Helsman Spar Urethane

[reelynew]

I lightly sand down my cork rod handles with 220 sandpaper —- blow it off —- and apply a light coat of Penetrol.

Thank you for posting that. Was just going to ask if sandpaper can be used to restore some old cork handles.

[Midway Tommy]

I lightly sand down my cork rod handles with 220 sandpaper —- blow it off —- and apply a light coat of Penetrol.

Thank you for posting that. Was just going to ask if sandpaper can be used to restore some old cork handles.

I do basically the same thing, but on older handles that have dirt and oil stains I'll wipe the cork off first with a decent dose of lacquer thinner on a rag to get rid of most of the oily grime. That way it doesn't require as much sanding. I sand with 320 and finish with 4 or 600 before wiping with Penetrol, but if it'sreally rough I might start with 220 & move to 320, etc.

[reelynew]

Thank you Tom,

Much appreciated for that tip and I will have to pick-up some Penetrol.  Can this be used as a restorative function on metal frames as well? 

Matt

[happyhooker]

Related to Helmsman Spar Urethane, but not on rod handles.

Been looking for an alternative to the water-based poly I have been using for rod building and repair projects as a thread covering.  Wanted something that dries fairly quickly and did not require a rod dryer rotating for hours and hours.  Did some homework and found several references to using Helmsman Spar Urethane for this purpose.  Suggestions were to use it by applying very thin coats; turning it a little for 5-10 minutes after application; and applying maybe three coats total.  This would not give you a heavy end coated project, which is fine with me. I recently tried it on a rod I had rebuilt, coating all the threadwork as outlined above.  Quite satisfied.  The coating is satin-like, but not full-on gloss.  The water-based poly is nice, especially the ease of clean up, but I was looking for a little more shine on the end product.  Don't know if any of you have tried this.

Frank

[reelynew]

You All are truly masters.

Just some lacquer thinner on the grips and it's looking 100% better already.  I'll follow-up with some light sanding and a sealant afterwards.

This has been a Master Class in restoration for me.  Thank you All,

Matt

[thorhammer]

Nice!

[jtwill98]

Are those the same rod. Did you remove the bottom black foot?

[Midway Tommy]

Are those the same rod. Did you remove the bottom black foot?

The photos are flipped. The top of the first one is the bottom of the second one. You can tell by the taper of the cork and the reel seat threads.

[jtwill98]

Are those the same rod. Did you remove the bottom black foot?

The photos are flipped. The top of the first one is the bottom of the second one. You can tell by the taper of the cork and the reel seat threads.

I realized that after posting. I looked and didn't see a quick method to delete or retract the posting, so I left it, knowing someone would "point out the error in my post" 

[reelynew]

I taped up the bottom of the rod foot and yes, as Tom pointed out they are different directions.  What's interesting is that the cork handles appear to be many cut pieces as I am able to see the seams between them.  I would have thought it would have been one piece. 

[Midway Tommy]

What's interesting is that the cork handles appear to be many cut pieces as I am able to see the seams between them.  I would have thought it would have been one piece. 

They're made of multiple individual rings glued together with epoxy and then tuned on a lathe or sanded to the desired shape.

[ExcessiveAngler]

What's interesting is that the cork handles appear to be many cut pieces as I am able to see the seams between them.  I would have thought it would have been one piece. 

They're made of multiple individual rings glued together with epoxy and then tuned on a lathe or sanded to the desired shape.

Yes, sir indeed lol!
That's why, when you see the cork handles with all different kinds of shading in them!
Never knew this, either until one of my handles disintegrated from them bugs, whatever they are!
They go and eat all kinds of little craters into the cork, completely ruining the grips!
Went to grab one of my cherished All-Star rods, to go fishing one time and squeezed the handle and it completely disintegrated in my hand, was absolutely horrible!
And I think I quoted the wrong person and can't figure out how to undo it. Lol!

[reelynew]

Hi Wayne, Fred and anyone else who might have an idea,

I too have been working on my threshold and am looking for some advice on how I can adhere it back.  I ended-up picking-up some Helsman Spar Urethane which I applied to my sanded down threshold and tee-moulding.  The company that put in the engineered wood floor in the home did so before it was sold to me.  They laid it right down on top of some tile and took it straight to the front door, using the tee-moulding to seperate/transition to the threshold that they all glued down using a high strength hot glue gun for flooring.  I can't seem to find one of these glue guns locally to rent without either hiring or paying-up for the tool. 

I needed to build up the tee-moulding to fill the gap to the concrete foundation as they used the hot glue previously.  I cut 3 strips of some polycarbonate sheets I had and used some Loctite PL 2 (polyurethane based), but unfortunately, that isn't holding to the polycarbonate sheets.  It just separates from both the Helsman spar Urethane treated tee-moulding and polycarbonate sheets.  The two just aren't bonding.

I can look into another material to provide the lift needed for the tee-moulding, but was really wanting to limit the amount of untreated wood in that area, which is why I was looking for a plastic like product. 

I treated both the top and bottom of my threshold with the helsman spar.  Do either of you have any suggestions on what adhesive to use between the wooden treated helmsman spar threshold and the concerete foundation?  The
wooden threshold is fairly thin and I do not want to screw it down into the concrete. 

Any advice would really be appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

[oldmanjoe]

One of the ways to do it is use wood screws instead of a filler strip .   Like jack stands , set the height .  Clean the trench good so the glue sticks to the concrete ..

[reelynew]

Thank you kindly for your reply,

I ended-up abandoning the polycarbonate strips.  That was a little too idealistic.  I found a scrap piece of redwood I ripped and then treated it with copper green.  Everything is coming together as I'll glue that down with a construction adhesive to a piece of hardy board I used to prop up the threshold.  If you saw how thin the threshold is, the angle it is propped up at, using screws or a nail might compromise it. 

I'm just a little concerned that the construction adhesive will not bind to the spar urethane treated wood and the concrete foundation. 

Anyone try this before?

Thanks again,

Matt