LeTonkinois Varnish?

[oyster]

Anyone familiar with this stuff? http://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/VarMain.html
I've just about gotten everything down to bare wood and want to make sure I continue in the right direction after all of that hard work. I can find nothing but very positive feedback about Letonkinois but have never heard of the stuff before tonight. Anyone have any first hand experience?

Thanks,
Bill O.

Nor'Sea 27 "Galena"
formerly CD31 "Seamyth"

[Oswego John]

Bill,

I've used Tonkinois varnish years ago, but it was in a different container than shown on the web page.

Long before fishing rods were made of graphite and other space age products, many fine rods were made of bamboo. There was an especially fine bamboo that was grown in the area aroung the Gulf of Tonkin. This Tonkin bamboo was exceptionally suited for making fishing poles and flyrods. All that is history now.

This Le Tonkinois varnish was used to coat fishing poles, mainly because it was considered flexible and wouldn't crack and craze when the pole bent under load. It was beautiful to work with and always produced an excellent finish.

If this is the same varnish that we used , I think that you will be very happy with it.

Good luck,
O J

[oyster]

Now you know why the "Tonkin" caught my eye. See my homepage www.oysterbamboo.com I wouldn't say that ALL of that is history quite yet! I think I'll give it a try, perhaps it will serve a dual purpose for me.

Bill O.

[Bill Michne]

The March/April 2006 issue has an article on page 77 singing the praises of this product.