A friend of mine dropped off two of his prized rods for me to replace the guides on. They are St. Croix blanks, and the guides were severely rusted. I have removed all guides and had to sand " lightly " some of the areas where the guides sat (with 400 grit) due to the staining from the rust. How would I polish the entire blank to get that new look, without damaging the blank itself?

Also, I would like to go the extra step and redo all the wrapping. I do not want to remove the actual St. Croix logo or blank ID, but I would like to redo the wrap on either side of the Logo. Would I be able to cut or sand down the finish on each end of the logo to get to the wrap, rewrap, finish over and have it blend as one again?

You won't get a "new" look by polishing. You'd have to refinish the blank. The best you can do without a complete refinish job is clean it, and then after affixing and finishing the guides, wax the entire rod.

.................

Tom, I guess what Im trying to say is... The areas I had to lightly sand, if you were to take and look at it in the sunlight, you can see a difference in finish in those areas. I would like to try and get an " even finish" look over the entire rod... Is this possible? How would I refinish?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2012 10:36AM by Brian Bishop.

Brian,
Unfortunately, it is likely not possible without stripping and refinishing the entire blank.

If you don't want to strip the entire rod, sometimes the best thing to do is to simply make longer wraps on the guides to cover any slight imperfections near the former guide locations.

Good luck
Roger

you could try a light rubbing compound on a terry cloth. I used turtle wax automotive rubbing compound to polish a blank i stripped the paint off of, turned out good and doesn't cut very much. I just held the cloth to the blank while it was on the lathe. I would try a test patch somewhere first if you can.

Regards,
-Justin

If the rust is in the area the guide was removed from and you are not changing the spacing just do a false under wrap to cover the area under the guide. The thread near the logo will come right off. CAREFULLY cut into the wrap horizontal to the blank until you can grab a thread. Then just pull on it and it will unwind and the finish will fly off.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Since you want to change the thread around the Logo
Go down to the first wrap before the logo from the tip Your saving the logo to the seat
Mask it in the middle of the old wrap
Sand the rod with 400 - 500 grit paper and water get it as smooth as a babies butt Check it I like sunlight Shows more If all looks good And it is DRY One or two coats of Permagloss or LumiSeal
When dry you have a nice hard surface to wrap the new guides on any where you want them

I have done this on about 20 rods making them spiral wraps from conventional

When the clear is dry Sand CAREFULLY the old wraps around the logo add you thread

Refinish the guide wraps and go over the new logo wraps and the logo

It will look like new

Bill - willierods.com

I would scotch brite the whole blank and then give it two coats of Permagloss. I have done this several times and it works really well. Permagloss is amazing stuff!!