I built a rod about a month ago and had trouble with the finish getting hard it took over a week. I looked at the rod yesterday and the finish has a yellow tint to it over the decal and a little at the edge of one guide. It is a split grip and a decal there looks good. It was built on a white blank so it shows pretty bad. Any ideas on this? Phil

Nature of the beast. All epoxies will turn somewhat amber/yellow over time, both in the bottle and on the rod. And the more UV protectants that are added to the hardener, the worse the yellowing will be.

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Phil..............there was something wrong with your materials. There is no way the epoxy should take a week to cure and it should not yellow in just a month on the rod. And I have a feeling the problem is only going to get worse with time. Sorry.

How long it takes the epoxy to set and cure depends on the temperature. And, all epoxies will yellow. The older the product the more it will already be yellow and the quicker it will continue to turn yellow. Even a fresh kit will eventually yellow and when used on a white blank or thread the problem is more obvious than if you had used it on a darker blank or thread.

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I have the drying issue solved thanks to the help I received here, the yellowing surprised me because it is mostly over the decal. I was not careful enough with the mixture and that was the start of the problem but it did get dry and looks pretty good except for the area in front of the grip where I placed the decal. I also put a decal between the split grip (NC) he is a Carolina fan and it looks great. The rod was a gift and only my 3rd rod but I wanted it to be as good as I could make it, if he was paying for it I would build him another one. Maybe best to stay away from white blanks.

What finish are you guys using I use FlexCoat there new UV and it sets about 5 hours hard overnight and clear How long before yellowing ???? Is probably the mix

Bill - willierods.com

If you're using a white blank and need a crystal clear finish, then you'll almost certainly have to utilize one of the moisture curing urethanes, or perhaps a water based furniture urethane.

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Tom is right Permagloss or a auto body clear You can get some in pints small amounts You are just going to have to play with the mixing of it I got one and mixed according to instructions It dried like permagloss So I added another CC of the clear so as instead of the 3 parts clear and one part activator I upped it to 4 parts clear and one part activator Dried about an hour which was a nice time to correct any Boo Boos

Bill - willierods.com

If your using prokote High build I have experienced yellowing problems also. I have had several white rods that turned yellow very quickly and once it turns yellow it doesn't look the best. I have switched to flexcoat UV and it takes a lot longer before it starts to yellow, but like mentioned before all epoxy will eventually yellow just part of it.