Grooved Rings Solution?

[nelz]

Is it practical to try to smooth out chrome guide rings that are slightly grooved? I was thinking maybe some kind of Dremel bit would do the trick? Also, would buffing off the chrome be bad for the line?

Reason I ask is I picked up an old rod that has such a super-nice action but am not going to redo the whole thing. I don't work on rods so it would get too costly.

It's a Gold Coast Black Magic Series 280 CH

[droppedit]

If it is just one guide get it replaced. If the person wants to charge you more than $20 find someone else, $10 plus the cost of the guide is more realistic. If more than one guide and you really like the rod look into a rebuild. New guides and a decent wrap will last you many years.
I think you'd be opening a can of worms if you tried a dremel on the guides. I don't think you could get the guide polished enough for it not to do damage to your line. Then again I've seen folks use rods that the guides are so pitted and held together with tape and they are catching fish. Go figure
Good luck but look into some past post that Alex (steelfish) has made. He has put together a really cool rod wrapper and does the work in his lap. Who knows, maybe it's the perfect time to try it and then you'll be hooked


Hope this helps,
Dave

[gstours]

I agree,  why not learn to replace the guide.  You like the rod, right?  Man up and do it.  Right?
    Just saying,  you're going to learn things and have a new relationship with your rod.
  Lots of help is here for free.   You can do its.   Trust me.    🎣

[nelz]

It's not just one guide, it's all of them. The tip I can do myself, but it also needs reel seat and grips. Basically I have a very nice older blank that needs to be stripped and re-done. I got the rod with an old Jigmaster 505HS for $12.

Btw, I'm man enough to work on bait-runner style spinners, I'm sure I could rebuild a rod.   The process just doesn't appeal to me.

[Jeri]

If the rod is such a nice action, though has suffered the ravages of time, then it perhaps deserves a rebuild. It unfortunately is an invitation to the 'dark side' of rods, rebuilding and building your own - once you enter - difficult to leave............. 

There are plenty on here that will guide your path, as well as innumerable videos on U tube. It is not that difficult, just needs time and patience. The end result is something very special, as you have created a unique bond between you and the rod. I still have the very first rod I built - some 35 years ago, it is not really up to today's specs and standards, but something I will never part with.

To catch that first fish on a rod you have built yourself is something special by way of life experiences.

Go for it!!!

[oc1]

The chrome plating probably had a higher Rockwell hardness that the underlying steel.  If the chrome is gone the steel is going to tarnish and be easily grooved.

To resurface the ring you would start with a bit that is just abrasive enough get rid of grooves and remnants of the chrome.  The white stone bits and a light touch may be about right.  Follow up the white stone bit with a rubber bit impregnated with abrasive.  Follow that up with a cotton buff and red jewelers rouge.  If you can see or feel any surface irregularities then go back to the impregnated rubber bit and buff with rouge again.  Use tapered bits and work from both sides of the ring.

Resurfacing the ring with the guide still on the rod will be cumbersome with a Dremel because of the fat handle.  A flexible shaft tool with a skinny hand piece would be better.

You could almost remove the old guide and wrap on a new one as easily as resurfacing an old one.  The results would look better and last longer too.

-steve

[nelz]

Thanks Steve, that's what I was thinking. For now I'm going to change the tip, polish the guides, and use the seat & grips as is for now. Depending on how the rod fishes I may go further. How the heck would I remove this type of guide anyway, it looks like one solid piece with the rod, you don't even see any threading?

[thorhammer]

hey Nelz, what you have there is a coat of epoxy, probably flexcoat, over both wraps continuously. is there a transition somewhere above and below the guide or is the whole rod coated? either way the guides can be removed with a sharpknife. start around  the ring (middle) so you are sure to have underwrap to protect the blank. then work your way up and down.

[nelz]

The whole rod is coated Thor.

I just took it out to the lake for some test casting and wow, this an awesome blank indeed. I then tied on to a fence and pulled out a few feet of line under high pressure using #30 mono and did not feel any abrading on the line. The grooving is minimal but I can see it with a magnifier. I'm sure the line would show some damage after a while, regardless.

Great action under pressure too, I may just have to "man up" on this one after all, lol. 

[Swami805]

Warm up the material with a heat gun and it's much easier to cut off and you'll be less likely to gack the blank.
If it needs several guides and a handle you'd be much better off getting a new blank and building it. You're pretty much buying all the components anyway and stripping and refinishing a blank is a heck of a lot of work. If the guides are just grooved and still smooth fish it as is. Take a q-tip and swirl it around the inside of the rings, if no fibers hang up you should be ok

[boon]

Honestly if you're just fishing it with mono then carry on. The mono will get progressively hazier as the friction abrades the outside surface of it but until it gets really bad the impact will be pretty minimal.

With braid you start to lose strands and things snowball pretty quickly.

The "chrome" guides are only plated and the plating is what gives them hardness/smoothness; the underlying metal is usually quite soft. If you try to take the grooving out with a dremel I suspect you will only accelerate the deterioration.

[sundancer]

Nelz

yes - just try the Rod out and see what happens..  As mentioned, mono might just handle it....

as to the Guide(s), i just started to build Rods but i am finding that:

• The Thread will nearly disappear if the Thread is not the Color Preserved type
• The Epoxy might be colored..
• Warming the Blank up will make the epoxy easier to cut.
• Try to Cut on the Guide Foot.  This will help going too far

The larger Guides will be considerably easier to remove than the smaller ones.  I would start with the larger so you can get an idea of what to expect.  My first couple of Guides always look great - the small ones, not so much..  lol

If you do the rebuild, Dremel (score and then pry apart) the Seat/Handle.  They should be epoxied on which is a pain but can be chipped off.  Usually, the Handle/Seat is installed first, slid on from the top and shimmed with 2 - 3 spacers of thin Masking Tape with Epoxy covering the whole area.

You might be able to find a Handle/Seat that is big enough where you can start from the Butt End...

Anyway..  This is just my 2cents from 1/2 dozen Butt Ugly Rods.. 

Look at youtube

Hope this helps a little.  Let us know how it goes..
Steve

[nelz]

Thanks for the tips guys.

So I got the rings smoothed and polished and tried out the rod yesterday. Hooked into a 4' nurse shark which (oddly) put up quite the fight, usually it's like reeling in an big old carpet. Anyway, the rod performed great, really liked it. We'll see how long the guides last as they are now.

[sundancer]

Good to hear Nelz..

I have a few old favorites also, so I know what you are experiences.. 

good luck with the up coming Season and let us know how it comes out..

Steve