A customer just brought in a bambo rod that needs a new striper guide. I have a guide (from Snake Brand) that will work fine but I am having trouble matching the thread color. It is a blue color with a varnish type finish that has yellowed over the years. Has anyone found a good way to get this same look.

Hi, Greg; Difficult to say without seeing what you've got. Suggest you use a test stick and do some experimenting. Thread can be darkened with tea, coffee, or vegetable dies and water. When I'm trying to match color and finish on a rod that's..umm..in original finish but oughta be stripped and re-wrapped, I've judiciously mixed a little dirt straight from the front yard into the varnish and gotten the right "look". Good luck.

Golden Witch should be able to help you.

To piggy back on Don's post, about a year ago I did a restoration on a realllllly old Varney cane rod, which had many intermediate wraps along with the typical guide wraps. Some were missing, and some deteriorated to the point the guides were practically falling off the rod. I sent Russ a sample of the thread that was on the rod, and he sent me back a spool that matched the existing threads almost perfectly. Since the thread he sent was obviously newer than the old thread, it was a bit more brilliant in color than the old thread, I used a weak dye solution to match the thread almost perfectly.

Mark

Greg;
First match the thread, then use some oil based stain to color the varnish. I fyou have a friendlly paint store in the area, they will probably give you a few small shots of universal paint tints that work fine in varnish,too. You'll want some yellow, brown and possibly red, depending on the varnish .
john

Is this a great site or what.
Thanks to all for the advise. The rod turned out great, could not tell the difference between the new and old wraps.
John, your advise to use stain to color the varnish worked great. I got a perfect match.

Thanks
Greg