# Restoring a vintage rod



## xfreemanx (Oct 26, 2006)

I found several vintage rods in a surplus shop. One of them is a trolling rod but the rollers are stuck i think. There were several surf rods too.

Would it be worth restoring these rods and use them too?

Im also thinking of getting one of the two piece surf rods. There were other rods which do not have the matching top piece anymore. My idea is to use the 2 piece surf rod (10 ft) as is, an then customize one of the butt ends that don't have their top piece anymore by making them shorter. That way, when I travel, I can just bring 1 top pc, 1 long bottom piece (surf rod) and 1 shorter bottom piece for trolling.

What do you guys think?:fishing:


----------



## Too Busy (Sep 7, 2007)

Sounds interesting. I have an antique fly/baitcaster combo that works the same way.
It has a slip on reversible grip, a butt section
and 3 other pieces. One is the same length as the butt of moderate stiffness to make the baitcaster
the other 2 fit together with the butt to make a 8 1/2 foot fly rod.

oh and it's bamboo, so it looks


----------



## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Absolutely! Do it! Those old rods are great. I had two older Penn stand-up/trolling type rods that wish I still had so I could re-wrap them. Fun stuff.


----------



## xfreemanx (Oct 26, 2006)

Thaks for all your replies. Sounds encouraging.

Ive been trying to research on how age affects the durability of older rods, considering that at that time, the blanks were probably made of less advanced materials than what we have now. No TC4 composites yet.

The rods are graphite rods. Does it degrade over time?

I went ahead and removed the old roller guides. Will soon sand and paint over it. What kind of paint do you usually use?


----------



## Too Busy (Sep 7, 2007)

If they'er graphite you should be in good shape if they weren't stored in direct sunlight. The eopxy can degrade , but they'd look and feel chalky.

I was using an OLD fiberglass rod a while back and it kind of exploded :redface: just throwing 2 oz.


----------

