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