'Genuine' vintage floats

This might be a little contentious, but I'll say it anyway... there appears to be a surfeit of handmade floats around that claim to be 'vintage', a significant proportion of which are for sale on that well-known auction site. I won't comment on the items themselves nor the quality, which does appear to be... shall we say... 'variable'. I do get a little perplexed as to whether or not  brand new float, irrespective of the quality of finish, can be labelled as 'vintage'.

The OED defines 'vintage' thus:

adj: Denoting something from the past of high quality, especially something representing the best of its kind

Vintage-style may be a little more accurate, or maybe just 'retro', but both seem a little out of sorts with the sort of person I imagine to appreciate said items, assuming the originality is highest priority. I wouldn't call any of the floats I'm producing 'vintage' despite a lot of them being inspired by classic designs from the past...

Either way, enough musings, I do have a genuine vintage collection that will be moved on soon. I've decided I'm going to fish with nothing but floats I've made myself, save for a small collection of grayling floats from past manufacturers that inexplicably garner my affections. Some are in need of a little TLC, a new eye to be whipped on and/or a lick of paint. A few need slightly more attention than that, and given their originality is going to be much more greatly affected I might keep hold of those few that need major restoration.

Examples that will be going up for sale from Allcocks...

Belglow...

Auger...

and of course Harcork...

and some nice small sliders, manufacturer yet to be confirmed...

I love a lot of the designs but fear I shouldn't fish with them for fear of losing an original up a tree on the opposite bank as is so often the case, so the next logical step of not using them 'in anger' myself is to use them as inspiration for my own floats, and then sell them on as otherwise they're only ever going to be collecting dust.


How I'll offload them is as yet undecided, either a couple of specialist Facebook groups I'm a member of or that well-known auction site, if any reader is interested in anything in particular then please get in touch via the 'Contact me' widget in the right-hand toolbar (if you're on a mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and select 'View web version' to see it) or leave a comment on the post.

Interval is over, broadcast resumes shortly

It's been a while since the last post, apologies to those that noticed, irritations like earning a living seem to keep getting in the way. More material is on the way, in the meantime the following may provide some distraction, a small set to cater for nearly every need. 

Well for all the fishing I do anyway, there's obviously some missing if you wanted to include absolutely everything, but the line needs to be drawn somewhere...

So from left to right, an Avon using a primary wing quill from Columba Palumbus, the humble Wood Pigeon; a crow quill Avon with Harcork inspired colours, both seen on previous posts;  cork body, balsa tip and tapered hardwood stem Avon; a Reg Righyni grayling float and a small cork and cane bobber, probably too small for perch on a lob worm but hopefully ideal for dendrobena or brandling in fast flowing water for grayling.

Again from left to right two pheasant tail crucian quills, also in previous posts; a cork bodied phesaant tail quill with sight bob (probably not going to do the feather thing often, seems to be just a step too far maybe); a replica Victorian reed float made from locally sourced reed, a spiral whipped porcupine quill and finally a painted and whipped goose quill.

The reed float I particularly like, perfect with a spilt cane rod and centrepin but I particularly like the idea of fishing the Dorset Stour using a float made from reed growing on its own banks. I never noticed how abundant it was locally until I wanted some for float making. This particular float is more a stillwater pattern or for the more genteel stretches of the local Stour, but more will follow, including some more suitable for trotting.