H & I Decal

Question
Hello, I'm refinishing my old H&I bamboo fly rod my Dad got for me in 1944. The original decal is long gone. Is there any reproduction decals available ?.
Thank you very much..

Answer
Harvey,
An interesting question. Quick answer is no.
But if a fella have some computer skills and water labels. You would find the label in Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook by Michael Sinclair. Scan and color it , print it with a deskjet type printer to water labels. I think I could do this but even at $10 per hour I would want $100. My bench has several rods waiting for me to finish so it would be a long time before I could get to it. I have some water decals from Micro mart or the model train store.

There is an ethical issue here. If you restore a rod and put new labels on it , some less than honest people might sell it as unused. Probably not you or I, but what happens to that rod when we are not around to properly authenticate it?  Just an interesting probably hypothetical question.

The HI must have sentimental value because the resale/ collecting  value is not enough to bother with labels. Some guys would get a water proof pen and put the rod model and Dads name on it.

Good Luck with this, love to hear how it all came out.
Mac

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