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