I am new to building and have a questions on stripping a finish. My dad gave me an old fly rod - a
Hawthorne 8 1/2 Model 60-6730 (its an old montgomry wards) for my son. its about 50 years old.
The rod is a maroon fiberglass that the finish has blistered and peeled. I am trying to rebuilding it for my son. The finsih is varnish I think and have tried my nail, plastic spoon and scotch brite 000 to try and strip.
Are there any other options that would strip finish and not damage rod.

I want to strip smooth and then was planning on using spar varnish to refinish and rewrap. It would
most likely be easier to build new but I thought it would be great to hand down from grandpa to grandson.

I searched the topic but everything seems to address newer rods.

If this were my project and it being fiberglass, I'd wet sand it to get that smooth finish. Use varying degrees of wet sandpaper and start with the finest grit that you'll need to get that old stuff off. Start on the butt with this coarser grit until you get it figured out in the area to be covered with a butt wrap or handle components. As you get towards the tip, a finer grit will probably do as good a job as a coarser grit did nearer the butt.

You might try gently heating the varnish with a hair dryer. I have done that on a graphite rod to remove the epoxy. Once it softens you remove the finish with your fingernails and a plastic knife. I don't know if it would work with varnish but might be worth a try.

Greg

While this may seem a hairy way to strip a rod clean it is safe, effective, and quick.

Strip the blank clean of guides, grips, reel seat. Use a utility knife with a fresh blade.. Holding the knife perpendicular to the blank scrape in long strokes. Hold the knife as if you were going to make a 90* cut and use light to medium pressure stroke the blade edge on the blank in long continuous strokes. The finish will EASILY scrape off. Do not angle the blade in any direction, hold it perpendicular only. Do not use a sawing motion. Resist the temptation to flatten the blade as if trying "shave" the finish off, you'll only succeed in nicking the blank. Though I rarely do so, if you have to you can warm the blank a little to ease in removing stubborn spots. Done carefully it will not damage the blank.

Using this procedure I can strip most any rod of all finish in 10-15 minutes. I have done a few in this manner with excellent results.

Lou

Dan,
I use the same method as Lou does above. My knife of choice is an exacto knife. After I scrape the blank, I then use the wet and dry 400 grit to smooth the blank. By the way, I have found that scraping from the big end to the small end works best. Less chance of digging into the blank. Be easy, listen and feel what you are doing. You can tell if you are scraping too hard or to deep just by the sound and feel.

My finish is usually different than most and is a heck of a lot more expensive unless you do a bunch of them. I use automotive acrylic urathane with a hardner in it. this stuff comes in three parts, acrylic, urathane, and hardner. I also splash a dash of fish eye elimator and spray the blank with an airbrush. Using this method, I can just about make a blank any color I or a customer wants and the finish is like a gloss finish on an automobile. Good Luck and take your time and be easy.

Rick Case
RodsByRick

I wanted to say thanks for the idea's . I settled on the knife - single endge razor blade! worked like a charm - first section done in 5 min. I have last section to do. I finish that tonight and get it ready to
finish.

Thanks again
Dan

I have done this a few times myself. The first thing to do is to get the old thread off. This is fairly easy to do. You just cut the thread with a razor blade in the vicinity of the "tunnel". Once you get an end free you can just grab hold of it and peel off the thread.

The real problem is to get rid of the residual varnish that remains after you have removed the wraps. Personally, I have used the paint strippers that you can get in a hardware store to do this. I apply the stripper to the area, wait about 15 minutes, then wipe it off. Afterwards I clean the area thoroughly with Isoproyl alcohol. Sometimes it takes a couple of applications to get all of it. I have not had any problems doing this. If anyone knows of any issues with this method, please speak up.