I'm wondering how in the world does the rod maintain flexibility after that many years.
I know bamboo can do funny things. Just seems odd.
"Cane" rods are funny like that. They don't get brittle, though you would think they would.
Right now I'm reading Michael Sinclair's book, "Goodwin Granger, The rod man from Denver" One of the interesting things about Granger rods, the dry air in Denver kept the bamboo from shrinking after a rod was constructed. They were completely dry. None of Goodwins rod ferrules were ever pinned, a common practice among other rod builders of the day. His were pressed on and the NS (nickle silver) formed to fit the bamboo. To this day it is very rare to have a Granger ferrule come loose. Another good thing is the resistance to "set" (bends or kinks in the rod from use) the Granger rods have. That's one of the reasons I can buy a rod from the late 30's and just take it out and fish it. Mine has a slight set to one tip (give the poor thing a break, it's 75 years old!), but it does not affect it's performance.
That cannot be said of the South Bend, Montague and Heddon rods I have.
BTW, Cats, this rod (it's a 6 wt, I use a DT floating line) can go from tossing a wet/dry 10-15 ft for close shots with delicacy to being a "cannon" for long casts. Amazing. It shows that Goodwin loved his "tournament" tapers and brought that to his "regular" rods.