Refurbishing old floats.

[Neneman Nick]

Ok so it`s not exactly building rods or tackle but recycling old i suppose.
I love old style floats....graylings,fluted avons,porcupine quills etc.....
i have a collection of several floats that have cracked paint (not chipped) and could do with some tlc,as well as some that are in tip top condition.
My question(s)....is it just a case of painting over the cracks??? do i rub the paint down first with sandpaper??? will the old cracked paint have to be completely removed first??? if so how??? if it`s a case of just painting over the cracks,how much paint can a float take???

 

[chavender]

you could get away with just sanding and repainting ,use some fine wet & dry too rough the old paint ,to give the new paint something too key too then use some ptfe plummers tape/thread tape too mask of the float then re-paint the tip

a better job can be had by removing the paint from the tip ,i`d use a craft knife to score around any banding or the float`s top ,then carefully slice slivers of the old paint off (or you could sand it down) or scrape the paint off back too the base material ,the apply a white under coat then topcoat ,then varnish if you want a shiny finnish or leave matt

you can get verious floresant colours from the revell range of model paints or acrilic water based paints

revell floro matts
matt no 25 orange
matt no 332 red
matt no 312 yellow

available from most good model / rc shop

some tackle shops stock the sensas tip paints

 

[Alan Tyler]

You may find that you can get away with keying the paint, as Chavender describes, then giving it a coat or two of slightly thinned-down varnish.
It's always an awkward beggar, choosing whether to strip and re-paint as close to original as possible, strip and repaint with up-to-date materials, varnish over the cracks, or retire a float to the display case, isn't it?

 

[Neneman Nick]

Thanks for the replies so far gents.
The thing is alan,i think it`s an awful shame to retire these floats.Ok theyr`e not modern or perhaps as tough as todays floats but there`s still an awfull lot of fish catching left in them i think.

 

[Alan Tyler]

In that case, strip them down, stain/seal/paint to your taste,and not necessarily the "let's see how much yellow we can get on before it becomes unsellable" challenge that Harcork seemed to find so irresistable, varnish/lacquer and fish!

"Pleasing in appearance, and even more so in disappearance", wasn't it? (Sheringham, on a favourite float).

 

[Neneman Nick]

The scraping off of lod paint has been mentioned,what about the old varnish that i have found to be cracked on the cork bodies of some bobber/grayling type floats.
Is it scrape that off the best you can as well???

 

[Alan Tyler]

I've never tried to unvarnish a cork float, but after my experience with that varnished rod butt, I'd suggest -if you have a non-precious one to practise on - softening the varnish with steam or hot water, and "burnishing" it off with a knife-handle or similar, relying on the cork and varnish bending by different amounts as they are rubbed, so being forced to part company.

 

[chavender]

get yourself some acetone from a chemist (disposable gloves might be in order too) rough up the varnish with coarse sanding paper them using a cloth & the acetone ,whipe it on to the varnished area .

you could also try paint stripper gel ,available from most diy chainstores ,apply leave 10min then scrape off the gunge ,two goes should be enough

 

[chavender]

as a example ,i took these old stickfloats i made ,must be ,well too long ago .they was looking tired and in need of perking up

(ignor the new floats at the top )

i actually broke a couple that had become very brittle ,i gave the floats tips a rub down then two coats of new floresent paint in red ,yellow ,orange plus i re-done one in black .

(ignor the three little floats [trent trotter style] & me aerial )