Varnishing Wraps

I took photos of a guide as the varnish was applied and put them in the slide show below. I'm struggling to get that "Medved" quality finish on my rods. The three rods I just finished are a big improvement, but they're still not acceptable.

As you watch the slides, you'll notice some varnish build up under the guide. I did a poor job of getting under the guide with sandpaper to clean that up. I dipped (drained) the full rod section in Ace spar varnish on the seventh and eighth coats. I was doing okay up to that point, but the Ace spar was too thick for the drain process. The last two coats are way to thick. I'm going to thin the Ace spar 1 part to 3 with Turpentine on the next two rods. That should be much better.

I wanted to do three thin coats of Ace but stopped with two. It's about twice as thick as intended. I could sand some off and do another coat, but it's time to fish these rods...enough is enough. They look really good in hand, and even better with a little fish slime on them. I'll do better on the Montana rods.