Phillipson Master " re-guides"

This vintage fly rod just got itself a brand new snake guides and wrapping.

The original thread is twisted  green and red thread which is no more to be found. The next best option was to use twisted green and black thread.

All the old wrapping was removed.

Wrapping yet to be epoxy.

New guides wrapped and finished.

Done and it is as good as new....

Another Fly Rod refurbishment - Bean's LL

This was another request by my long time fly fishing buddy to refurbish his newly purchased BEAN'S "LL" fly rod. Newly purchased doesn't means new alright..

This time was more straight forward. It was just the wrapping , the guides and the blank.

I used silk thread of the nearest matching color to the old wrapping that I could find for this job.

I have all the guides removed.

Remove all the wrapping and gently scuff the surface with fine steel wool to remove dirt on blank's surface.

Then I coat the blank with a thin layer of spar urethane and left it for dry for a couple of days.

The guides was wrapped with the silk thread.

I did not use any epoxy on the wrapping.  Just a few coating of spar urethane should do the job nicely. The silk thread turned darker after the spar urethane was applied on it.

Spar Urathane will set as the same time with epoxy but will take a long time to 'dry'. Therefore, I only apply very thin layer each time.

Can't really see the refurbishment in the photo but it look a hell lot better now compared to the rod when it was handed over to me. 
: )

Color Preservation for Twisted Threads

I took the hard way to learn that certain wrapping threads need to be coated with color preserver to maintain its' original colors, especially twisted threads like Bullard's Craftman Twist, Gudebrod's Classic Twist and Pearall's Gossamer Jasper.

If epoxy are applied directly onto these threads, the twisted affect will not be clearly seen and will turned dark. All your effort wrapping will goes down the drain.

After completed the wrappings on the brown blank, a coat of CP were applied onto it.

Almost done there... but I think it still missing...  black trimming!!

Fly Guides to bamboo #6

Just dug out a few packs of black colored  fly guides from my drawer this morning as I was searching for some for this rod. I can't remember when I got it but it was there for quite awhile. Dust was already accumulated on its' packing. It's BSNG fly guides which I got from Mudhole many many months ago.

Well, got those and started wrapping. I used Gudebrod Classic Twist Black/Yellow for wrapping and tipped it with black thread. Don't know they named it black/yellow... but it sure don't looked black/yellow to me. Looks more like black/green.

Applied a coat of color preserver on top of the wrapping.

The last time I forget to applied color preserver of the classic twist Black/Yellow, it turned black/brown when I coated it with epoxy.

I finished the guides for the top section and I couldn't find a black tip top for it. ....


Damn.............. I think I need to buy a few of those soon.