I recently had to replace a guide on the butt section of a rod I built a year or so ago. As I complete the guides before I varnish I had a unvarnished section of the rod where the old guide winding had been. Out of curiosity I measured the dimensions of the rod adjacent to the unvarnished section and compared it to the varnished section. The difference was .002 .

I usually dip the butts 3 times, with a fairly light sand after the second dip.

I was a little surprised at how thin the varnish was as the convention is that varnish is usually thicker then this when miking older rods?

Has anyone else had similar experience?  (Ian Kearney)

Is that varnish thickness per side, or for two sides? I've always assumed that heavy varnish would be .002 thick per side, or .004 total.  (Martin-Darrell)

That is what surprised me . It was .002 for both sides. Like you I had tended to work on .002 per side in the past, or .004 for both sides. It probably does not make a lot of difference, but getting close to half a line weight.  (Ian Kearney)