A while back I picked up a Phillipson Chieftain TC80 HDH. It was in rough shape. Most of the guides are bent, a couple are missing including the striper guide. The cork is rough, but no major voids or gouges and the reel seat is in nice shape. My thought was that this would be a great practice rod for my first wrapping, new guides and such. I do not intend to resell it and am not worried about its value...I found it in the wild and negotiated a small $$ buy. I don't like the paint on the rod and intend to remove it with some citri-strip as I have seen suggested on other posts.

My question is about what is underneath the paint..I am guessing it will be the later version of tobacco glass, based on the age/era of the rod and info from the WIKI.

I did take this rod out for extended lawn casting, and it really is a nice 5 weight rod with a really smooth action, so for practice rebuild, and then use in my pile-o-rods.

I am thinking a clear spar finish and black guides and tip top with maybe black thread wraps

getting rid of that original paint likely will be difficult as jgestar indicates. I tried that several years ago with a Berkeley Buccaneer without complete success. That paint was yellow so was probably more difficult. I think citrus strip is probably the best option for original paint removal, several applications likely necessary. I recall an old post on removing paint from a Phillipson blank and the blank was white.

so after the info from more expert sources (You folks here being the expert sources), I have decided to go with a primer and paint and clean up of the cork and black wraps and black guides I think it will work for the first rod re-do. Thanks for the guidance and info



I will post pics