Vintage rod ID

Question
My father passes a rod fly rod to me that was passed to him by his father.  There is no name on the rod, and its been used to say the least.  the only information on the rod that is written is "custom fly rod 35486" above the cork handle.  Up the rod in the middle or so is stamped "Power-taper" and up a little ways from that is written "forged tubular glass"  It looks like 1950's ish stamped writing.  Its a two piece rod that is red in color.  The two pieces fit together by metal fittings that aren't screwed and don't come apart easily.  Im just looking for some information on this and maybe a date and manufacturer.  Not really interested in value but just trying to see whare it came from.  It if helps my grandfather grew up in Paw Paw, Michigan.  Thanks much.

Answer
Hi Chris,

You have the vintage about right as likely in the 1950s or 1960s.  Beyond that I can't be too specific about maker or origin.

South Bend, Shakespeare, St. Croix are all early fiberglass fly rod makers who would have been popular in that part of the country.  Some small voice in the back of my head tells me that South Bend made a Power Taper model...but we don't rely on my memory these days so you may want to ignore that...or at least do some more checking.

The older glass rods don't have high collector values, except for a few specific models, but they do make nice rods to fish with as a rule.

Clean the male ferrule and the inside of the female ferrule well with something like rubbing alcohol and soft cloth or Q-tips.  Then apply a light weight ferrule-lube or rub a bar of hand soap on the male end and work them together.  You should be able to get the ferrule joint to slide together and come apart again easily...not so sloppy that it falls apart, but you don't want to have to tug on it with all your might.

The old adage is...ferrules together hands together, ferrule apart, hands apart.  This will keep you from famaging ferrule or rod.

If the cleaning and lube doesn't renew the fit, lightly scour the male end with "0000" steel wool.  Not too much, just enough to make sure any crud is removed.  Then lube again and try it.

As long as there are no cracks or splits in the fiberglass, you should be able to use the rod for years.  You can clean the rod itself with dish soap and wax it if you want.

Thanks,  Joe