I received from my Father my Grandfathers old bamboo boat rods. One is a Montague heavy 6' 10 with detachable wood butt and with two guides opposite each other and a massive tip. The other is a Kingfisher and isn't quite as heavy and is a two peice with two opposite guides and a centered tip guide. The wraps are in bad shape and the metal is cruddy and needs a polish, The finish on both rods isn't very good anymore.

My question is... Are these valuable and should not be restored or better off being restored?? I want to display them with some the #49 and #149 Penns that came with them. I guess if they are to be rebuilt I will need silk thread and rod varnish to do the job right. Also guess that replacement decals are out of the question. Just not sure which way to go with these and can't find much on the web about these things.

They are not terribly valuable from a monetary standpoint. In really top notch condition, you're looking at rods that might only command $100 to $150 each.

The opposing guides are there so that the tip could be flipped over and fished on the opposite side in order to oppose any warp setting in permanently. Many fishermen these days don't understand the nature of the old wood and cane rods and that you had to fish both sides of the blank in order to prevent a bad warp from setting in.

You might find restoring them to be a fun project and you'd have your grandfather's rods, which may be worth more than money to you.

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These are easily restored with a little patience.

The old finish is best removed by scraping with an exacto knife or razor blade at 90 degrees. Minwax or Helmsman finishes are superior to rod varnish and regular nylon thread actually looks pretty cool on these rods. Large boat rod guides with no inserts make good replacements for rusty old originals. If the rod has started to delaminate, it's a bigger chore as you have to split out, clean and re-glue with elmers or tite bond III.

All pretty satisfying when you are done though. Looks great on the wall.

Terry

John, Good advice from both Tom and Terry. These rods are not that hard to restore and will look great when you are done. They can be fished with as well once you have them back in good shape. It would make a fun project especially since they were your grandfather's rods. If you run into problems, just ask for help. Joe

Joe Douglas

Thanks guys, I would never sell them. The value of them comes from having delt with furniture in the past where the value is less when restored. I will restore them then and if I have any questions I know where to ask. Thanks again

John - email me directly and I'll try to help.

We get a number of these down here on the NC coast.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods