Restoring/refurbishing/refinishing beaver dam tip ups

[isaaccarlson]

I am re-doing several beaver dam tip ups that have been sitting for years in a barn.  They looked very nasty and have some rust on parts.  Some of them appear to have had several owners over the decades.  I took them apart and washed the boards tonight.  They look a lot better.  I don't know how far I want to take this project.  I would love to go all the way with it, and I might.  I bought them so I could use them.

I should have taken "before" pictures, but didn't think of it.  They looked like artifacts taken out of an old mine.  Half the shafts wouldn't turn and the bolts were rusted.  The plan is to repaint the boards to match my "jolly roger" models.  The black paint keeps them warmer in the sun and makes them very visible on the ice.  We fished with the neighbor last week and the jolly roger was putting fish on the ice at a 6:1 ratio compared to other tip ups of various makes/models.

Long live beaver dam tip ups!

[Gamalot]

Nice project that I can't help much with past refinishing the wood. I would love to hear some info on how to date the BD tip ups from the early up to the current models. I have a few I believe are very early models and still working fine but of course they do not have the date of manufacture on them. I do know they have changed along the way but there could be some clues such as board length, width and thickness and the metal parts could tell some stories. It is also quite possible BD made a couple different sizes in the early days but this I don't know. I bet we have a few collectors here who can lend some of their knowledge.

[isaaccarlson]

I picked up some paint today.  I got gloss black implement paint.  It's tough, goes on a little thicker, and is very weather resistant.  It was $15 for a quart.  They have spray cans too, but I feel like brushed on paint sticks better.

The metal parts are a bit rusty, but should clean right up.

[HWeber]

I'm not really a collector but I recently got a 25th anniversary tipup (approximately 1987 based on dates I could find) that's nearly identical to those made today. Quality of materials being the biggest difference. Spool connection has changed a couple times in the last ten years or so. Originals are soldered.

[Baetis62]

I can help if you send me pix.  Specifically bottom of the spool and overall condition of the board, flag, flag spring etc.  Spool /shaft assembly is the key to making improvement and they vary over the years.  DO NOT TOSS EM...THE OLD RATTY ONES CAN BE THE BEST!

[isaaccarlson]

The boards were scraped of any old/loose finish/paint and I put a nice coat of black implement paint on them.  I have 3 jolly roger's that are gloss black, and this black is darker than those.  When set next to each other, the original jolly rogers look kind of blue.  The paint turned out VERY nice.  Beautiful, shiny black.

The wood on a couple of these tells me they are pretty old.  All the spools are soldered. 

I got the spindles apart and the line guides off.  The aluminum ends on the spindle are just pressed on.  You have to be careful taking them off.  I chucked the spools, spindles, and through rods in the lathe and cleaned them up.  There was a lot of rust on the spools. 

I'm real good at remembering to take pictures, lol.  I should have taken before pics of the assembled tip ups so you could see just how bad they were.  Almost 10+ years of leaky barn, rabbit feces, and pigeon droppings.... they were pretty nasty.

Some of the line guides are steel and have heavy rust.  I think I'll take 'em to the wire wheel and see how they clean up.  2 of the guides were brass, so they're fine.  I'm hoping to have them back together and ready for line tonight.  If the steel guides don't clean up well, I will either make some or order replacements.

I will make new black flags.  I really like the black because it is very easy to see from a mile away and it stays warm in the sun. 

[Baetis62]

Those spools came out great Isaac and I'd be anxious to see the end product with the repainted boards if you post some pix when they are done.  I sanded the boards and used spar varnish.  I have seen where guys have them cerekoted too.  Those look cool and bulletproof but its a spendy process out here in my area.  I pretty much followed the same steps in this guy's video with a couple of exceptions.  I use a blend of the Beaver Dam Grease and the Blue Lube he uses.  The straight Beaver Dam Grease is slick but maybe a little runny by itself.  Where he uses cardboard as a spacer on the top of the spindle I use a dime.  Probably no difference.  I put a little heat to the shaft before I blow it out with the compressor.  It was amazing how much crud came out of the older ones. 

&t=8s

[isaaccarlson]

I snapped a couple pictures before it got dark. 

[Baetis62]

Look Awesome!

[isaaccarlson]

The line guides turned out great, so I decided to electroplate them to keep them from rusting.  Here is one after removing the rust and one after electroplating.
Silver is plain, copper colored is plated.

[isaaccarlson]

Here are the assembled spindles.  I am trying to decide between clear and black for spindle paint.  What do you guys think?

I have to get more tip up line, because I only have enough for two.  The spindles will go back on the boards as soon as I get new hardware.
Still need to make some flags...

[isaaccarlson]

I decided to go with black.  I liked the look of the clear, but they're getting spooled with black line, so I figured they might as well be black.  I used several coats of grey primer and then a coat of black implement paint. 

[hawg]

You BD guys are absolutely obsessed. 🤷 To each their own I guess.

[isaaccarlson]

Obsessed with what?  I'm fixing up old tip ups.  I didn't take pictures of what they looked like when I started.  They were covered in rust and some would not turn.  I didn't see any point in buying new ones if these could be fixed.

I like beaver dams, yes.  They work very well, are durable, they float, and they are easy to fix if something does happen.
Plastic ones work too, but they sink like a rock if they go down a hole, and they break/get brittle, and are usually made cheaper.

[Dave in Mpls]

I thnk they are looking absolutely awesome!  Super nice job, my friend!

[isaaccarlson]

Thanks, Dave.  I picked up some line today and some leader wire.  The paint wasn't quite hard enough to spool line onto this morning, but it should be tonight.  I might go fishing tomorrow. 

[isaaccarlson]

We decided to use something different than the jolly roger and came up with this.  My wife was kind and patient enough to cut it out on her cnc cutter thingy.  Now I can stencil my name on the flags and boards.  Getting closer to fishing.

[isaaccarlson]

I made a quick test flag to see how it will look.  It's a keeper.  My wife and son will get their own custom flags too.  We spent most of the day finding the right fabric and getting the design figured out.