Labour of Love-Blue Marlin Rod Repair

[Big Gray]

Hi guys,
This is a Blue Marlin rod I have owned for many years. It has served me well, so I decided to give it a make-over. It has been repaired a few times, as you can see.
Please bear with me as I show some photo's of before and after and perhaps I may be able to offer some advice, because I learnt a few tricks during the exercise.
Here goes:
Carefully strip off the old binding and guides with a Stanley knife and try avoid nicking the blank.
Sand the blank with emery paper.
Wipe it all down with a cloth.
Here's the old stick

 

[Big Gray]

As you can see, the rod has worked hard during the last 15 years and has caught some decent fish.

 

[Big Gray]

This is a patch I did with household cotton and Pratley clear epoxy. Not the finish I expected, but it held fairly well.
Then I finally had some time on my hands and decided this is it!
Pimp my rod exe.

 

[Big Gray]

I went shopping and got some laquer spray, cotton, eyes, flexcoat and some alcolin epoxy.
I stripped my baby and sanded her down with emery paper.
Once she was bare, I wiped her down with a cloth and started applying the undercoat of cobalt blue laquer spray. Because of the shape a rod has, a lot of spraypaint goes to waste. It took three cans of spray and a lot of time between coats to get the desired finish. I did not want drips and runs, so took my time.
I then applied clear laquer, also three cans, leaving enough time for each coat to dry.

I then started the time consuming process of binding. This is what the base looks like after binding and a coat of flexcoat epoxy, and I was able to decoupage a Blue Marlin onto the blank.

 

[Big Gray]

The binding was done by hand, not with an electrical motor. Good lighting is important, so is a steady hand, good eyesight and a (fairly) sober mind.
The rod was carefully measured for the guide positions before it was stripped, so the went back in the same position.
I firstly did an underbind to get some colour (and yes, it is colourful) before proceeding with the overbind.
Lining up of the guides is difficult and getting them to stay put while binding is a huge challenge.
Believe me, this job requires concentration, not an addled mind.
(I must confess, I imbibed and had to fix my mistakes the next day).

 

[Big Gray]

And here she is, my Blue Marlin.

 

[HEIHACHI]

awesome work there big gray!
you have right to be chuffed.

can i send you mine now?

 

[Big Gray]

What a question!