While this past weekend did not afford an opportunity to fish, there were a few free hours to devote to some of my lingering projects. So, I began to work on my bamboo rod rebuild in earnest. This is my first attempt at doing anything with bamboo, but it seems that the basic steps are the same as they would be for rebuilding any rod.
Step 1: Documentation
Before doing anything to the rod, I took photographs of each piece and recorded all of the pertinent measurements, including number of guides, guide spacing, wrap color and style, and handle configuration.
The most notable thing about this particular rod, is that it was originally intended to be usable as either a fly or spinning rod. In the fly rod configuration, it is an 8 foot three piece rod with two tips. However, there is a third tip that fits into the but section to make a shorter spinning rod. In the spinning configuration, the handle and reel seat can be completely detached and reversed to accommodate a spinning reel.
Step 2: Research
There are few extant markings on the cane, but I suspected that it might be a Montague or other production rod. But, after consulting with some knowledgeable folks, I determined that, due to it's hardware, it was probably a post-WWII Japanese rod. Not collectable, but highly fishable.
The remains of the rod's original decal.
Step 3: Disassembly Using care not to mar the cane, I used a single-edged razor blade to remove the guides and as much of the thread wraps as possible. The wraps on the guides and ferrules came off without much trouble, but the long intermediate wraps were worn in many places, and proved much more difficult. Ultimately, I left about half of them on, hoping that they would be removed in the next step.
As the reel seat and grip are in good condition, and as they can be removed completely as a unit, I simply set them aside for the time being.
I would have opted to keep the original ferrules on the rod, but they seem to be made of a soft chrome-plated metal and at least one of them was badly bent, which at first led me to believe (mistakenly) that the cane had taken on a significant "set". I removed the ferrules by heating them slowly over a candle, taking care not to scorch the cane. After several minutes and a few tugs with pliers, they each came free without marring the cane.
Step 4: Stripping
After some research, I found that the "natural" citrus based Citristrip that I use on fiberglass rods could be used to strip the varnish off of cane without damaging the glue that binds each individual strip of bamboo together into a tapered blank. Over the course of a day I submitted to cane to four treatments, which succeeded in removing all of the remaining thread, but only about half of the varnish.
I am going to experiment with some light sanding and maybe more lengthy treatments to try to get as much varnish off as possible without harming the blank. Once I have a completely clean blank, it will be time to start building the blank back up to a fishable rod.
While I have been posting about my new rod projects, I never got around to posting pictures of the first rod I was working on. For this 7'6" fiberglass rod, I only revarnished the blank and replaced the guides, but I didn't replace the cork or the reel seat. This was my first time wrapping a rod, and the work is functional if not pretty. The new "modern" guide spacing gave the rod a real nice feel, and it can chuck either 5 or 6 weight line with authority. I am giving this rod to new fly fisher, and T&Ser, Ariel. I hope she has as much fun fishing it as I had making it.
The three new rods are done, or nearly done. I will be posting on them in the new year.
So the postman was good to me this week and brought me a lot of three broken fiberglass rods I got for a song on eBay. My hope is to build on the experience I gained from the fiberglass rod repair project I just finished, and take "rebuilding" to a new level. With these rods, I want to teach myself to rebuild a rod from the blank up, which means that I will be stripping off the cork and in some cases the reel seat and fitting them with all new hardware. As the goal was to gain the experience of working on the rods, I paid little attention to what rods were in my lot, but I am nonetheless pleased that the three rods that arrived on my doorstep friday afternoon represent a variety of actions, lengths and constructions.
8 Foot St. Croix "Power Built"
The rod with the most potential of the three is the 8ft St. Croix "Power Built" which appears to be a fiberglass rod filled with urethane foam. According to the label it is for a 5wt level line or a 6wt DT line. Of the three it was the only one in cast-able shape and it through my 6wt WF line nicely.
The cork is really brittle on this rod and already has a big chip out of it, so I won't feel guilting about redoing it, even though it probably could be fished as is. The one thing I won't be changing on this one is the reel seat. I really dig the red and gold, and the sliding band has "St. Croix" stamped nicely into it, so I t seems like a shame to waste it. I think I will work on this one last of the three.
8.5 Foot Actionrod "Bass Action"
Of the three this one is the most like a club, but that said, I don't currently have a nice heavy bass rod, and while trout are the preferred quarry of T&S (hence the name), I always have a shot at nice smallies when I head back to New England. The rod is in pretty bead up shape, and I think I will probobly strip this one down first. From a sizable gauge out of the finish on the label, it looks like it might be the same color as the first project rod under the green paint.
