OK, Gentlemnen,
Can anyone suggest a good way to completely strip, then re-finish some of my father's older bamboo rods ? Yes, I know they're heavy, but I still use some of them and want to totally re-male them. Suggestions and caveats welcome with thanks.

If nobody answers here, you might find some good information with the gang at Rodmakers. A helpful bunch of bamboo rod fanatics. They sure helped me with my first (and only) rebuild.

[www.canerod.com]

Bob

you might try the backside of an exato knife blade being carefull not to
scrape off any bamboo with the old varnish. Then dip a 0000 steel wool pad in ascetone (wearing rubber glove) and wipe your blank down. Be careful, use the ascetone spareingly (dont want the blank to come apart). Next hand rub 4 or 5 coats of tung oil followed by 2

sorry about that hit the wrong button, to continue follow up the ascetone bath with 2 coats of clear or semi clear spray acrylic finish,
I know most of you bamboo folks like to dip the blank in varnish, but
for someone who doesnt have a dip tank this worked quite well for me.

get mike sinclair,s book on bamboo restoration. it,s the best thing since chocolate milk.

Try one of the user-friendly citrus strippers, made by 3M and other companies. Melts the varnish off. Use a plane blade or other suitably stiff material to gently scrape the blank where necessary.

There are any number of ways to reapply the finish. Each has it's advantages and drawbacks, most notably expense.

Join the Rodmakers Listserv, as Bob Petti suggested above. You may ask questions there, or search the archives with the search engine. There's more in those archives than you'd ever care to read. If you ask questions be prepared for as many answers as there are answerers.