What is the proper way to strip a rod to refinish? I have an older St. Croix and I'd like to re-wrap the guides because they've yellowed and are cracking. I am concerned about stripping this rod because it has a painted finish. Is there a way to strip it down without damaging the paint?

Hi Nate,

Are you stripping just the guides and rewrapping? Are the guides going back into the same areas? Is the exposed part of the blank area damaged? Many times the guides can go back into the same place and just extend the wraps enough to cover the finish line if you can't get all the finish off the blank.

Just stripped an old Fenwick surf rod today.

First cut all the wraps off. This rod was coated with varnish and looked terrible. Normally if the blank looked pretty good I would leave it lone. This one had bumps all over.

Second. I have single edge razor blades that are well worn and I use them as a vertical scraper just like a wood worker would use a piece of glass as a scraper. Move the razor back and forth along the blank as you very slowly rotate the blank by hand. Hand pressure will control the bite of the razor blade. When all the varnish was removed I sanded the blank using around a 300 grit production paper. Them I wiped it down with 91% isopropyl alcohol.

Third. Apply a very thin coat of finish using my fingers covered by a medical glove. Tomorrow's job.

Takes time but it makes the blank look brand new. All the scratches left by the production paper will disappear as the finish is applied.

Good fortune.

Capt Neil Faulkner

Nate,

When I strip a rod, I do not try to cut the threads off of the blank. I heat the guide wraps gently with an alcohol touch. I then use a dental pick to pull the end of the old thread out from under the wraps. Once I get a thread started, with the rod in my rod wrapper, but not the chuck, I pull the thread off of the blank in the reverse order it was wrapped letting the blank spin as the thread comes off. That is the easy part. Once the old guides are removed there will be old epoxy which was underneath the wraps. I then apply masking tape on each side of the area where the wrap was removed. This is to protect the blank, (and the color), encase I slip. I then use a dull exacto knife, perpendicular to the blank, scraping off the old epoxy, heating the epoxy gently to soften it, if necessary . It is a time consuming operation but you'll end up with a clean, undamaged blank to rewrap. You will be able to see the areas where the old guides were removed due to paint fading, so you will not be able to shift the guides into new locations.

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

If you do use an alchohol torch, please be careful as to how long you apply the heat. I learned the hard way that, to much heat towards the tip of the rod and you're likely to melt/crack the rod blank...no where to go from there

heat the wrap with a heat gun, just a little or not at all cut off some of the old wrap off the guide , find end's [ there will be 2 ] an pull gently the wrap an most of the epoxy will come off, clean up the area , then reapply new wrap an coating , same guide or new your choice ,

William Sidney
AK