7 Foot Mystery Rod
I am a big fan of short rods, and this one has just enough give to it to maybe be a 4/5 wt (at leas in my dreams). The label is pretty torn up so I don't know what it is, but the cork has a strange plastic cap on it, which I haven't seen before, and the tip seems to be translucent where the paint has scratched off, which is very exciting to me.
I will probably tackle the Actionrod first, and then the 7footer, saving the St. Croix for last. I will keep the blog updated as I go.
This blog has been silent too long. A somewhat impulsive move fifty miles north to Santa Cruz put a damper on writing and rod building (although thankfully not on fishing, I'm not crazy after all).
Now that we are settled, I finally turned back to the fiberglass rod that I had begun to "restore" in July. When I last posted I have stripped the finish off the rod and recoated it with spar-varnish.
Laying out the guides on the longest flat surface available at my old appartment
The next step was to find the spine of the rod and lay out the guides and attach the tip top. The original rod had only 5 guides, but I decided to go up to a more modern configuration with 7 guides.
n lieu of purchasing a a fancy rod-wrapping stand for my first project, I whipped out my exacto-knife and cut a box down a box with two notches for the rod. I made supports for the spools out of pencils and used a book for a tensioning device. I am going to grade the overall result as a B+. The wrapper works, but at times it looses thread tension and it was hard to keep the wraps laying perfectly against each other.
My DIY Rod Wrapper in it's natural envronment
It was at this point that I put the rod down and started packing boxes for our move to Santa Cruz. In the intervening months I promised the rod to new fly-fisher and T&Ser Ariel, who caught her first trout on a fly this July on the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne river in Yosemite.
When I finally unpacked the rod, I used a white paint pen to inscribe it, and then proceeded to epoxy the wraps and inscription. While this might have gone smother with a better set up, and with a turning motor, I think it was a pretty good result over all.
Writing on a rod blank is a skill I may have to acquire over time
All in all, I really enjoyed this project. Having "fixed up" this rod has piqued my interest in rod building, and I certainly know a lot more about rods than I did when I started.
To finish this project off I just have to make a rod sock and test cast it. I'll let you know how it goes
This year I acquired my first fiberglass rod, a coffee brown 7’8” Fenwick made to throw a 5 or 6 wt line. I have enjoyed fishing it noting that it has the soft slow action of a bamboo rod at a fraction of the price. Ever since I first fished it I have been scheming to find room in my budget for another. I have also had a long-standing plan to build my own fly rod, but it seemed foolish to purchase a (relatively) expensive new fiberglass blank without any experience whatsoever building or finishing a rod.
The solution came unexpectedly at an antique store in Jamestown, CA where we were getting lunch on the way to fish an evening hatch on one of our favorite rivers. In the window I saw a lovely, if beat up, two-piece, seven-and-a-half foot fiberglass rod. The blank was a nice light brown color, and in good condition. All but one of the snake guides and the striping guide had rusted or come off which probably accounts for the price. 22 bucks!
The rod before restoration
The cork grip and Bakelite reel-seat were in good condition, so I am going to use this rod to teach myself how to wrap and finish a rod before I set out to build myself the rod of my dreams. With any luck it will throw a 4 wt line, which would fill a gap in my collection, but more likely it will throw a 6. The inscription on the rod is illegible, so I don't know who originally built it. It probably won't have the same wonderful action as my Fenwick, but anything is possible.
The cryptic remains of the rod's inscription. Signature? Line designation? Your guess is as good as mine.
This weekend I began the project in earnest. After measuring and documenting the rod, I carefully removed all the remaining guides and wraps with a razor blade. I next stripped off as much of the varnish as I could with acetone and a rough scotchbrite sponge.
The blank before and after the varnish was removed
The cleaned up rod looks much lighter than the varnished rod, it has almost an orange huge. Next weekend (UPS willing) I will have the materials I need to begin the next stage of the project, wrapping on new guides. I never expect this rod to be a great beauty, and at the moment I don't even know what weight line it throws, but I am already growing fond of it. Its finish is not smooth, and I am somewhat weary of the Bakelite reel-seat, but if nothing else it is unique.
I am looking forward to getting down to work on it.
The Bakelite reel-seet, will it shatter and break? Only time will tell.
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