ROD REPAIR ON OLD BAITCAST ROD

[Eddie Hernandez]

Hi All-I found and old rod in my shed which had taking a lot of punishment from the sun and also had some latex paint drippings on it, my approach was to just remove the paint and go over the pole with a fresh coat of finish, but that quickly turned into me sanding the entire rod down removing all the finish and removing the guides just leaving the cork handle and reel seat on. I want to add I have zero experience rod building, don't let the rod wrapper fool anyone i took it from my buddy who had it buried in his basement along with a bunch of resin and a bunch of tools used for rod building. I hope to build my own custom rod one day, I have been practicing using the wrapper on an old blank. Now back to rod repair, now that i have removed the finish/paint/guides and wiped the blank down to remove all the residue. Whats next?
Any guidance/info how to go about this would be greatly appreciated.

I have attached some photos.

thx

ed

[gstours]

The pictures already make you look professional.  I,d say place the guides back on where they were after light sanding of the bottoms of the feet to inshure they have no burrs.   Masking tape cut into 1/4 inch strips can help butt my preference is elastic thread as you can adjust guides easily.
   You should have lots of advice coming 🤳 soon as I'm not an expert.   There is lots of info out there on wrapping and coatings.   Go slow, start on one end and continue.   Put the top guide on with epoxy before aligning the others.  Between the reel foot and top eye is a straight line eventually.   
  Have fun,  this is just the beginning of a fun hobby.

[Eddie Hernandez]

thanks for the info!! Is painting it an option with some kind of spray can paint? What kinda paint would work best?

[oldmanjoe]

    The hardest part of painting a rod is choosing a color .      Any spay paint works  ,light multiple coats .
  After painting ,i wait about two weeks or longer if i can for it to fully cure before i wrap the thread .       If you don`t chances are the thread will dig in to the paint , and it doesn`t show up rite away .    Some times a day later after wrapping paint will squeeze up between the thread .   joe

[Swami805]

If you want a clear finish/no paint there's a product called CPXTRA that's as close as you're going to get to a factory finish. Voodoo rods I think is the only place I know that sells it. Use hot glue for the tip unless you're ok sawing it off if you need to replace it in the future. Voodoo also has tip cement which is glorified hot glue, they have several helpful products too. Looks like a nice wrapper. That should make it a lot easier

[Eddie Hernandez]

thanks for all the great info!!!!!

[Eddie Hernandez]

I put a new grip on the rod I will paint it over the weekend. Any suggestions on how i could finish off the bottom of the handle?(The handle did not have a butt cap.)

[happyhooker]

Looks like a nice project.  I am not an expert either, but have read a lot and have rebuilt a few rods along the lines of what you are hoping to do.

I have never tried totally refinishing the coating/paint on a blank.  My concern would be putting "any paint" on it, only to find out the flexing of the rod when it is in use will cause it all to crack.  The finish from Voodoo, you would think, should not do this, and there may be other coatings that will work.

I'm old-fashioned and still use ferrule cement to affix tiptops (warm stick of cement with a match, smear on tip of blank & attach tiptop).  Some say leaving the rod out in the sun may cause the cement to soften and the tip to twist or come off, altho' I have never had this happen to me.  Some epoxies will soften if heated after use, so you can still get the tiptop off if it breaks.  Hot glue sticks are similar to ferrule cement.

If you're ready to go custom, you may want to upgrade the guides.  Couple of sources for information include anglersresource.net (Fuji guides, guide layout info); acidrod.com (guide placement software) and Dale Clemens book, Advanced Custom Rod Building.  Dale's book has all kinds of advice & he really likes custom thread wrappings (not everyone does).

To finish off the butt, you can go plain (i.e. a crutch or stool rubber tip), fancy (like an old medallion or coin) or custom (turned/carved wood or bone, etc.)

Good luck, & let us know of your progress.

Frank

[Swami805]

rodbuilding.org is a good resource too, very similar to this site,a lot of very helpful people and no garbage like some other fishing sites.

[Fishy247]

If you have a rod building supplier nearby, just take it over and you can size the butt to get a good fit. Just a simple rubber butt cap would probably fit the bill. Or you can measure the diameter and order it online from Acidrod.com or another site.

[oldmanjoe]

I put a new grip on the rod I will paint it over the weekend. Any suggestions on how i could finish off the bottom of the handle?(The handle did not have a butt cap.)

Is that a heat shrink wrap ?          Beer caps,  coins, wood ,champagne corks , rock  ,you can use any you want .
  I like to try different things on my rods , even things that some say won`t work .
  Marble with paint and epoxy from fore grip to tip.
  Marble with nail polishs
  Do diamond wraps from fore grip to tip . Some with band breaks ,some straight through.
   Grips can be a broken wheel barrow handle ,tree branches ,craft foam ,the possibilities are endless.
   
   

[Bill B]

Eddie, I have used rattle can paint and polyurethane on a couple rods and have been happy with the performance.   Bill

[Fishy247]

If and when you do paint it, make sure that you stand it up when painting and use a light touch if using spray paint. This really cuts down on runs and uneven spots.

[steelfish]

Is that a heat shrink wrap ?          Beer caps,  coins, wood ,champagne corks , rock  ,you can use any you want .
  I like to try different things on my rods , even things that some say won`t work .
  Marble with paint and epoxy from fore grip to tip.
  Marble with nail polishs
  Do diamond wraps from fore grip to tip . Some with band breaks ,some straight through.
   Grips can be a broken wheel barrow handle ,tree branches ,craft foam ,the possibilities are endless.
   

nice, I like this way of thinking, I bet those rod fish the same than rods built "according the book", they might feel different but who cares, I mean, at the end you are fishing with something you build at your wish, as you might know Im also on amateur rod building and Im mostly doing restorations or rebuilds from grip to tip for friends, they are always asking me to put "this" and "that" on the rod and finished rod might feel heavier or stiffer or maybe unbalanced but the owners also have a big smile and feel proud of their new customized rods.

I would recommend to read a bit about rod painting, rod restorations, rod finishes, etc on many online forums like this one, bdoutdoors, rodbuilding.com, etc and then do what you could do with your personal skills and equipment and be happy with it even if it doesnt look as good as you wanted it, this is addictive and I promess next one you repair will look better.

[Eddie Hernandez]

Yes Heat Shrink wrap was used for the grip.
I found a rubber cap that fit nice and snug at a rod building shop. I painted the rod  using a white Rust-oleum spray paint for plastic. I will wait 2 weeks to let the paint cure and then start on wrapping the rod.