I had a pleasant surprise yesterday when I finally got around to replacing a snake guide on a bamboo rod that had been wrapped with silk and finished with spar varnish. The wrap was removed easily by simply slicing along the side of the snake guide foot and then peeling it off. Much easier than the one time I had to repair some guides on a graphite rod finished with Flexcoat Light.

Also, the varnish did not adhere the snake guide foot to the blank. As soon as the wrap was peeled off, the foot was loose and easy to remove. And there was no "residue" of varnish remaining on the blank needing to be cleaned up. Just reset the snake guide, wrapped it with fresh silk, and applied the first couple coats of varnish.

Which got me to wondering - how many of you use spar varnish when wrapping a rod ?? bamboo or graphite or glass ?? rather than one of the other products out there ?? and do you have some other experience with it, for better or worse ?? 'cause I'm thinking that I might use varnish on my next build whether it is bamboo or graphite.

John