I was looking at the photos of wood handles and Russ Miller has a super curly maple handle reel seat combo that is very bright. Russ or any one else know what sort of finish would be waterproof and still remain bright and not dark and or yellowish.?
Cheers Ron

Ron , the wood handles that we sell at Fishsticks 4u have nothing but Flexcoat rod finish , no stain . When all areas are covered it is waterproof and not slippery when wet or dry . They sure add to looks of a rod . I was telling the person that makes these how good they looked , he said if you like the way they look ,you will love the way they fish because of the increase of sensitivity you get from wood over cork . Fishsticks4u on the sponsor list .

Ron,
If your looking to get that very high glossy wet look then I would use Roberts suggestion of Flexcoat. I have heard of people using other finishes for this too. I do this to the Ice rods I build as they seem to take a beating. Tossing them in buckets, on the floor of the ice shack, In the back of the truck...(When its 10 below zero one tends to shortcut the proper storing of a custom rod..lol) I think that an epoxy finish on wood gives it an extra luster and a very durable layer of protection. It is surprisingly "grippy" and almost a tacky feel when wet, not at all slippery.

However, on my open water rods that have wood handles or wood inserts and trim rings, I prefer to simply buff them. I usually use wood that is dried to about 6% moisture content. After latheing and sanding to 400 grit, I apply a CA glue and resand. I then buff them on a fairly firm buffing wheel with either white or brown jewelers compound. (depending on species of wood). After working the compound into the wood, I then buff it on a muslin jewelers wheel and really make it shine. This process is highlighted on Andy's DVD about turning wood on your lathe, its available on his website at the left "Lamar Fishing".

This process gives it a nice shine and very smooth feel. If your doing wood inserts or rings in the handle along with cork, it is alot easier to keep the transition nice and flush and smooth from the wood to the cork since there is no added build up in finish surface like there would be if you applied a liquid epoxy finish to the wood. By doing the CA glue application, sanding and then buffing a jewelers compound into the wood, it should have an adequate layer of protection from moisture. There are literally dozens of different methods used by different builders and it should be interesting to hear some of the other guys advice on what works for them. If you have a bench grinder, all you need is a couple buffing wheels and some buffing compound which is a pretty small investment.

Jeff Harding

You could use a piece of stabilized wood and just appy a woodturners wax polish to it....

TruOil from Birchwood Casey works well as a finish on most wood. You can find it in most sporting goods stores where it is sold as a gunstock finish.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I used Tru-oil and it works fine.

But there is a finish that I would like to try that is probably better. Brownells sells a polyurthane based, wipe on finish called Pro Custom Gunstock Finish. It is reported to be a superior finish, hard and good water resistance.

Ron,

I use Minwax polyurethane finish on all of my wooden handles/inserts. I like to use the satin finish, but you could use the gloss finish to get the "mirror" look. I use 0000 steel wool between coats. Usually two coats suffice. I have dunked my handles in streams/lakes and have never had a problem with the wood swelling.

Russ Miller

I just did two spinning handles with Minwax spray spar varnish in satin. It is also available in flat & gloss. I put on three coats. Two coats, dry for the time listed on the label, sand any bumps off, then a final coat. It looks good, and spar varnish is supposed to work well outdoors. Next time I'll try epoxy finish to see how that feels. I was worried about it being slippery but from what I hear it is not.

Chuck



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2006 02:07PM by Chuck Mills.

Epoxy does get hard over some time. I thin out my epoxy and just wipe on one coat to let it soak in yet give it a semi gloss look. One thin coat also lets it still have a " grip " to the handle. I have found that some people do not like it very shinny.
When I go for a glass look, I put a wet heavy coat on, let dry, light wet sand with 5-600 paper. Then another wet coat. May need three

Thank you all for the great reply. This gives me a few options to try. And Russ that is one great piece of maple you used and you really brought out its qualities. You must be a wood worker gone bad.
Cheers Ron