Random musings of an artsy tomboy: Restoration

I do a lot of restoration. I can take a salt encrusted reel like this

and disassemble it,

do my thang...

...

and wahla!

Sometimes, this involves the dreaded wire brush...DUM DUM DUM DUMMMMM!

Why so dramatic? As soon as the infamous brush is pulled out, you can count on a splinter. A splinter made of stainless steel or brass,depending on which you have to use. Imagine if you will, little splinters of metal being thrown around the room all willy-nilly. I protect my eyes but, even wearing an apron, I still end up with metal slivers in my clothes, including the bra *can you say ouch?*. Invariably, I end up with a splinter in the foot because it was missed during clean-up.*Today, I got one in the top of my hand.*

I hate using it because of this. Unfortunately, it is the best tool for the job.

I am very grateful that I don't have to use it often.

Restoring Rods are, more often than not, easier to do.

More time consuming, though.

Take this rod...

it's a 9 foot long Calcutta Cane Blue Water Rod

This was the first time I actually had my hands on one. My customer wanted to completely redo it for his Dad. He chose a black twine handle and black/metallic gold twist thread.

Stripped rod


Old varnish removed and buffed within an inch of it's life

After I cleaned it up I wrapped the handle in black twine


Wrapped base

I was stuck here at this step because I had a thread issue. The company that produced that particular thread went out of business. I won't bore you with the details of the 45 day process of finding a thread that matched. Let's just say there was much frustration and be done with it. I ended up with a smaller diameter thread that worked out wonderfully.