varnish removal

[bugman]

what do yoll recomend fer removing old varnish from a bamboo fly rod ?
i have used some thinner but caused the section of bamboo to sepperate...

[Betty Hiner]

Ivan,
I've used very, very fine sandpaper applied very judiciously to the rod. It may take a bit more time to accomplish the removal, but the sections stay together! If you use a small sanding block with the paper, it will not round off the edges. Again, very fine, very slowly.
Betty

[bassman]

Betty, I just finished a boo rod. It was the 1st rod I have done. I used a sponge sanding block in very fine grit. It worked great and did not round the edges. I got the block in the paint section of Lowe's. I am by far not an expert but this did work for me. John

[gloucestermen]

Well after thirty years working with finishes of all sorts my opinion is be VERY careful with any solvent based removers. If you are going this route try a very small area and have denatured alcohol handy as a neutralizer. Since boo rods are glued together and the glue like everything breaks down with time sanding is the safest IMO. Block sanders can be purchased or made at home. The store variety are usually a hard dense rubber material and work well. You can also make your own from any hardwood which is stiffer than the rubber store variety the choice is up to you. Make sure you do sand with the lightest grit that will effectivley remove the finish and be careful to work slowly with a close eye as to what is being removed. Varnish can be funny stuff and if you sand really smooth it may not adhere as well as you may expect. When I worked at Bradford Marine in Ft Lauderdale we found that 220 grit was about as light as we could go and still have proper adhesion. I am sure others will have their opinions as well this is just my experience and the things I learned over the years.
Dan

[chris from canada]

Personally I never tried it yet... getting there !

A buddy of mine uses a cabinet scraper, and a one sided razor on the smaller pieces ;
Pulling them lightly over the rod many times.

He does not like to sand because he says that it rounds the edges.

Be sure to tell us how it works out .

Take care,
chris

[halomidge]

From most home improvement stores "Citrustrip" (smells good and you can use it indoors) the bamboo guys recommended it. It's fairly slow working and doesn't de-laminate the rod. Paint it on, let it sit for 5-10 minutes wipe it off, it may take more than one attempt. wipe the rod down with denatured alcohol. Real careful scraping and sanding works but if over done will certainly damage the rod.

[fishbum]

what do yoll recomend fer removing old varnish from a bamboo fly rod ?
i have used some thinner but caused the section of bamboo to sepperate...

If you had delaminations using thinner then you had issues with the glue holding the rod together before you started to strip the rod. I would say if you inspect your rod with some magnification (10x) you will probably find some more places your rod is ready to come apart at.

I use Zip Strip to strip the rods I refinish. If it delaminates so be it. It probably need some attention there anyhow. If the delamination is bad enough I just clean and reglue the strips and run through my binder just like a new section. No big deal. Rods that are sound to start will not delaminate when you strip them. Being extreamly carefull to keep a rod from delaminating when you strip it is just masking the problem with the glue holding the strips together.

Enjoy your project.

fishbum

[bugman]

i fixed the seperated tip section.. the rest of the sections look good under the lookin glass.. im gona go the sandpaper rout.. maybe a 400 grit ?