waxing bamboo rods after they are finished

Question
I put the final coat of varnish on my bamboo rod and I heard about coating them with parafin wax and then buffing off.  Have you heard about this technique?

Answer
Hi Kit,

There are a variety of ways to polish up a bamboo rod including parafin, carnuba, other paste waxes and furniture polish.  If you just finished applying the final coat of varnish, I would wait 2-3 months and allow the varnish to thoroughly dry before waxing or polishing the rod.  The varnish is dry enough to handle the rod and to fish with the rod in days, but giving it some time to really set up and dry is probably a good idea.

You don't need the wax to add protection, but you may want to do it to buff up the shine a bit.  Some like shine on bamboo, some like a more satin finish, and some like plain Tru-Oil...depends on beholder I suppose...I use spar varnish on some rods and polyurethane on other rods as finish material (mostly satin finish) for my bamboo rods and get good results with each.

Another approach might be to use the furniture polish used by antique dealers to buff up old finishes on tables and chairs.  This polish has fine or extra fine compound in it and applied with "0000" steel wool (or the new synthetic or plastic steel wool) can help in smoothing out the varnish.  Then apply a light wax coating for shine.  I have done this on some restoration projects (to renew/reflow alligatored varnish) with good results.  Go easy on the elbow grease so you don't remove the varnish, just smooth it out a bit.  Takes time, but works.

You probably want to check into various methods and products before you start this project to be sure you will get the results you desire.  Don't want to do anything that will mess up your new finish work.

Thanks,  Joe