Leatherbarrows rod building

[Woody123]

Thinking of having a set of rods made by Colin Leatherbarrow (Urmston tackle shop)....he uses Harrison Blanks, the Torrixs look very nice....but I have no experience of these rods.....anyone know what they are like.....Not sure what test curve to have though......I have already got FS carp tamers 3x23/4...3x31/4 (4 piece) and 2 very old (15-17 years) 31/2 rods that I bought from Frank Warwicks shop in Altrincham....we used to call them the "The French rods"...somebody told me that he thought that these rods were Harrison blanks as well.......got them specifically to cast a big chuck at Booths with a 4 oz trilobe.....this was before you could get round to the far bank...........anyway the questions are
(a) Has anybody used leatherbarrow an how was that experience?
(b) would Torrix 31/2 be a good choice bearing in mind what I already have.
(c) Is it possible to still get the original "French Rods"....in which case i might use leatherbarrow to refurbish the 2 I have and another one if i can get it......they are pretty stif but would be good for the big chuck.....the prob here is that the 2 I have don't have anything written on them....so it's a bit of a mystery.
Genuine post here so no going on about saving my money for bait/syndicate/tickets etc as I am doing that as well..........some info from all you carp fishing oracles would be appreciated.

[carp junkie]

colin does have a good reputation building rods and he is on harrison's site as a recommended builder i was going to have some made by him but ended up using mark tunley as i wanted century rods really and marks prices were better and i felt his knowledge and experience with carp rods was better i'm not knocking colin in any way though as i have seen his work and its spot on he is only 200 yards away from me and some of his customers are my customers

[Woody123]

you must live in urmston then....I'm just round the corner just past Flixton golf club......we'll have to do coffee some time haha........Colin does love his coin though.....I have been going in there since I came up here to manchester 35 years ago.....what do you think of Harrison Torrix though........probably go with Colin if I decide to go ahead.....simply because would rather give my money to somebody I know......and i believe in using local business's or you eventually lose them........also any idea what the 2French rods" are?

[carpking44]

Originally Posted by Woody123

you must live in urmston then....I'm just round the corner just past Flixton golf club......we'll have to do coffee some time haha........Colin does love his coin though.....I have been going in there since I came up here to manchester 35 years ago.....what do you think of Harrison Torrix though........probably go with Colin if I decide to go ahead.....simply because would rather give my money to somebody I know......and i believe in using local business's or you eventually lose them........also any idea what the 2French rods" are?

I live near the Roebuck,i dont do Colins he's lost the love!! very good rod builder though.Was one of the original north western blank rod builders back in the day.

[Woody123]

going round to Colins at about 12.10 to show him these rods I've got.....see if he can identify them.....anybody want a face to face that's where I'll be

[Woody123]

Been to leatherbarrows with the mystery rods and he thinks they may be the original Century blanks.....anyway have decided to have these refurbished and brought up to date with bigger rings new reel seat and handles etc......that way I won't have wasted the money I spent 15 years ago (bout 160 each I think) bet those rods have not been used more than half a dozen times....there's only 2 but one of the harrison blanks looks very similar so if I find I need three big chuck rods I may have another made using a Harrison blank (ballister) seems like a reasonably cheap way of doing things.......will report on the finished product in a couple of weeks hopefully

[carp junkie]

seems theres a few local guys on here i can feel a social booze up comming on lol
woody pm mate
i'm on flixton rd

[bobbins]

I have a set of Armalites which i purchased from Leatherbarrows about 20 odd years ago they are about due a recon could you let me know how much he charges might have them done seeing as i wont part with them.

[carp junkie]

i'll pop in on monday for you mate just let me no what spec you want

[Woody123]

knowing colin it won't be less than a oner per rod.....he has not told me the bad news yet.....but whatever it's still cheaper than having 3 new ballisters built

[IanB]

Your french rods will probably be the original harrison ballista,s. Im pretty sure Franks shop was selling them under a certain name back then. I aLso bought a set of ballistas around 1993 from TAS they were the rods to have along with the diawa amourphous

[salford flier]

If the Harrison blanks that you are describing as French rods are on a deep brown or burgundy blank, they will be the 'Big Pit' specials that were being knocked out by a number of shops in the North West. Chorley Anglers built dozens and were the rod to own in the early nineties. 12 ft 6" 31/2lb tc.
If they are on the carbon grey they will be the early Ballista's.

A couple of mates own the Torrix in 3 1/2lb and use em on Petty, and they rate them very highly.

[Rick]

Had 3 torrix made by colin earlier this year, along with a distance spod and marker, which are ballista carbon. The attention to detail is first class, i can't recommend him highly enough.
I also got them micro chipped for a tenner a rod, worth it just for the insurance alone buddy.

Rick

[Woody123]

Originally Posted by salford flier

If the Harrison blanks that you are describing as French rods are on a deep brown or burgundy blank, they will be the 'Big Pit' specials that were being knocked out by a number of shops in the North West. Chorley Anglers built dozens and were the rod to own in the early nineties. 12 ft 6" 31/2lb tc.
If they are on the carbon grey they will be the early Ballista's.

A couple of mates own the Torrix in 3 1/2lb and use em on Petty, and they rate them very highly.

Thanks for all the replies lads.....the rods are a deep grey colour, but Colin maintains that hey are not Harrison because of the wall thickness....spoke to Frank W about them a week or so ago....he says that they are probably Harrisons as he used to have a guy called paul? Young make them, says that he made rods called Scorpions and that they were 12'6" and a burgundy blank.....they had a graphic of a scorpion on them.......but Frank has slept since then and therefore his RAM would have been wiped and reset....haha...Colin said that he recalled that Young made some early rods on Century blanks....looking at the ballista blank that Colin had I have to say that they look very similar to them, even the weave looked the same...he also said that they had been made correctly as the rings had been positioned on the spine of the blank so whoever made them knew what they were doing.......at the end of the day 31/2 's are a bit of a beast for my type of fishing (generally smallish waters with no really big chucks) i'm happy with the FS carp Tamer 23/4 for general fishing........at least I'll have 2 rods for long distance work and if I decided that I really need 3 then I'll go for the ballister to match the other 2.
Spec I've gone for is 40mm first ring (the 50mm looked rediculous) with 16mm tip and last rings....some sort of fancy carbon weave reel seat abbreviated shrink wrap handle with a weave, stainless button and black whippings....should look the D's B's I hope!.....will continue making enquiries as it would be interesting to find out who actually made them.........again lads thanks for all the info, it's good that we have so many knowledgable people on this site.....will post a picture when they are finished

[Woody123]

Leatherbarroes has just been on with the price for the refurbishment of my old rods £170 each!!!!!!!!.....he is having a laugh....cut back on the spec to £137 and told him to carry on.....20 minutes later I phoned again and said I had a rethink and to just replace the handle (which he said that he removed to measure the blank) but he then tells me that he has started taking rings off.......I get the feeling that I have been ripped off.....I was expecting it to come to £100 per rod at the higher spec......so that is the last money he will be getting off me.......my advice is don't ask for anything from him unless you get the price first.....you know you give people the benefit of the doubt and they then take advantage.......lesson well and truly learnt!