Musty, old, missing pieces....... question of worth to try and restore??

Buzzy · Aug 3, 2022

A friend of mine asked me to look at some old "poles" that his friend has. A few pictures. The owner of the rods is 76 years old, he was thinking his grand nephew might like them........ My question is, are any of these rods worth much effort?

I brought home the rod, second from the right, thinking I might pull the guides off and rewrap them so the thread wrappings are at least the same color. I'm not going to strip off the old varnish.

Journeman electrican's tape for guide wraps.

The missing male ferrule is wedged intot he plastic rod tube. O-rings on the ferrules?

The rod on the right is, I think, a bait casting rod.

Two Pflueger SalTrout and a Herters and a lot of old streamers in the bottom fly wallet.

Bambooflyguy · Aug 9, 2022

How about using the mid from another rod and making a Buzzy Frankenrod? I was kidding about small trout....we fly fishers never catch small trout.....

Buzzy · Aug 9, 2022

Bambooflyguy said:
How about using the mid from another rod and making a Buzzy Frankenrod? I was kidding about small trout....we fly fishers never catch small trout.....

If this was my rod I might think about doing something "Franken" with it.... speaking of which, the BuzzyFranken rod you provided much consultation with me is heading up into the mountains tomorrow (so is Fusae and a picnic lunch).

Bambooflyguy · Aug 11, 2022

So what did you decide on Pat? Just doing a quickie fix and call it G.E? (Good enough)

Buzzy · Aug 12, 2022

Bambooflyguy said:
So what did you decide on Pat? Just doing a quickie fix and call it G.E? (Good enough)

I stripped off all the guides and thread, sanded the blank sections with 600 grit (not to bare wood), coated them with True Oil and have slowly begun winding guides back on. I'm going to cover the "dings" with thread* and epoxy them. If the nephew who inherits this rod breaks it, well, it breaks. In the meantime, with the forecast next week for some 105F days, I can sit in my air conditioned mancave and work on the rod.

* I wish I had some thread that "disappeared" when coated with epoxy, is there such a thing? ;-)

Bambooflyguy · Aug 12, 2022

White silk is the best for transparent wraps, I use light gold nylon thread and it blends in with the cane color.

Tim Cottage · Aug 12, 2022

If you want it to be truly clear you want to use natural silk not white. White silk is white because it has been bleached. Depending on the bleaching agent used it can often have a bluish or other color cast to it. If the result you want is pretty close to clear then white will be fine but if you want it to be invisible then you want natural silk. YLI brand #212 is a natural silk thread. Using the awesome power of the internets it should be pretty easy to find.

longputt · Aug 13, 2022

Bambooflyguy said:
Ouch! Somebody was rough on this stick.....those are some nasty gouges. Are you going to add any guides? Possibly a guide might land on a divot to strengthen it.....they definitely are a weak spot. Hate to have you put a lot of time and parts into this rod if it breaks.....maybe just catch fish under 10”! Your call Pat.

I have fixed quite a bit of old wood furniture dings by steaming. Can you steam bamboo? Those look like dents not gouges?

Buzzy · Aug 14, 2022

longputt said:
I have fixed quite a bit of old wood furniture dings by steaming. Can you steam bamboo? Those look like dents not gouges?

This is just a guess on my part but I think steaming a bamboo rod could damage the glue lines. I completed covering the "dings" with thread and will begin coating the thread windings with Flex Coat.