Hi folks. I've been a lurker here for a couple years, but just finally registered. I hope you'll entertain a rod restoration question that's probably a dumb newbie question to you but kind of important to me.

I have an old rod that my wife remembers using on her father's boat in the 1970s. That and two Penn reels are the only posessions of his that she has left, and I'd like to restore the rod for her as a Christmas gift. I'd love to watch her catch some salmon and rockfish on it next summer. After his health went downhill the rod sat in the back yard for several years (in the rain, snow, and occasional sun in Juneau), and it has been in our garage for the last five years. I can read enough of the lettering on it to see that it is a [Da?]iwa rod, extra [heavy?] power, and a lure weight of [?]-448 g, and I think the model number is 673, although there could be more digits before or after that. The wrappings are all rotted and need removed and rewrapped, but the rod seems solid, the grips are tight and in good shape, the the reel seat is not cracked or corroded. I thought the blank was unfinished because it has no gloss to it, but when I started removing the wrappings it's clear that it there was a glossy finish on it at the time it was wrapped. And therein lies my question. In order to do this right, do I need to completely strip off the finish under the wrappings and refinish it so it's all level? Is it essential to finish the whole rod or will it be fine if it's not refinished? My rod building experience is a total of three kit rods, three self-designed rods, and a half dozen simple repairs, and doing a good job on the epoxy has always been my nemesis. I do have a homemade drying turner, but the thought of finishing a whole blank is a bit intimidating, and I'm feeling a little out of my experience level, especially for a gift that I'd rather not do at all than do a crappy job of, so any advice on options or strategies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -Tim

IMO to do this right you should remove all the guides & wraps; lightly scuff the entire length of the blank (being careful around any remaining lettering); refinish with a product like PermaGloss and then reattach the guides.

Tim, if this rod dates back to the 1970s, the finish on the wraps may have been varnish. When you remove all the guides, you might want to really clean the rod with a no scratch sponge pad. This might remove all of the oxidation/crud that is on the blank. Trying this will only set you back a short amount of time. If the gloss comes back, then you won't need re-coat the blank.

Mike Blomme

Thanks for the suggestions!. I'll try the sponge pad and see what happens. If that doesn't bring any gloss back, then I guess I'll practice on a couple other old rods from the corner of the garage until I feel confident I can refinish this one.

Tim,
Another thing that you can do, is to clean up the rod, removing any thing that doesn't look nice.

Rewrap the rod and apply finish to guides and butt wraps.

Then, just use a hard wax, to polish and shine up the rod. Although you would have to reapply the wax from time to time, it does give a nice finish that lasts just fine in the sun and rain.

Be safe