am finishing up the refinishing of an old bamboo rod and was wondering what the concensus was on rod finish … spar varnish or epoxy? Have the wraps done with flex coat if that helps .
thanks in advance
Tom
Tom,
My good friend in Lino Lakes uses spar mixed VERY thinly with artist grade turps I believe and he applies it with a 1" wide, tapered foam brush applicator. You can buy them by the dozen for around 15 cents ea.
Hope this helps.
Jeremy.
Thanks Jeremy
I will give that a try was leaning towards the spar . easier to deal with … thanks for the advice.
tom
Here is what I’ve learned…down the page is thread on rod finishing…I went with the traditional varnish on the wraps. The flex coat lite…can be done in a few applications, but I didn’t want to deal with trying to take that stuff off if I messed up or want to refinish it in the future. Varnish was easy to take off once dry. I learned that varnish you need at least 5-6 thin coats…thin is the key and it needs to be completely dry. Also, outside temp and varnish temp plays a key as the varnish is thinner and spreads more evenly the warmer it is…Hope this helps. (read the thread alot of good info regarding the varnishing process) 
You can get an excellent finish brushing on spar varnish. I personally prefer a dipped finish, but with little effort, brushing can produce a very fine finish.
Mix spar 6 parts varnish to 1 part turpentine. You want this mixture very thin, and the 6:1 is merely a ballpark mixture. I recommend a good quality sable brush about a half inch wide or less. You can use a synthetic craft brush, just make sure the bristles are soft and don’t “stick together” when dipped in the spar.
Apply the varnish in single long strokes, going from guide to guide, downward. When you “wet” the brush, hold it for a couple of seconds against the side of the container so that most of the spar runs out of the brush. You want VERY thin coats.
Brush each flat ONE TIME in one full smoothe stroke. Don’t try to go back and “fix” something you’ve just brushed on. Take care of it on the next coat or repair it between coats. Apply varnish lightly between wraps and under guide. After you varnish each area, squeeze the excess varnish out of the brush (do this with a lint free cloth, pressing the brush in the cloth between your fingers) and use the very corners of the dried brush to “wick” the excess varnish from around the feet of the guides where they go into the wraps. This will keep you from having a run below the wraps.
Watch when you get to the butt section as the brush will run out of spar, leaving “dry streaks” on the flat. You may have to reload after every other flat.
Varnishing this way puts the varnish on in VERY thin coats. Usually, two coats on the tips and three on the butt are required to get a good, even, clean finish. If done right, it will be hard to tell the difference between this and a dipped finish. Your flats will remain very flat and your corners very crisp.
Note: if you wish, you can use polyurethane to do this. The advantage is that the poly dries faster and there’s less chance of picking up dust and other critters in your finish. Any fuzz bunnies you do get can be removed with 1200 grit wet and dry then polished back out.
I have used this method on a few rods, but like I said, I prefer to dip finish my rods. Thanks to Bill Harms for showing me how to do this. It came in handy when I burned a motor up on my dipping tank setup. It was hard to tell the difference between my dipped finishes and my brushed finishes. Both methods made it easy to get flawless finishes.
Later,
Bob
Hi Bob,
What do you use for finish when dipping your rods, and do you thin it down in any way? I am using Man-O-War spar, straight out of the can, and after several dips, am finding the finish looking a little heavy. I am also noticing that it seems a bit touchy, alligatoring in spots, most likely due to some sort of surface contamination, even though I am trying very hard to minimize any sort of contamination. Am curious to hear what you use.
Jim, I use a Spar Varnish made by Absolute Coatings called Last and Last. I do not thin it in my dip tank, but I remove the rods a lot slower than most people do, so I get very thin coats. Slower removal allows most of the varnish to “run off” the rod, this very thin coats.
Later,
Bob