Bamboo Rod Restoration?

[Bruce Petray]

I received a JC Higgins 3034 Bamboo Fly Rod from a Gentleman. After some research I realize that the Rods value is Not in Reselling, and that’s Okay with me. I would like to Renew/Restore the Rod to Very Good condition, then Fish with the History. I have never done any Rod Restoration and am somewhat intimidated by it. So basically I’m asking for Help!

Photos of the Rods condition as I received it follows:

Any information would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[Mike Cline]

My suggestion would be to get one of the good references on Bamboo Rod construction and restoration. My favorite is: The Fine Bamboo Fly Rod-A Master’s Secrets of Restoration and Repair, Stuart Kirkfield, 1986. Here’s a link to some available copies: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=The+Fine+Bamboo+Fly+Rod

Of course if you want the bible, get hold of a copy of A Master’s Guide To Building A Bamboo Fly Rod by Garrison, Everett, with Hoagy B. Carmichael (1977). http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=1&tn=A+Master%27s+Guide+to+Building+A+Bamboo+Fly+Rod&x=66&y=12 Its been reprinted a few times.

There may be more recent works on Bamboo rod restoration, but these are the two I have in my library.

Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu

[Bruce Petray]

The Gentleman that gave me the Rod also sent a 1985 copy of the Garrison Carmichael book. I have just started the read it.

I’ll look into the other.

Thinking I’ll fish it a couple times before I decide to start a project. As if I don’t have enough projects already.

I have more rods than I can fish in a two week period already, so it doesn’t have to be on a Time schedule.

Thanks!

[Brian Greer]

Bruce,

You also might want to look into the “Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook” by Michael Sinclair.

He does excellent work. His website: http://www.caneclinic.com/

Restoring the rod will take quite a bit of time. You are going to have to decide what you want to replace on the rod.
You’ll have to decide if you want to change the grip or if you just want to clean it up.

The wraps look Ok, but not great. You will have to decide what to do about those. If you just want to replace the worst of the wraps then you will have to match the thread colors. That can be a very difficult thing to do. It depends on how close of a color match is acceptable to you.

You could always replace all of the wraps and then everything would match.

You also have to decide what to do about the varnish finish. It’s a little difficult to see detail in your pics, but the finish doesn’t look too bad. You might be able to clean up the finish and varnish over it.

If you decide to replace all of the wraps, that would make it much easier to strip the varnish, wrap the rod, and then varnish the rod.

There is also the label on the rod to consider. Those can be very tricky to clean up. A Q-tip dipped in mineral spirits works well.
ROLL the Q-tip over the label, don’t rub across it. That can dislodge parts of the label. Work slowly with great attention to detail.

So it all depends on how far you want to get into it.

I’ve done a bit of bamboo work and the best advice is to make a plan and work slowly and carefully. If one part of a plan isn’t working out, stop and figure out a different way instead of trying to make something work that obviously isn’t.

Brian

[Bruce Petray]

Thanks, I’ve checked his website, looks good!

Looks like I have more reading to do …. Gonna be a while before I start, but …. Guess I will just see

Thanks again!

[Zach Matthews]

If I were going to restore this rod, this is what I would do.

First confirm the blank has no separation in between the individual strips of cane. If it does, stop right now and turn to a pro. But assuming the blank itself is still solidly glued up and I am primarily restoring this so that I can fish it myself…

Cut off the guides using a razorblade slid along the cane (not chopped down through the wraps). Procure more silk thread (that red wrap is achieved with a silk thread which is almost hot pink). I’ve wrapped a bamboo rod and it’s not hard. In fact my very first rod ended up on the cover of John Gierach’s latest edition of his book “Fishing Bamboo.” It’s real doable.

Once the blank is free of guides, gently sand with 400 grit sand paper, being careful to stay on the flat edges and not to round off the corners. You are primarily trying to remove grime and bits of old glue/wrap edges, not recover the underlying wood. Once it is sanded, wipe once with acetone to clean off debris, then lightly coat it in tung oil varnish. This can be painted on but the best way would be to actually tape the ferrules off and dip the rod in a thin tube (say 1/2″ PVC), slowly drawing it out to ensure a perfectly even coating, then brushing away the excess as it drips off. When the coating is tacky but not totally set up, remove the tape to free the ferrules. Those are glued on to the blank before cosmetic wrapping anyway.

