Ferrule swell
The collar drinks the weather
A ferrule is not jewelry. On Dauphin Street it is a plastic ring sitting in chloride and wet air. Some mixes drink that air, belly in July, then split when October dries the shop. Players pick at the gap and make it worse.
What swell looks like
Hover, belly, hairline
Hover: a sixteenth of daylight between ring and head — a leak path for the next salt week. Belly: the OD is fatter than the hosel it claims to match, so the ring looks drunk. Hairline: a split after a dry spell, usually on the side that faced the bag’s wet pocket.
What we do
Measure the hosel, scrap the old ring
Isla measures the hosel OD, not the ferrule’s printed size. Catalog bags lie after one summer. We recollar to the number on the calipers, seat it after the epoxy window, and refuse to “just glue the old one down” if it already has a belly.
A Saturday Collar at $110 is recollar-and-inspect only. If the bore is oval under that swollen ring, the job becomes a weekday Sleeve Swap or Full Bore. Hold a collar morning.