Hello again. I was going through my uncles garage and I came across an old fly blank rod. The guides are rusty, the wraps are coming undone, and overall it is in bad shape. The blank though has a really nice action, and I would like to turn it into a crappie rod. Anyway, I stripped off the guides and handle and I am left with the blank. Now, under the wraps the blank is way darker than what was exposed obviously. What is my next move? Should I take a really fine sandpaper to the whole blank until it is a unified color, then seal it with some sort of spar varnish/urethane before I go about converting it into a spinning rod?

I dont want to damage the blank, and I have never really tried to reuse such an old blank before.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

What type of material is the blank made of?

It is currently still at my uncles. I will have to get it this weekend to figure it out. It is at least from the 70s if that is any indication.

From the 70's.....that's not old.

Well, I did say at least. I was guessing. I only gave it a once over. I will look for markings this weekend. I am saying from the 70s because it was in my uncles garage, and he was born in 1947. Maybe the 60s would be a better guess.

It may be glass. Scrap off the color on the butt section. If it comes up black it may be graphite but that old probably be light in color - fiberglass.

Bill - willierods.com