Once the blank is re-varnished, simply replace the guides using instructions to be found anywhere on the internet. It’s not hard. You can do it with some thread, some masking tape, a book or two for a tensioner and a cereal bowl. I used this book:

Now, as for the ferrules and the reel seat. Those are likely to be nickel silver. When you’ve cut the guides off and lightly sanded the blank but before the varnish dip, take the opportunity to polish those very thoroughly with Nevr-Dull or similar metal cleaning wadding. Technically this is a nickel (not a pure silver) so silver cleaner probably isn’t the best choice. Buff with a cotton tip on a Dremel tool if necessary.

The cork grip you have there is salvageable but will require some work. First off you are going to tape the (sanded) blank and (cleaned) reel seat off very thoroughly, then aggressively sand through the exterior coating of crap with probably 150 grit sand paper. You’re not trying to alter the shape so you don’t need a lathe; just some elbow grease. It looks like you have some damage as well, so you’re going to buy a pale quality cork ring from a rod supply house and grind it up using a coffee grinder or possibly some very very rough grit sand paper. Conserve the cork dust. You will mix this with U-40 rod bond product (http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/rod-building-epoxy/029110400005.aspx) to make a paste, which you will then use to fill any serious holes in the cork. Let dry, then sand again using 150 then 400 grit paper to finish. That’s all you need to do with the grip; you can make it almost look new again this way.

Finally once your parts are clean, your rod is re-varnished, and the guides are re-wrapped, you will finish the rod by carefully wetting out each guide with a very very very very thin coating of more tung oil varnish. This might require up to seven applications but eventually the silk thread will wet out and look like glass, assuming you packed it tightly and wrapped it right.

Is all of this worth it? Maybe not, but if you’re interested in rod building it would certainly be a good project rod.

Here’s my final version:

[Bruce Petray]

Wow, I don’t think that my work will be published, unless on this Forum, but I gonna try it. Problem for next few weeks is our upcoming move.
Where did all this stuff come from?

Thanks for the tips!!!

Bruce

[Brian Greer]

Zach has laid down some good info.

Some things that I might add or solidify:

Wrapping guides, if you’ve never done it, takes some practice.
Practice using a wooden dowel, old rod section, or arrow shaft.
Start by using thicker thread. Then work your way down to the finer silk that you would use on the bamboo rod.
Practice will help you get consistent looking wraps.

If you are going to do any re-varnishing, make sure that your rod is smooth and *clean*.
Zach said to sand and wipe down with acetone.
You could always strip all the varnish off of the rod, it’s easy enough to do. Citri-Strip works wonders.
Tape off the ferrules and grip.
If you decide not to strip the whole rod, sanding over the whole rod will help new varnish adhere to the old.
Make sure that you wipe to rod down well. You don’t want any sort of oils on the rod, that might mess with the varnish.

If you decide to dip the rod in a tube, Zach mentioned drawing it out slowly. Draw it out *very* slowly.
Rod makers usually use a withdraw rate of about 2 to 4 inches per minute. The surface tension of the varnish will help draw the varnish off of the surface of the rod, leaving a thin, smooth layer. Many rod makers will thin the varnish.
There are may ways to varnish a rod. Some people wipe it on. Some people brush it on. Some people use a dip tube or a drain tube. Some people use the “turkey baster” method. Some people spray it on.

While varnishing the wraps, you want to use several thin coats like Zach said. Most makers thin the varnish for their wraps. Many use a 50/50 mix of varnish/thinner for the first couple coats to make sure that the varnish fully impregnates the thread.

Varnish comes in a lot of different forms. (Polyurethane varnish, marine spar varnish, etc.) Most are decent to use. They will also have different viscosities right out of the can. Epifanes varnish, for example, is very thick out of the can.

You can use several products to thin varnish. Naptha, mineral spirits, and turpentine are each used successfully.

Some people varnish the rod, then wrap the guides and varnish them. Some people wrap the guides, varnish the wraps, and then varnish over the rod. Either way works. There are a lot of books out there on the subject and there are a lot of videos on youtube, etc.

Go slow and be neat and careful. The outcome will be rewarding.

Brian

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