Got a bam boo rod Got two tip sections for it
The finish on the Butt Section is not bad has a Golden Tone to it

The tip sections are light in color

looking to coat with some thing to Yellow it to give it a golden tone Too match the Butt
Thinking of a spar varnish ??

Any ideas

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,
I'd suggest McCloskey's Man o' War spar varnish. It comes in a red can. It's a great finish for bamboo.

Jim

I have herd about that been a while though

Will it tend to Yellow or give a golden tone color

Still trying to get another tip sections got to see how that goes
Sent the rod and like said the tips are lighter in color

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,
It tends toward a golden tone but it's not a stain. If the tips are lighter than the butt, I doubt that it will match the tips to the butt. Minwax makes some poly stains that might be worth looking into and they are available in the big box stores, but it's going to be tricky coming up with an exact match.

thanks for the info
I got to see what i can come up with

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,

Is it possible to tint Spar Eurethane with Testers? I Never tried it but it may work.

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

Having restored/refinished a lot of bamboo rods there are a few things to figure out before you go on. 1. did you strip the varnish off the tips but not the butt section. if so what you are seeing is the original color of the cane. matching that with straight varnish and expecting it to "age" is impossible. the butt section has a 50 year jump on the new stuff. plus most modern varnishes have UV inhibitors which will prevent yellowing. 2. if both pieces are still varnished then either they were refinished at some point or they came from 2 different rods, not uncommon. 3. if you are going ofor a total refinish then why not strip the butt and start clean with new varnish. 4. you cannot stain varnish with Testors. if you want to stian the varnis use a product specific for that job. products such as Trans tint work with varnish but again getting an exact match to the old varnish is a crap shoot at best.

Epifanes marine spar is relatively dark in color and may provide the darkening you are looking for. Besides it is a much higher quality varnish than the Man O War You should be able to get it in less than quart size cans. Try looking on-line at Defender Industries. (By the way, varnishes are under the broad heading of maintenance, when it comes to yachting.)

If I were going to tint varnish I would use either universal colorants or some artists oil paints.Much less chance of mishaps mixing varnish with a fast drying paint. TransTint can be made to work tinting varnish--to find good instructions about doing this look at www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com That site is run by Jeff Jewitt who formulated TransTint. Dye isn't very light fast compared to pigment however, though it doesn't obscure the fiber appearance of the bamboo as pigment might do.