Bamboo Rod Restoration

SuperT · 06-02-2001, 09:49 PM

Does anyone know who or where I can go to to have an old bamboo fly rod restored for a fairly reasonable fee. It needs quite a lot of work, but I can't afford the $300 plus materials that some of the restorers I've seen on the internet want. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
Tony

smilesforu · 06-02-2001, 11:23 PM

Tony to save money look in the mirror. Study and learn the techniques to do it right and you will enjoy the journey.

Sparkey · 06-03-2001, 12:19 AM

Look up Ray Gould from Edmonds, Wa. He does an outstanding job but alas, I do not know his prices.

WheresMyBobber · 06-03-2001, 08:54 AM

smilesforu is right - you can learn how to do it yourself, and it isn't that hard. I've redone a couple bamboo fly rods, and it was quite satisfying to see the project through and go catch some fish with them. There are books on rod refinishing that should help a lot.

I would make sure the rod you want to refinish isn't collectible, because refinishing a collectible rod may ruin the value. In reality, the majority of bamboo fly rods aren't worth very much, but a few are quite valuable.

SuperT · 06-03-2001, 10:01 AM

I'm not sure if the rod I have would be considered collectable or not. It wouldn't really matter though since it will NEVER be sold. It was custom made close to 50 years ago by a man named Chuck Olson who lived in the Tacoma, WA area most of his life. He made the rod for my grandfather. Both have since passed on, so doing it myself would definitely mean a lot. I just have no idea where to start or where to go for materials.

WheresMyBobber · 06-03-2001, 10:35 AM

Given the rods history, I would guess that it has more sentimental value than collector value. That probably means more anyway. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I bet your local library has some rod building books. I also did a quick internet search on "Bamboo fishing rods" and "making fishing rods" and there is lots of info to reference there as well.

Refinishing a bamboo rod isn't that much different than refinishing or building any other rod. The most critical part of refinishing a bamboo rod is getting the old varnish off without ruining the bamboo. I have used a small square piece of glass to carefully scrape the varnish off one side at a time. This way you maintain the octagon edges and aren't using any solvents that may ruin the glue holding the pieces of cane together. After that it's just a matter of adding a new coat of varnish and wrapping the old (or new) guides back on, and doing any ornate wrappings you want. (make sure you take measurements of the current guide placement and spacing before you take them off) There are some tricks that will help with varnishing the rod and the guide wrapping that you should be able to read about in a rod building book. I don't see my rod building books on my bookshelf, I probably loaned them to somebody and never got them back. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Good luck!