I need advice on refinishing thread wraps ( thread is good but finish is in not, will not rewrap) on vintage 50's ,60's, and 70's rods. Iam not sure of prep and type of finish. A advice appreciated.

Are you thinking of putting new finish over the old? If not, removing the old finish without damaging the thread is not practical if not impossible.

Almost assuredly some of the old finish has penetrated the threads, thus trying to remove it only, is very problematical, and any attempt will damage the old wraps.

If the finish is varnish, you can try cleaning loose particles then applying a new coat of varnish over the old. However it is likely to not have a good appearance as varnish yellows considerably over time and the new will not match the old finish that is left. Test one to see.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2015 06:15PM by Phil Erickson.

The advice from Phil is right on.

If you want a vintage rod to look good - strip the guides off, rewrap and refinish.

Otherwise, enjoy the "vintage look" of the rod as it currently exists.

But, on the other hand - if the finish has basically fallen off, just do a test, where you put finish on one of the guides without doing anything else and see how it turns out. If you don't line the appearance, you only have to redo one guide.

Good luck on any decision you make.

Be safe

Loose finish can be removed by applying gentle heat with a flame, hair dryer, or embossing gun and gently picking off loose finish being careful not to move the underlying thread. Then apply color preserver to the exposed thread, let dry, and finally apply a coat of epoxy thread finish.

In the time periods Don listed, the finish on these rods is almost certainly varnish rather than one of the modern finishes like epoxy or urethane. Old varnish will flake off, but I doubt if hearing, it will melt the varnish so it can be easily removed. I recommend rewrapping as well.

Mike Blomme

If it is a varnish finish, the thread will probably not be coated to the extent that ridges between adjacent threads are filled in entirely. The texture can be felt to some degree under this condition so a new coat of varnish after removing any old loose flaking stuff with a finger nail or craft stick may freshen up the look without having to rewrap. As suggested by others, a trial effort may show what can be accomplished without a total rewrap.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2015 06:09PM by Ross W Pearson.

If the customer will not agree to a rewrap, then I would inform him that it is possible to simply overcoat the original with a new layer of epoxy, but that long term results can't be guaranteed.

In any event, try to pick off any obvious loose or lifting old finish before applying new.

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If it's really dry take your burnishing tool and press it on the wraps. don't rub it back and forth, just press it parallel to the blank. If it's dry enough the varnish will seperate from the thread and then you can go back and scrape it off with your fingernail. then recoat with CP and varnish. the other options is to clean the wraps with some DNA then cp and revarnish using a good spar varnish. it will take several coats and you may not get them smooth depending on if they are really chipped up or not.

I have a couple fiberglass rods I'm guessing from the 70's and have started to do the same project however there didn't appear to be any finish on the threads. Since I had planned on rewrapping it didn't matter but when I cut tthru that thread talk about brittle some of it just broke off----that may happen if your orginal finish is thin in places resulting in the rewrap I 'm still very new at this but thought I would share my current experience, good luck.

Hello,

I just re-finished the wraps on a Ply-flex fiberglass surf rod from late 60's.

At first I thought there was no finish, but looking closer it did appear there was something on the wraps, as you could see where it overlapped the blank.

Since the wraps were in such good shape, I simply added a coat of spar varnish, but doing so darkened the thread colors considerably.

Not sure what the original finish was? It had the texture of color preserver, but definitely did not do any color preserving.

Just sharing my experience re-finishing vintage rods.

-chad

The comment about the wraps darkening when applying new finish over the old original makes a good point.
i would always re-seal the old thread with a couple coats of color Preserver.
Then any top coat should not interfere with whatever the original color was.

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

I do wish I used color preserver, or at least found out what the original finish was before proceeding.

The thread was a nice two-tone, space dyed I believe it is called.

Oh well, chalk it up to learning.

-chad

Thanks for all the input. 2 of the rods that will definitely need rewrapped are 1950 era steel Heddon Pals with brownstone finish and wrapped in maroon and green silk. I would like to duplicate the original rods as close as possible. Does anyone know what would be the correct thread and finish to use.

Thanks for all the input. 2 of the rods that will definitely need rewrapped are 1950 era steel Heddon Pals with brownstone finish and wrapped in maroon and green silk. I would like to duplicate the original rods as close as possible. Does anyone know what would be the correct thread and finish to use.