I went to a fly fishing show this past weekend and saw some superbly crafted bamboo rods from Rolf Baginski of Germany.
I saw one rod where he used the white silk on the wraps, making it look transparent.
What caughty attention initially was that I could see all the the guide feet.

As I said the finish was superb - but what do you use to coat the bamboo blank? A spar varnish? Permagloss?
Would it be painted on, sprayed or dipped?

I was so wowed by his rods that I forgot to ask him.

Traditionally, bamboo rod blanks are wrapped and then the entire rod is dipped in a thinned, warmed varnish, several coats.

There are other methods that are equally good, but what I outlined above is how many of the well known makers have finished their rods for decades.

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Most of your bamboo rod makers are using spar varnishes. Man O War spar varnish comes to mind as one of the more popular finishes used. I have also heard of some people using True Oil. Many of your older bamboo rods have a Tung Oil finish, but over time that finish will start to "scale". Finish can be hand applied or dipped. The final product that we are seeing has been hand polished to reveal that glass like finish. I don't think the bamboo folks are using Permagloss to coat the thread wraps, it may be too "hard" of a finish for that application. Maybe some of the bamboo folks on this forum will chime in.

I like to coat the bare blank (1 coat) with PermaGloss. After it dries completely, I wrap the guides , and coat with 3-4 coats of PG. Not very 'traditional", but it looks great, and it will outlive me and my kids.
Baginski calls his finish "triple dip coat lacquering".

George Forster
Fort Collins, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2011 10:19PM by George Forster.

I am wraping my first bamboo rod and I'm having a hard time getting my head around this dipping the whole rod after it is wrapped. Doesn't this gum up the ferrules and guides or am I missing something.

The vanish is so thin that it doesn't. You can read more about the technique in almost any bamboo rod making book.

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I used to dip mine but have found that two thin coats of Min-Wax spar vanish on the bare blank with an additional two to three coats on the wraps is more than acceptable. These I apply with my finger tip with the rod turning slowly on a dryer. Make sure the varnish you use is for outdoor application and you will be fine.

I'm using 3-4 coats of tru-oil on the blanks and 3 coats of permagloss on the wraps.

yes, it's not necessary to entirely coat the entire blank and guides with spar varnish as tom mentioned but he's right, most dip the entire blank and guides. some brush it on. some use a turkey baster to get the entire rod. all take trial and error.

and alternative is an impregnated blank. many ways to do that too but once impregnated you can coat just the threads. that's what i'm doing. i had my maker impregnate my blank.

eric
fresno, ca.