To my great good fortune I found a canned spray paint which nicely matches the original color of a painted blank - on the first try! The chief difference now is the old paint is glossier, although the new repair was made with gloss paint. What will be best to buff up the new paint to match the gloss of the old: polishing compound, rotten stone, Bartender's Friend, toothpaste? You can probably tell I don't want to spend much money.

Perhaps just an accent wrap to separate the two colors?

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Phil,
White buffing compound on a soft buffing wheel on a buffer will work very very well.

[www.harborfreight.com]

Or, you can chuck this buffing wheel into a variable speed drill:

[www.harborfreight.com]

Here is the white buffing compound that works well for rods and plastic.

[www.harborfreight.com]

With the buffing wheel spinning - hold the polishing compound stick onto the buffing wheel. This will deposit buffing compound uniformly onto the wheel.

Then, start buffing and as needed wipe with a clean cloth to check on progress, and if necessary, add more compound to the wheel.

Start with a very gentle touch, until you see how it is going. If necessary, you can increase the pressure of the spinning wheel onto the rod if more vigorous buffing is needed.

Be safe

Thanks, Roger. I will do as you have advised.

When doing this you are taking material off So if you you have a thin coat you may be better just doing it buy hand and not a machine

Bill - willierods.com

This blank is an unsanded fiberglass blank. Should I buff parallel to the axis of the blank or in a rotary motion parallel to the whorls around the blank?

get a old rod an try it on that blank to get the feel of what is going on just an IDEA but it should work I think
if you don't have a broken rod use an old one that don't count , it will not hurt the rod an it will not care

William Sidney
AK

get a old rod an try it on that blank to get the feel of what is going on just an IDEA but it should work I think
if you don't have a broken rod use an old one that don't count , it will not hurt the rod an it will not care

William Sidney
AK