Classic Kingfisher Restoration and Rebuild.
One of the many Bamboo rods I own is a classic King Fisher 7'9" that I got from Rainbow. When I received the rod it was in extremely poor shape finish wise, grip wise, and guide wise. The finish was so old, and damaged that it looked like the rod was owned by a leper, bubbled, and pitted. The reel seat was an aluminum or tin down-locking ring assembly with "kingfisher" engraved into it. The grip was a cigar shaped hunk of wood that a very thin layer of cork was glued over and flaking off in chunks. The wooden holder was rotten, poorly made and the cover rotted. Restoring this beauty will take some, care and ingenuity.
The first Step was to remove all the guides that where left and there wrappings.
The next step was one heck of a challenge. The grip and reel seat needed to be removed. placing it in a baggy in boiling water removed the reel seat and the little bit of cork that was left. The wooden grip needed to be heated directly and still needed to be cut off in-order to remove it.
Over the course of three days with a heavy duty straight edge razor I scraped the rod down to bare bamboo and Flattened the Flats properly.
Next post Will be about the construction of the new reel seat and grip.
*The process of restoring classic Bamboo rods has taught me how honestly poorly constructed these rods where made in-order to produce enough to fill the demand and keep the price down. A lot of the materials where low grade.
