hello all, i have been a flyfisher for quite some years. recently i have been buying old bamboo rods for decoration. well after i recieved my first rod the thoughts of refinishing quickly came into my head. so my questions are. what is the best way to learn how to totally refinish a bamboo rod? i need to strip these rods down to a blank and start from scratch. i have never wrapped a rod, set a seat, replaced a cork or anything. so can you guys/girls help me out? where do i buy my materials? am i making a mistake by learning on bamboo? the rods i am planning to re do are very cheap so i am not spending alot on a blank. please help a newbie out.....

Mike Sinclair's book about bamboo rod identification and restoration is quite good. I'd pick up a copy of that if you plan to do much of this type of thing.

There are several ways to do strip these rods. The less powerful paint strippers work well. I have scraped them clean with a razor blade held at a 90 degree angle to the blank. What you don't want to do, is sand them.

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Mike,

I've done quite a few of these refinish jobs and made my share of mistakes along the way. Send me a email and I'll do what I can to help.

Joe

Joe Douglas