I have an old St. Croix bait caster medium heavy dark green 6ft. 8" or so. A friend made it for me over 20 years ago and all the eyes are lose and spaced like they did back in the day, I am not a stranger to building new rods as I have built about 20 including an SCV spinning bass rod that I just finished and love. I remember how sensitive this rod was for jigs and pigs and have time on my hands.

However this is my first resto project and I would like help with the following.

1. Is it worth it? I do have plenty of extra Fuji guides alconite on hand.

2. What is the best way to take the old threads and epoxy off with the least damage to the rod?.

3. The guides was wrapped with excessive thread lengths and I wrap with shorter ones as we do today. For strength and cosmetic value should I wrap the length of the old length and do and overlap to secure the guides with the smaller thread and epoxy lengths that I desire? Never have done and overwrap. Do you completely epoxy the first wrap before putting the second wrap over it with guides or not?

4. the handle is a solid grip cork that is dried out but the bones are still good. Thanking of covering with wynn grip or spiral and glue a small rope around handle and put heat shrink tape over it.

I have already figure out the guides and distance that I want to go with but would appreciate tips on the above as this seems like a doable project.

Thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2016 01:15PM by Jim Howell.

1. Is it worth it? Only you can decide that.

2. There are instructions for guide removal on the FAQs page here, and a video showing the process on the RodMaker Magazine YouTube channel.

3. You don't really need an underwrap. If you are worried about covering the areas that had the long thread wraps on them, you might do a longer wrap, trim or false underwear. Or just leave them be. Maybe the difference in appearance won't be much. Only way to tell is to remove them and see.

4. You have a lot of options here. New cork, or sand a bit and cover with thread, cord, shrink wrap, one of the Winn type grips you mention or even shrink wrap.

.................

Jim,
I have done quite a few rods as you describe. For an older rod like you have I always do one thing. I remove all of the finish down to the bare graphite, and then I use a buffing wheel to buff the graphite, and then I rebuild the rod, starting from scratch. I always remove the grips, reel seat, and all of the guides and tip top. So, it is just like building a new rod. Select the components that you wish and build the rod.

Be safe

What is the best way to remove all of the finish down to the bare graphite. after I buff it down, could I not come back with automotive spray paint and make it look new? Main thing is good function at the end of the day, but also want it to look decent. I am just doing this as much as to expand my rod building horizons and bring and old friend back to life!

Jim,
Appearance is in the eye of the beholder. I personally like the new buffed look of the bare graphite. Several different rod manufacturers have been selling rod blanks for man years with this appearance. The nice thing about not having any paint on the blank, is that you never have any paint to chip, come off or change appearance over time.

But, yes of course, if you want a painted blank, you can certainly paint it in any way that you wish.

Be safe