My buddy gave me an old fiberglass rod ( think its fiberglass). If I were doing this to make money, this rod would be in the garbage basket. It's pretty cool though, he's had it forever and wants to redo it with his son's name. Since he's going to the desert to the same base I was, I figured I'd do him this one favor.

It's an old trolling rod, with old aftco trolling guides that need to be replaced. How do I re-finish or re-do the wooden butt? It is in good shape, but the finish is kinda shot. Also, it has a silver metal reel seat, the blank can come out at the top, not sure what kind of metal. Its shiny and pretty well corroded. I can't cut it off because if I do, the blank won't have anything to screw into. What to re-finish this with? Never-dull, metal polish? Any ideas?

Thanks guys.
Phil

Phil'
I believe the wooden handles were finished with varnish. As for buffing up the old bright work, try using Brasso, or a silver polish. Just don't use an abrasive type of cleaner, commit, etc. Should work just fine.
Fred

Have you thought about trying to persuade this buddy to build a replica of his old rod ? In the Catalogs, you can find (hickory) wood butts, inexpensive trolling blanks and brand-new, quality 2-piece locking-nut ferruled reel seats. Finish the wood with varnish.

If he wants to use the old wood and old blank, then it may be worth trying to remove the old reel seat and installing a brand new one. Careful use of a hacksaw, and strong nippers (side or end cutters) and pliers can be used to peel off the old reel seat from the wood butt and wood foregrip. Just be careful when installing a new reel seat to keep the axial line-of-center straight from the butt to to the foregrip. If you don't, the assembled rod may get a little kink or offset in it at the reel seat that may be a little annoying. I hope that helps. -Cliff Hall-

Cliff, axial line of center. redid an old montague boat rod new butt seat and fore grip blank is not straight with handles. I was wondering where i screwed up. Learn something new everyday. Thanks John

Phil Richmond - PS: If you go with replacing the old reel seat, try applying some heat to the old reel seat barrel and male cap before going the labor-intensive route of cutting & peeling it off. Dipping it in boiled water, or a brief heating over a flame or heating with a heat gun (or 1500 Watt hair dryer) may do the trick. When you scrape off the old glue and crude from the butt end and foregrip side is where you want to be careful to keep the walls of the wooden stub both parallel and round. Careless scraping or sanding here is where an offset angle can be introduced when the new reel seat is mounted. If you have a lathe, a fresh turning could prevent this problem. Using a hard, straight sanding block can also help. The new reel seat can be mounted with an epoxy adhesive or even a hot-melt glue, from a hot-glue gun or the hot-glue sticks for rod tip-tops. If you use the melt-able glue, that gives you the hope of correction if your dry hand-fitting before final assembly leaves you concerned that the axis of all the components thru the reel seat may be slightly off. It is hard to do absolutely perfectly on wood stubs where water has probably rotted the outer layer. You do have to remove that; if you don't the rot won't hold the glue, and the reel seat will come loose anyway, which is worse than a little offset. Dry wall tape can help shim up the stub if the rot is really bad and requires removing lots of wood rot. Best Wishes, -Cliff Hall, Gainesville, FL-

I would think that is a solid fiberglass blank on that? Got a couple I was thinking of making some saltwater rods out of. Strong blanks

Hey Phil if the seat is chrome you can try any automotive chrome polish. I would stick woth a name brand. Such as Mothers. Mothers makes one of the best Chrome Polishes around. Favorite of hotrodders and Harley owners everywhere. You can find it at any Automotive parts store, like Pepboys. GOOD LUCK!