Fishing rod handle... Which varnish?

[Suffolkboy]

Hi gents.

Last weekend my dad snapped the wooden handle on my grandfathers old fishing rod.

I have turned a new handle for it out of Yew on my lathe which looks tidy if I do say so myself.

My question is what varnish would you guys recommended to finish it with? I don't mind whether it is gloss or satin it just needs to be blooming hard wearing. I have had this rod since I was a nipper, my dad had it before me and it was my grandfathers before that, I can't remember the old handle ever having a new coat of varnish in my lifetime so that's 30 years. It gets dropped, bashed, pushed into shingle etc etc and looking at it the finish is still fairly in good nick (the handle snapped at the union between it, and the rod, I think water ingress caused rot.) so wharever they put on it 60 or 70 odd years ago must have been pretty robust.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[ED65]

...wharever they put on it 60 or 70 odd years ago must have been pretty robust.

Traditional varnish more than likely. Same thing that was used on the handles of many woodworking tools, including most planes. If you were thinking you'd like to use the same stuff that sort of thing is only available from specialist suppliers now and it tends to be v. expensive so probably not really practical.

I'd still go with varnish myself, just a quality modern one. The synthetic resins in modern varnishes are better in most ways than the old (natural) resins which is why modern varnishes are tougher, hold up better, and resist water better too.

Don't skimp when applying it, in fact you might want to dip if you can decant the varnish into a suitable narrow and deep jar so it doesn't overflow when the handle goes in. Then let it cure for a good long while before it's first used in the wet. I'd wait three weeks minimum, the more thickly you've applied it the longer you want to wait.

 

[AndyT]

I'd use Tru-oil. It's an American product, much used for wooden gunstocks. Available at shooting shops or from various sellers on eBay.

Used on this forum by Jimi in many old tool restorations or new builds.

It's based on linseed oil but is far easier to use and much tougher. You can wipe on as many coats as you need to get the level of gloss you need.

Very economical in use. If you get half way down the bottle, put the rest in something smaller.

I used it on yew in a small chest of drawers and was very pleased with it.

 

[Suffolkboy]

Thanks very much for the advice gents.

 

[ED65]

Just a headsup, Tru-Oil is just an oil+varnish mixture (i.e. much like Danish oil and a few similar products).

I don't know how waterproof you want this to be, but straight varnish is much more water resistant than an oil+varnish blend.