Now bear with me her i know its a lot of information.

I know this isn't exactly a building question but i feel that the members of this board would be able to assist me the most. During Sandy a friend of mine had some rods that sustained damage. One of these is a (really) old St. Croix. It has the number 9920 on it by the company label, and a detachable wooden grip. th reel seat and butt grip detach just above the reel seat. it has 4 guides. can anybody who has one of these or has seen one explain to me what that was for.

Now to the real question. The ferrule where the grip attaches is a little cracked and loose (its aluminium). The wooden grips feel like they lost their coat of varnish in spots and i would like to apply a coat to the whole thing evenly. and i dont think the tip top was attached with something we would use today so i dont know how to get it off. and the the (i guess it would be) winding check was a white plastic or something that is cracked. I am looking for tips or ideas on how to fix all of this so i need to know how to repair a ferrule, remove wood varnish and remove the tip top. and maybe if possible fix the winding check. Thanks to all. And merry chrismas

Tyler -
First off your overall best bet would be to contact a local rod builder / rod repair person that you can go visit. You have some simple things to do - like sanding down the wooden butt with 220 through 600 grit sandpaper then reapplying outdoor polyurethane and some that are not so simple - like finding a corresponding reel seat / ferrule to replace the one on there (without a photo I've assumed this is a reel seat with it's own ferrule that connects the rod to the wooden handle) another fairly simple is the removal of the tip top (this has been covered lots of times here and could be searched for) and one that could be much more difficult / time consuming if you don't have access to a lathe or drill with pillow blocks or some other mechanical device as you may have to re-manufacture the white plastic winding check. A decent rod repair shop would be able to do all of this - and a well intentioned rod builder / repair person might be willing to walk / talk you through each of these. Doing it on here could be long winded and confusing.

Tackleworks (on the left) is one way to search for rod builders that may be local to you



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2012 09:57PM by Ken Preston.

The very first thing I would do is contact St. Croix. They may replace it, repair it, or have the parts to do it.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

St. Croix's service is top-notch, warranty or no. I would think if you describe the rod to them, that they would be able to help you in some way beyond just offering a replacement.