Irish linen trivia

junksecret

junksecret

Certified Fish
Silver Member
I was talking to Ernie (Ginacue) about the irish linen wrap for my cue and he told me a few interesting facts I never knew.

The highly coveted "Cortland" Irish linen is no longer available as many know. It turns out the linen was made, not for cues, but as fishing line. The reason for the "green speck" was so that the line would disappear in the greenish water. The advent of "mono-filament" clear fishing line took away all Cortlands business leading to their disappearance. I think a fisherman first wrapped his cue in the "fishing line", beginning the irish linen craze.

I liked the story,

Joe
 
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junksecret said:
I was talking to Ernie (Ginacue) about the irish linen wrap for my cue and he told me a few interesting facts I never knew.

The highly coveted "Cortland" Irish linen is no longer available as many know. It turns out the linen was made, not for cues, but as fishing line. The reason for the "green speck" was so that the line would disappear in the greenish water. The advent of "mono-filament" clear fishing line took away all Cortlands business leading to their disappearance. I think a fisherman first wrapped his cue in the "fishing line", beginning the irish linen craze.

I liked the story,

Joe
Click to expand...


thats true, Penn is a bit better that Cortland, both are next to impossible to find, Cortland comes on a metal spool not plastic I found this out from 3 independ sources of information, none of them said they ever seen Cortland come on a black plastic spool. Because when they made it so many years ago plastic spools wernt the made, sewing thread came oin wooden spools and line like Cortland or Penn(the best) cane on stamped steel(or some other metal) spools that dont rust, not plastic.

another bit of trivia, there is alot of "after market" Cortland that is pretty close to the real thing-sometimes, better than Blue Mountain(when its the good counterfit Cortland) but never as good the old stuff. I did get a cue with some horrible fake Cortland, my friend paid $1/inch for it, man they should hang the guy by his sack for that scam. I'm not upset with my friend we both got robbr, we re gonna wrap it again, were souring some linen nw, the hard way, going into all old out of the way fishing tackle stores and similar stores all over the east oast, wouldnt it be ggreat to fin dlike 200 spools af about 5 different kinds of C-Land and Penn. Cha-Ching!!!!!

Finding the real stuff is possible when you have friends in the right places and its worth its weight in gold, I have 40 year old cues origonal wraps that are jam up perfect, I'm a linen guy incase a didnt notice.

Of all current cue makers using Blue Mountain, Bobby Hunter makes it feel better than anyone else. Barry is a close second, I think Bobby presses it more(i'm guessing) its just a bit smoother and feels more like Penn. I love the feel of it, even when I'm playing out of stroke I love the feel of that linen. Leather wraps dont cut it for me 99% of the time.


again sorry for the long post i'm working on my writing skills, was this a good post???

thanks,

FB
 
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Fatboy said:
thats true, Penn is a bit better that Cortland, both are next to impossible to find, Cortland comes on a metal spool not plastic I found this out from 3 independ sources of information, none of them said they ever seen Cortland come on a black plastic spool. Because when they made it so many years ago plastic spools wernt the made, sewing thread came oin wooden spools and line like Cortland or Penn(the best) cane on stamped steel(or some other metal) spools that dont rust, not plastic.

another bit of trivia, there is alot of "after market" Cortland that is pretty close to the real thing-sometimes, better than Blue Mountain(when its the good counterfit Cortland) but never as good the old stuff. I did get a cue with some horrible fake Cortland, my friend paid $1/inch for it, man they should hang the guy by his sack for that scam. I'm not upset with my friend we both got robbr, we re gonna wrap it again, were souring some linen nw, the hard way, going into all old out of the way fishing tackle stores and similar stores all over the east oast, wouldnt it be ggreat to fin dlike 200 spools af about 5 different kinds of C-Land and Penn. Cha-Ching!!!!!

Finding the real stuff is possible when you have friends in the right places and its worth its weight in gold, I have 40 year old cues origonal wraps that are jam up perfect, I'm a linen guy incase a didnt notice.

Of all current cue makers using Blue Mountain, Bobby Hunter makes it feel better than anyone else. Barry is a close second, I think Bobby presses it more(i'm guessing) its just a bit smoother and feels more like Penn. I love the feel of it, even when I'm playing out of stroke I love the feel of that linen. Leather wraps dont cut it for me 99% of the time.


again sorry for the long post i'm working on my writing skills, was this a good post???

thanks,

FB
Click to expand...

Eric,

Interesting info....very good idea scouring the tackle stores...let me know if you find any. I just got my new Gina and couldn't talk Ernie into cutting loose any of the LITTLE original stuff he has left. He is saving it for restorations and I didn't wanna find out what it would cost to change his mind....:)

I love the linen too, my 40 year old Gina has the original (penn or cortland, not sure which) and it looks and feels GREAT still. I'm hoping my new one will one day have that same patina but I kinda doubt it will....check with my heirs in 40 years....lol.

btw, you're turning into a regular "Hemingway" with these posts....:)

Joe
 
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