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Varnish for guides.

Neil Smart

Neil Smart

Senior Member
A neighbour of mine who has just returned to fishing after a cancer scare has asked me to help him with one of his guides that has lost it's whipping on his old Milbro Juinior Match rod (hollow glass).

So I have re-whipped the guide, and applied some clear varnish, and the finish is OK but I want to apply a suitable varnish finish, can anyone recommend a product?

BTW I have donated a couple of rods and reels to him, and he is catching loads of everything on our local club water pond, and this fishing lark has given him a new lease of life. :p

Just need to get him fishing for the Barbs on a river, but his confidence is sky high at the moment, don't want to dampen it.:)
 
Personally I would use a two part epoxy from guides and blanks or even ebay.
 
Try Rustins yacht varnish for that traditional look to match the other guides, recommended to me on here a few years ago and does the job nicely. A modern epoxy wouldn't look right IMO.
 
Thanks Andrew and Jon, I will use both tips as I have a couple of rods I need to attend to, both older and new.
The looking up of materials has sparked some old interest I had in rod building many years ago, the price of cork however :eek:
 
If you can't get hold of any Rustins I've used the Pro Gloss Rod Varnish sold by Dave Norwich to good effect in the past. Rustins is cheaper. Both can be used to coat a blank as well as the whippings if needs be. Of the modern stuff I prefer the Roddancer Threadmaster epoxy over Flex-Coat for the guide wraps and Lumiseal for the blanks. The later is a bit tricky to use but once you've sussed it out the results are superb. Had to have a chat with our Bob for that one and he put me right - speed, confidence and tights are all you need! ;)
 
Andrew Boyne said:
If you can't get hold of any Rustins I've used the Pro Gloss Rod Varnish sold by Dave Norwich to good effect in the past. Rustins is cheaper. Both can be used to coat a blank as well as the whippings if needs be. Of the modern stuff I prefer the Roddancer Threadmaster epoxy over Flex-Coat for the guide wraps and Lumiseal for the blanks. The later is a bit tricky to use but once you've sussed it out the results are superb. Had to have a chat with our Bob for that one and he put me right - speed, confidence and tights are all you need! ;)
Click to expand...

Men in tights?:eek:

Cheers for all of that, will put it to good use.
 
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I have got rods I made 37 years ago which were varnished with Humbrol Polyurethane and are still going strong. You do need to apply a lot of coats though unlike the modern stuff.

A small tin will set you back about 30 bob (£1.50).
 
John Newman said:
I have got rods I made 37 years ago which were varnished with Humbrol Polyurethane and are still going strong. You do need to apply a lot of coats though unlike the modern stuff.

A small tin will set you back about 30 bob (£1.50).
Click to expand...

That's the stuff I have been using John, but it needs about 20 coats :)

I too used to make my own rods, mostly from solid glass, I can still recall the smell of sanded glass, it's a wonder we ever caught anything with the gear then, but we did.

£1.50 :eek: Blimey my first weekly wage was £1.7s.6d of which I had to give me mum ten bob, and the rest was frittered away on tackle and vinyl, kids to-day eh? they know nothing :)
 
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