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