My 1st Wooden-spool Pearsall's Gossamer

[FlyFisherMann1955]

Perhaps you saw the post over on the Classic (Bamboo) Forum. Someone bought 20 spools of Pearsall's Gossamer at a garage sale. Some guys have all the luck!

http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/vie ... 6&t=140162

I noticed I could see a hand-written color # on 1 of the spools and contacted him about some colors that interested me. He then listed it for sale on both the Bamboo and Fiberglass Forums. I was able to pick up the 4 colors I asked about: Purple (8), Ash (10), Olive (16), and--yes, the Pearsall's unicorn Sherry Spinner (6b). Ash and Sherry spinner were colors I didn't have on plastic spools.

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The purple and olive I just wanted for comparison (wooden spool versus plastic spool). Not sure if the color differences are simply due to age of the thread or if the colors actually changed when the spools changed, which I believe I read somewhere (perhaps here) was in the 1980s. To me, the olive looks very different, much less of a difference for purple.

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Tight Lines- Ken

[DOUGSDEN]

Ken,
Fantastic score for sure! You are absolutely right about the subtle changes thru the years of the color of the silks! Particularly olive! Tying with wooden spooled Pearsall's is a kick in itself! I think it brings us ever closer to tying with our ancestors! Who knows.....perhaps one of the wooden spools once graced one of the great ones parlors way back then!
Always the tinker...I mean thinker,
Dougsden

[Updtate]

To my eye it appears you have a spool of olive #16 and a spool of green #18. There is also a third golden Olive # 11

Tom

[Johnno]

I think I have at least one of each…. Now to make them all wooden…

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[FlyFisherMann1955]

Tom,

The wooden-spool olive doesn't look like #18 Green (Highlander) to me. Look at this picture for a comparison. From left to right:
Golden olive (#11), Light olive (#20), Olive (#16), Olive (#16 wooden spool), and
Green, often called Highlander (#18).

DSC02043 (2).JPG (135.24 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Does anyone else have Olive (#16) on wooden and plastic spools to compare and notice such a difference?

Tight Lines- Ken

[Theroe]

Yes- I have multiple spools of all of both wood and plastic, old and new versions. It appears that the dye batches were different over the years……. For me, when I didn’t have certain colors on wood spools, I had to have it. Once they were in my possession I realized just about any substitute will do especially the kimono silk.
Just my .02

AND, I still can’t catch a fish on a snipe and purple. Or anything and purple for that matter!

Dana

[Mike62]

Yes- I have multiple spools of all of both wood and plastic, old and new versions. It appears that the dye batches were different over the years……. For me, when I didn’t have certain colors on wood spools, I had to have it. Once they were in my possession I realized just about any substitute will do especially the kimono silk.
Just my .02

AND, I still can’t catch a fish on a snipe and purple. Or anything and purple for that matter!

Dana

See, that's why I gave you all my purple; it doesn't work. ...it just sits there and looks good.

[Theroe]

EXACTLY!!!!

I will probably regift it to someone else once I get tired of looking at it sitting on my tying bench……

Many thanks again, Mike!

[BrooksnBrowns]

Pretty sure I got some spools from the same guy. Bought a few but the elusive #4 Yellow was my great score on the lot.

I prefer the wooden spools as I feel the colors are more vibrant than the plastic spooled ones. As for color variations I have four #18 Highlander Green and they are all a different shade.