Homegrown Reed Floats

[Keith Ritter]

I made a few floats from my first crop of ornamental grass/bamboo/reeds I transplanted to my yard summer before last. I painted these but I wish I hadn't, the body material is very slick and the paint doesn't adhere very well. My painting isn't great anyway and having a slick surface didn't help. I will only paint the stems from now on. 

[Damon Toney]

Nice. Very nice.

[Keith Ritter]

Thanks Damon the reed replaces cork or balsa. One stalk produced these.

[Damon Toney]

I wondered if bamboo could be used like this.

[Keith Ritter]

I don't know if this is true bamboo but it is a close kin. The floats in this pic are made from black bamboo the ends are sealed with cork.

[Damon Toney]

nice. Right on the knuckle.

[carl hendrix]

DAAM GOOD LOOKING FLOATS KEITH !   YOUR ALWAYS THINKING AHEAD; OF WHAT TO MAKE; PLUS THE MATERIAL NEEDED !   GREAT JOB BUDDY !

[carl hendrix]

KEITH;; IVE FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY;; ANYTTIME I PAINT FLOATS;; I HAVE TO USE EITHER A SPRAY; POLY; OR SOME KIND OF CLEAR COAT;; OR; USE VARNISH TO SEAL THE PAINT ; AND TO KEEP THE PAINT FROM; JUST PEELING OFF.  IT ALSO MAKES THE FLOATS; A LITTLE SLICKER FOR THE  RUBBER TYPE STOPS

[Damon Toney]

Yeah, I use four coats of varnish on all my floats after painting.

[carl hendrix]

DAMON;; I DIP MY QUILL FLOATS IN VARNISH ALSO;; AND IT USUALLY TAKES 3 DAYS; BEFORE I CAN RE- DIP THEM AGAIN;; THEN; 3 MORE DAYS;  TO LET THEM DRY OUT ENOUGH TO  HANDLE THEM;; BUT; I ALLOW; 2 TO 4 MORE DAYS; TO LET THEM AIR OUT BETTER;  

[Keith Ritter]

They are dipped twice in polyurethane so they won't peel. The paint was so fragile before dipping you coldly even handle them. I spent as much time touching them up as I did painting them. They look good natural and painting the stem will be plenty of color.  

[Bruce Tomaselli]

Those are great. Nice job!

[Keith Ritter]

I have put a corn cob float coated with Polyurethane in water on my bench and it floated for over two weeks. So if you keep them dry when you are not using them they should last a long time. If you don't lose them or break them.