Bamboo fly rod repair

I just bought a montague flash bamboo fly rod for a reasonable price. The ferrules were a bit loose and cracked so I was wondering how to fix them. ALso, The finish wasn't superb so I was wondering If I could do anything about that.

Also, The rod is a pretty long(9) 3 pc, and heavy. I was thinking about adding a female ferule to an handle and reelseat to connect to the 2 front rod parts to make the rod convertible into a 6 ft bamboo rod. If you can understand me, Have you ever tried this ? Does It work well?

Thank you. Any links will help.

Nice rod to work on, Ken.

If the ferrules are cracked in the metal, I'd put on new ones if you intend to fish the rod. If they're just coming off the blank, you can certainly glue them back on.

To refinish, I'd first remove the old varnish. There are many ways to do this, but I like to firmly scrape the rod with a straight edge of something plastic, like an old credit card -- metal will scratch it. An piece of formica is also good.

I assume you'll take off the guides and re-wrap. Have you considered silk?

PM me if I can help further.

Ron

I might put on new varnish if it doesn't cost too much money. What should I use? The varnish isn't in horrible condition, so I was thinking aboat just putting a coat of varnish over the old coat to make it look better. Also, there seems to be a few places on the blank that look "bubbly" would you consider fixing them?

Thanks

Shortening your 3 pc to a 6 foot 2 pc will make grins break out all over your face. I'm a little nervous about what a big fish might do to mine, but have gotten 15" cutts with no problem, and mine has a split in the mid section. Exactly what you are saying, find an old handle, put a female ferrule in the end, and plug your top 2 pieces in.

Shortening makes a good brush rod and it doesnt screw up the rod if you need more reach. It wont change the line wt, which should be a 6wt. The 6 will work just fine, but if you have other lines experiment a little. Pics Pics we want pics of the project

You can use auto body polishing compound to renew the gloss of old varnish. As long as the existing varnish is intact enough to provide a waterproof finish you don't need a new coat. If there are cracks or bare spots the a new coat of varnish is needed. It's important to keep water out of the rod blank.

I have used Meguiar's Mirror Glaze brand polishing compound with success. You can find these products at most auto supply stores, used to remove swirl marks from car body paint finishes. This product comes in various abrasive values. I like the #2 'fine cut cleaner' version. Just squirt a small bit on a soft cloth and apply to the rod with a lot of elbow grease. The #2 grit leaves a soft matte finish, follow it up with a finer #3 or #4 product if you want a glossy finish.

Re varnishing is an option, but it can be difficult to get a really good flawless finish. Traditional linseed oil or tung oil based spar varnish (not polyuerethane) was used on most rods. Most manufactors applied the finish by dipping the whole rod into a tube of thinned varnish and slowly exctracting it, then place the rod in a dust free drying cabinet. Brushing on the varnish is likley to result in brush marks, wet varnish will attract dust like a magnet. The modern polyuerthane spar varnish works, but doesn't look the same as the traditional stuff. Good spar varnish runs about $60/gal. It takes several quarts to fill a dip tube and has a limited shelf life.

Some folks prefer to use a product like 'Formby's Tung Oil' which is applied by hand rubbing with a soft cloth. This eliminates the brush marks and dust issues associated with traditional spar varnish. Formby's is a tung oil based finish with additional dryers and varnish like additives. I've used it for touching up varnished rods with some sucess, it works well for refinishing rods stripped of old finish. It probaly won't provide as good a water seal as a real spar varnish, but it's really easy to apply. I use about 7 coats on a stripped rod for a nice low gloss finish. I got mine at Home Depot. Don't use it for sealing thread wraps, use spar varnish instead.

Here is a link to a whole bunch of info on rod finishes...
http://www.bamboorodmaking.com/html/finishing.html

Making a shorter 2 piece rod using the tip and mid section of a three piece rod is sometimes called a 'banty' rod. I made several and they work well. Several articles on banty construction on the above web site as well. Note: ferrule sizes are far from standardized. If you decide to replace the ferrules make sure you buy an extra set from the same source for the banty handle. A small section from the butt of an old rod (fly, spin, bait cast, anything will work) make a good core for building up the banty handle.

I'll try posting a picture if I can.

Also , I have a wood finishing polish used for guitars that contains petrolium distillates. Will It effect the performance of the rod?

The label on my bottle of Meguiar's Mirror Glaze says it contain 'petroleum distilates' as well...Mirror Glaze won't hurt spar varnish.

Old fashioned paste wax is a good way to finish. 2-3 coats give remarkable results but will give the impression of carkening the cane.