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Hi Al,
I finished a series of Lami's similiar to yours for myself and grandchildern this last winter. I did not use any additional finish on the blank, however did use several careful coats of varnish on the wraps. The Lami like alot of other current glass blanks is prepainted. However if you wish a unique finish appearance such as a slightly different final blank color, you can mix your Varnish (I prefer Man-A-War Marine Spar Varnish best) with tints. For a blank that is prefinished such as the lami, I would suggest a dip tube. Make one out of PVC pipe, 2 inches in Diameter, longer than your longest section.
Fill it at least as full as your longest piece to dip. But leave pleanty of space for varnish displaced by the rod section.
Remember to attach some sort of Plug in the female ferrule section, I use a piece of wood dowl thick enough to jam tightly without damage and to seal the female as well. I put a screw type ring into the dowl that will be used with a wire loop to hang the rod when ready in my drying booth, dust free. If the tip is hollow in any way put a small dab of crazy glue in/on the tip to seal it before dipping. Carefully slide the section in, upon full emersion slowly withdraw the section, watching as the excess varish drips clear, upon full removal allow it to drip for a minute or so, long enough so that most of the free varnish is returned to the dip tube. Then hang the rod in your dust free hanging booth. Place a paper plate with paper towels under the rod sections to collect any final drips.
I have and use an old metal cabinet that has the shelves removed, Ive also got a 100 watt light that can be left on in winter to aid in drying. But if your drying cabinet is home made of wood or paper/cardboard then don't use a light do to fire dangers.
Once finished with your dip pour your varnish in a close fitting container (little air space) label it and put it in a cool dark place for storage. Clean your dip tube with the appropriate solvents and air dry(mine has screw type end caps) then store your tube dust free.
This produces the cleanest finish to a blank before you install grip, seat, guides etc.
In the restoration of some of the older tabbacco finished glass blanks I prefer the hand rubbed and polished varnish finishes, much more time consumming, but the final finish layer can be made very thin and hard with several different finish materials for a final polishing before guides and wraps etc are installed.
Richard

Hi Mojo,
Yea was thinking the same thing, Ive done it just to get a good gloss finish on some rebuilt rods, or bamboo, but it does after seeing Gypsy's lead down another road doesn't it. I will be doing some this winter so will take pics along the way just in case no one else posts before then. Very little waste using a dip tube. The greatest amount of waste is in the final cleanup of the tube itself. However if a guy was gonna do several blanks at once that would be minimumized. I think that honey Lami offers alot of potential. Although Im also thinking of trying some automotive paints on blanks with an airbrush, to be final finished in the dip tube as well. Another member had a great looking metalic green rod, I was thinking of a metalic light brown or dark tan as a paint over base.

Hi Al, look, if your gonna do dipping you need to get as much varnish as will meet your needs. Build your dip tube, fill it with water to the level your gonna need then measure how much it takes. that will give you an idea about the best quantity to buy.
When you decide what your gonna do invest in some small cans from your local paint shop. I buy Quart, pint and half pint tin cans, along with dark glass 4 oz, 2 oz and 1 once bottles from a local craft center. Its very important to store your Varnish in near air free sized containers. When you get down to stuff to work on windings, your looking at those one ounce jars. I agree 100% with Tom, his mix of 50/50 varnish and turpintine is exactly what Ive been using for decades on my first coats (after CP if used) then I switch to 100 varnish. If your careful with your application you can avoid sanding. A trick for someone new at it is to use a little masking tape about 1/16 inch back from the wraps, to block overflow, remove it while the varnish is still wet to allow a smooth flowing finish. After awhile and many wraps you can do it freehand pretty easy.
Using small containers helps alot in not wasting paints. Here in the Peoples republic of California they are busy banning all paints based on solvents so I ended up picking up a lifetime supply of Man-A-War Marine Spar Varnish, bassically the last gallon and quart that was on the shelf at my local Ace Hardware. I had already asked my son to check the Paint stores down near Los Angeles, they had already pulled the solvent based Varnishes and replaced them with Water Based Varnishes. Nothing wrong with those I have a pint and have used it to test and see how well it works. But after over 50 years using oil solvent based Man-a-war Im stuck to it.
Just make sure whatever you buy has the UV protection additive!!!!
Richard