Dear all,

I' am about to do a main overhaul to an old fly rod build on a Fibatube blank (Trout Fly, 8'6" #5/6).

The grip and reel seat is still in good condition, but the guide placements are not at the correct place, also not positioned correct on/opposite to the overlap. The wrappings were made at that time with a one component U-40 product which shows now some flaws in the areas where some power was applied to the rod.

To make it very short: I intend to remove all guides including the tip top as well as the varnishing of the blank with the idea behind to avoid this way nasty areas where formerly a guide was placed and in future not.

Please give me hints especially in regard of the removal of the varnish and how the "naked" blank has to be treated to protect the surface in a certain way. I do not intend to put again varnish on the blank, just - if necessary - something to close the surface of the blank.

Regards from Germany,
Ole

Ole, i use a product called citrus strip to remove the old varnish. it gets about 90% of it off. i then use the NON cutting edge of a razor blade as a scraper being very carful to only remove the remnants of any finish and not bamboo. the power fibers are precious and you don't want to remove any of them. what you will very likely find is some evidence where the guide was. you may find a darker or lighter stain under the old guide wrap. it depends on how much exposure the rod got and what it was originally finished with. you may also find a rust stain where the guide feet were. i am told you can remove the rust stain with oxalic(sp?) acid. as for the lighter or darker shade under the wrap i have never successfully removed it. maybey others on this board know how.

i don't know how collectible the rod in questions is. if it is a desireable rod it may be a better idea not to mess with it. find out first if you can.

as for a finish, i use hand rubbed BIRCHWOOD CASEY TRU OIL on my bamboo rods. it makes a great finish but is somewhat labor intensive compared to varnish. it looks very nice after about five hand rubbed coats. DO NOT use it as a wrap finish. it will "aligator" on you if you look at it cross eyed. chances are the wraps were color preserved and then varnished. if so this is what i do. before i wrap the rod i put on three or four thin rubbed out coats of TRU OIL on the blank. after i wrap i use three thin coats of lacqueras a color preserver. either testors clear lacquer or aero gloss clear lacquer. once the wraps are sealed i use a couple of very thin coats of spar varnish. i use the spar more to protect the wraps than for any other reason. the lacquer looks real nice but is somewhat easily abraided. i don't like a deep buildup on bamboo wraps, hence the thin coats. just enough to protect. you could use urethane as well. now i hand rub a couple of thin coats of TRU OIL as a final unifying finish over the whole rod (not the handle of coarse). now that the wraps are sealed it won't aligator on you. if you take your time you will like the results.

as an after thought you may want to upsize the guides slightly to accomodate modern plastic lines or you could match it with courtland "sylk" line which has a somewhat thinner profile. if you use the old guides you will want to strip off an varnish, polish the surfaces that might be grooved and re-blue them with super blue or some other cold blue process. i have done this with good results

after re-reading your post i notice that you did not say it is bamboo. sorry. if fiber glass some of the same things apply though but i would not use TRU OIL as the finish. also the finish may not even be varnish. you may want to only very carfully and lightly wet sand the finish just to remove the surface inperfections being very careful not to sand into the glass fibers. i think old glass rods are more difficult to get a good
result on than bamboo. some, like the heddons had a tint in the coating and when you remove it you changethe color of the rod. good luck.

maybe you will do a bamboo one of these days.

Hi Larry,

many thanks for your lines. Indeed you are right it is not a split cane rod, it is one of the first rods made of a carbon & glass composite material. Maybe I used the wrong wording, I should have said coating instead of varnish. I think Hardy (Blanks were sold under the brand name "Fibatube" in the past) developed these blanks during the late 70s what you can see in the very soft, slow action compared with nowerdays rods and actions.

I think it is a good idea to wet sand the rod very carefully to remove the remainings of the old guide wrappings and some other minor scratches in the coating. The only remaining questionmark is if I have to put something on/in the surface to avoid that the blank material is taking some water.

So if anybody has an idea how to close the surface of the sanded blank with something else than a lacquer/paint please let me know.

RGDS,
Ole

Ole, i have done a few old glass rods and used marine spar varnish applied with my fingers and steel wool between coats. about three applications does it and it is a very glossy, and tough coating. looks real good. you can also use urethane coatings the same way. or, you could make a dip tube and do it that way.