Knowing that I occasionally manage to complete a rod or two, my sister's brother-in-law got in touch with me this past weekend and wanted to know if I could do some restoration work on a bamboo Shakespeare Wonder Rod he owns. From looking at the rod, about all that is really required is replacing a number of wraps, however, since I have never worked with bamboo, I was unsure if the materials I might use would be compatible with something probably made in the 40's. I am more than a little hesitant to undertake this job. I imagine I could do the repairs, but I also imagine they could seriously devalue the rod. I don't know, so I passed. However, I told him I would look into the matter. Does anyone know anyone in the central Virginia area (or, northern Virginia or southern Maryland) that does restoration work on bamboo rods? Among other things, the butt section (three part rod) had short 1/16" or so wraps every inch along it. Some were missing. Some were unraveling. Additionally the finish on all the wraps seemed to be very minimal by today's standards. Any help would be appreciated.
Slainte,
Hunter

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!

Hunter: Perhaps the directory on this site can help you locate a rod builder in your area. The thread is probably silk and the finish is most likely varnish. Both of these are readily available. John

Thanks, John. I should have done that first. There's no one in Virginia in the directory, but there may be someone in Maryland. Thanks.
Tight lines,
Hunter

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!

Yes, I am located in Maryland (just south of Baltimore) and I do repairs, restoration, refurbishing of bamboo rods. The information above is correct - silk and varnish.

Contact me "off board" in email and we can go over the differences between refurbish and restoration.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2011 01:23PM by Ken Preston.

If Ken doesn't want to do it you can contact me also. that's 99% of my business.

Hunter,

I did a complete restoration on a good 1930's - 1940's vintage 8ft 5wt 3/2 rod. I was coached by top notch bamboo rod builder. He had me remove guides, strip finish (citrus based chemical), sand on flats 200 - 800 grit (careful), found a number of boo-boos which had to be repaired, one pinned Ferrel replaced, he straightened with heat and dip finished (4 coats of heated and thinned spar varnish), then I wrapped guides with silk and finished wraps with 6 coats of same thinned spar varnish. Left handle and reel seat original for authenticity. A lot of work and not cheap. Used rod for 1 1/2 years before it died. Both tip sections brook, one at Ferrel, other between 1st and 2nd guides. But worst (before breaking) was the wood just lost it's integrity. Started to look like a cork screw, it would develop a sag with use or storage, began to cast like a wet noodle.

Just my experience, I won't do it again. John

JLS Custom Rods
Cassadaga, NY

I would find a bamboo rod/blank restoration site and check out all the do's and do not's

Good Wraps Bob

Made a friend a 6'-6" bamboo rod from an old rod he gave me. Only the top (2) sections were any good.
Well I get a call about a month ago, the tip snapped about 7" down. (lasted (3) yrs. though)
He gave me (2) tip sections, which again looked in pretty bad shape.
So I went to Joe Cote's shop here in Mass. and talked to Ray.
He showed me how to check a few things to determine if it was even worth my using these tips.
They appeared to be OK but in his words "good luck, I wouldn't guaranty anything, these could go at any time."

As this is a friend I expained the situation to him, if it were a customer I'd say "No Way"

Where I see a problem, in older Bamboo rods the used horse glue, which after a time gets brittle. You need to go over each section with a magnifying glass and flex each section to see if there is any hidden cracks or glue separation. If the rod finish has seen better days don't sand, sanding removes the normal enamel. I would use the scraping method. If you intend to do it your self! Get a book called Bamboo Rod restoring. Mind you this is a time consuming job. I have seen 85 year old rods restored and still can be fished for another 85 years if taken care of properly

Good Wraps Bob

What Bob says works , I use the same basics , with good results . Are you sure its a WONDERROD ? I thought they were glass . I know Shakespeare made bamboo rods but have never seen a WONDERROD in boo . Larry

Larry, I am pretty certain the decal said Wonder Rod, however, much of the it was missing. There was enough of it to make out the Shakespeare part, and it appeared as though it said "Wonder Rod", but I could have been mistaken and was filling the the gaps with a preconceived notion. At any rate, I declined the attempt to restore due to my lack of experience with bamboo, and referred him to the directory here.
Slainte,
Hunter

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!