Split bamboo fly rod came into the shop for repair/restoration this last week. We will be retying all of the guides and replacing the tip guides. The bamboo will be lightly sanded, and a new finish coat applied. We will also attempt to recreate the decals and apply them. The rod sock will be cleaned and pressed. In addition, the rod case will be refinished with new decal! This will be a tedious project, but very rewarding in the end.
11/15/2022. Well, this project is finished! I spent over 16 hours cleaning, sanding, wrapping, installing, inspecting, sizing, fitting, and finishing the rod sections. In addition, I removed the old paper wrap on the rod tube, buffed the metal end caps, created a new decal and installed it on the rod tube. and re-finished rod Tube. A new decal for the butt section of the rod was created and installed. This split bamboo fly rod is now ready to display in a man cave or venture to your favorite trout stream!
This particular one has seen some hard use! For starters, the reel foot was broken off on one side! Since this part was discontinued by Shimano over a decade ago, I was very concerned about finding a new or even a used one. I was able to locate a new one and even for a reasonable price! Like Many fishing reels, I don’t recommend “home” repairs on this reel. There are several small springs and other parts that can be problematic for losing them and then re-assembly and having the reel work correctly. After installing the new reel foot, a couple of additional problems became evident. The reel still had the original fiber drag washers that were compressed, worn, and in one case “welded” to the metal washer. these fiber washers were removed, and all metal drag washer surfaces polished to remove dirt, rust and other irregularities. New Carbon fiber drag washers were installed. This reel has a “power” lock on the drag assembly that locks the drag when desired. This system is a slightly complex assembly of slides, dogs, springs and washers that lock the main drive gear and disables the ability for the drag assembly to all slippage in the drive. A “dog” in this system was rotating with use and then would not allow the drag system to be re-engaged. Lastly, I discovered that the casting control cap was cross threated and there was no adjustment available. All of these issues were fixed, and the reel will have many more years of fishing memories! 