Are the finishes made from Blo,DNA and shellac very water proof or resistant. I'm looking for a finish for a fishing rod handle which might be exposed to lots of moisture. Something other than the basic polyurethane.

Thanks Louie.

-  Chinese junks were waterproofed by many applications of tung oil.
-  Wooden boats in the states were sealed with a marine varnish, spar varnish is similar. Both have a high percentage of BLO
-  Historically, gunstocks were finished with BLO.

What all of these have in common is they contain a high quantity of resins and oils. Once you add DNA and/or shellac you thin out the finish making it less water resistant

+1 to what Ron said.

Also, there are monasteries in Thialand, made totally of Teak, and finished with tung oil, that have been standing through year after year of monsoon seasons for the past several hundred cycles without falling apart.

Just so you know though, of the "quick and easy" finishes, you can't get much more water resistant (no such thing as waterproof wood... sorry) than shellac. Just not the most wear resistant of finishes (unless you add hardeners).

Modern two part epoxy finishes or poly based floor finishes whould work well in "wet" environments too.

I think the  stuff  Tim is referring to is a epoxy used to  cover   the  thread wraps on  fishing  rods.  Check Mudhole tackle .com  and look at  "thread Master" wrapping epoxy.  it's one of the  tougher  thread epoxies out there.  I  coated the  inside of a   shaving bowl  with it  back in  December.  so far it's  held up to  daily  use.  If you want to  go   varnish  then  I would look at Epifranes boat varnish.  a lot of  guys use it on bamboo fly rods.  straight out of the can  the stuff is as thick as  honey I've used it   but thinned it  about 10%

Lyle Mead wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 10:39pm:



The formula I use is equal quantities of lacquer, BLO and lacquer thinner.  And you could substitute another drying oil - Tung oil or Walnut oil.  I apply on the lathe using toilet tissue or paper towel, buff at high speed, and then apply another coat almost immediately.  The final finish is a nice soft gloss.

Eric Anderson uses a commercial butcher block conditioner (mineral oil + beeswax) combined with shellac to make a friction polish.  He adds some additional DNA to make it flow better.  I've made a similar version using a commercial orange oil + wax furniture finish combined with shellac.  This also gives nice results - a bit more gloss than the lacquer FP.