I am rebuilding an old bamboo pole. Its only the second pole I have worked on so Im still new to this. The pole was quite rough. I lightly sanded the old finish off and now am wondering what would be the best thing to put back on it. Thanks for any help.

Spar Varnish. Here is a link to a tutorial by Ken Preston that will help you out [www.kensfishingrods.com]

Bob

Hello to all.

I have to comment on the above link. I followed it and saw Kens instructions on the basic "how to" for a refirbish job..

I have a couple comments.

1. on the photo on step #3 (I beleive) where the picture shows a razor blade and a bunch of shavings in front of it.. in my opinion the blade is going in the wrong direction. It is removing power fibers, a good possibility of cutting into the cane as well. Maybe this was just an error and is trying to show that you could pick up some shavings.

2. The last picture showing what looks like a before and after picture with new cork and a new winding check and the removal of the original signature of what looks like a
Granger Special. This is a # 1 NO - NO !! By removing the name , basically all of the value was also removed. (unless of course the name appears on another flat?)

By all means you want to retain any information that is on the rod. The principal that he shows with varnish removal is the one which I employ, only that the razor needs to go in the scraping direction, not the in to a cutting direction. (in my opinion, this approach works for me)

In closing, if in deed that rod was a Granger Special, depending on the length of the rod, and a couple other conditions, the value could have been between $395 and $725 ( on the high end) with the name removed, you got a $50.00 fishin' stick.

And again this is just my opinion, and I could be mis reading the pages and the photos on that link.

Tight lines to you all ~ ~

Thanks for the help everyone.

John
Perma Gloss is also a very good finish on bamboo.

Art,

Trust me, if you know Ken, you know it was being done correctly. Also, that rod may have been a sentimental refurb. that someone just wanted as a keepsake and wasn't worried about the value. Ken knows his rods, and would not have done that on a rod so valuable for no reason.

Bill in WV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2006 11:37PM by William Bartlett.

I'm sorry, but the picture I saw , showing the blade in the "cutting" rather than in the "scraping" position is the WRONG way to approach the bamboo for varnish removal. Perhaps it was taken to show fiber removal? But I can only imagine the amount of dig-in, scrapes, and other unattractive divits on the blank that would happen using this method. I agree 100% with scraping with the single edge razor, not cutting.