers and I assume from the past would never dare to take a rod to market that wasn't ready in their eyes. Everyone seems to infer I said Sedgwick only made only "a couple of dozen" rods...in fact I think he probably made 200 to 300. At these numbers and after 80 years natural attrition, it would make sense only a rare few are floating around. At only "a few dozen" I would only expect a couple still left after 80 years. I also never said Sedgwick never made a less than stellar rod. I saw pics of one that was for sale on another dealers site last year and once I saw pics of it....I passed, no matter the price. In fact, as a few people have noticed, I have been posting on this board looking for a Sedgwick for over a year and from this I have seen two Sedgwicks in the last year that I passed on even at reletively cheap prices.

Flyman...I promise I wasn't trying or intending to put down any of the makers mentioned. I was just trying to state my opinion of Sedgwick in comparison to other makers and sometimes this is hard to word carefully. If I used the word "best" I guarantee it was followed by a "my opinion" or prefaced to be my belief and not that of fact to everyone. You give me a Carlson or a Payne and I promise a on my face.
CR