Metal fly rod refinishing

[chris from canada]

Hello guys,

I was given an old metal fly rod with a wooden handle.

It is a little rusty, but in half decent shape.

I was wondering what the best way would be to clean it up, and then repaint it; I would like to keep it as close to original as possable.

It will be a wall hanger.

For those who are intersted the model is a bristol, made by heddon in conn.

Does anyone also know what it might be worth, or have any info on the rod ( when it was made, etc.)?

Have a great day !
chris

[chris from canada]

Anybody?

I feel so alone!

[modocdan]

Hi Chris...
You say the rod is a little rusty? I'm picturing a fine sheen of rust, no pitting, hopefully. If that's the case you can easily restore it. Is the metal part of the rod finished with a laquer of some kind? If so, remove that with laquer thinner first. Go easy with any abrasives. Was the rod painted a color, or clear finished, and which do you want for yourself? To remove the old finish, and the rust, I would reccomend first laquer thinner on a coarse cloth, then for the rust, naval jelly, and for persistant rust, laquer thinner on a fine scotchbrite pad. Use normal refinishing methods on the wood.
after the steel is clean and shiny, you can polish out any scratches with red automotive rubbing compound on a piece of suede leather. I've had excellent sucess with this method. then, for natural steel finish, just use a good clear polyurthane, or rod finish epoxy. Good luck on your refinish project, sounds like you have a real oldy...
..................ModocDan

[chris from canada]

Thanks for the info Mo.

To think ,that I was going to use fine sand paper.

I will be trying to redo the rod next week.

Have a great day,
chris

[shorthaul]

Hi Chris

I have a Bristol 3 that was sent to me by a college roomate---mine is in good shape except where the postal service crushed the tube and consequently the tip in thier door along the way

As far as the rust for yours goes---id get some fine scotchbrite (gray) and a light oil ---let it sit for a bit and wipe it down with the scotchbrite---it wont remove much if any material from the rod

Mine is painted on the outside (telecope) the inside sections appear to be copper plated steel

[modocdan]

Hey Chris, shorthaul's mention of copper reminds me, early metalwork was often copperplated, then Nickel plated, (electroplated) done so because the nickel plating bonded better with copper. If your rod has a copper look on the inside of the tupe, it may be nickel plated. if so, go very easy with the abrasives, or you'll rub it right off, exposing the copperplate beneath. I'd just go for a polish job with the leather and compound method. I would even go to white automotive polishing compound, as it is much finer an abrasive than even the red stuff........................ModocDan

[Warm Water Fly Fisher]

hey chris,

if you don't mind can you post a pic or send one to me through pm? I have an old metal fly rod too. mine is not marked what it is.

Thanks WWFF

[Jtaylor]

I'd like to find one of those old fishable steel fly rods, strip it down and use gun blue to refinish it. I know that may sound unusual but I'd sure like a rod the same color as my old Browning shotgun barrel.

[chris from canada]

I will take pictures of it this week, and try to post them.

Have a great day.
chris

[David Parker]

Hello Chris; I recently refinished an old steel baitcasting rod for a customer. This rod was a hand-me-down from his grandfather and was in unfishable shape having all but 1 guide lost and the tip top badly bent. (the guides back then were wound onto the blank with very fine wire) The fellow wanted to know it's value........really only sentimental value to him is what I advised him, but made him aware that it can be brought back to fishable life by refurbishing/rebuilding it. The original (likely lead based) paint was soooo far gone the rod looked like crap, so I took on the task of stripping the old paint and repainting to closely match the original colour. I found that ScotchBrite was the perfect pad to remove the paint without actually abrasive sanding and it prepped the steel blank really nice for repainting. Worked great!! I cleaned the new surface with rubbing alcohol then repainted the blank with a matt finish spray paint called Krylon.........dries in 12 minutes to a durable finish. When rebuilt with new Perfection guides and tip top, the rod looked beautiful and certainly blew the fellow's mind when he arrived a few weeks later to pick it up. I was quite happy with the refurbish job, for it put new life into an already antique piece of sport fishing history.