So I invested quite a bit of money in an XST1264 build and after finishing it with epoxy it came out looking hazy. Not as clear as whats on my other rods so I know I must have messed up when mixing it. I put a lot of work into this rod and I'd like to re-wrap it. Is this a reasonable solution? Wondering if this is possible without messing up the condition of the blank. I've tried in the past with smaller projects and it always was a pain to get off and I would end up having to sand the blank, which would ruin the finish on an xst. Please let me know your thoughts!

What was the cause of the hazy appearance? First try to see if further curing time will cause the haze to go away. Was the cause high humidity/moisture? Perhaps put it out in the sun to hasten the curing?

I'm not sure honestly. I finished the rod a couple months ago but the haziness is bothering me, I'd like the trim wraps to pop out more like my other rods which is why I'm considering stripping it. In addition, there are lots of very tiny bubbles within the epoxy over the decal which I'd clearly rather not have.

Denham,
Unfortunately, I have tried doing similar things on other rods - i.e. removing the finish and or guides and have always ended up going through the finish down to the blank. I would refinish the area, and then make the wraps a bit longer to cover the rework under the guide, thread and finish to cover the areas that was reworked.

Often, when a finish has a hazy look to it, it is because of trapped moisture in the finish that would have happened, if the finish was applied and cured in an area containing a lot of humidity.

Unfortunately, if it were my rod, I would just ignore the haze and use it hard for the next couple of years, and by then, the general appearance of the rod will have become less importance.

Likely a better thing to do would be to build another rod on the XST1264 blank for yourself and then sell your current rod at a bit of a discount.

Good luck

If this is due to humidity (amine blush) it will typically rectify itself in a few weeks to a few months. If the haze is due to incomplete mixing, it is what it is now and forever. Fortunately, if the epoxy was not well mixed, you may find it soft enough to remove fairly easily.

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I know I wouldn't have a problem removing the guides, seeing as I could just wrap over them with a bit more thread like what was mentioned above. My main concern would be where the decal is by the hook keeper. Could I successfully remove the epoxy in that area without messing up the exposed blank?

Maybe. I have sliced epoxy off from such an area in slivers and it didn't seem to have affected the rod blank at all. This is particularly true if you didn't scuff the surface of the blank - the epoxy won't strongly adhere to it. The decal may be another matter, however.

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I do strip/re-build work on occasion, and it's not that difficult at all. Simply heat the finish up with a hair dryer and scrape it off with your thumb nails. It takes a little effort, but nothing you can't handle.

Thanks I'll take my time and give that a shot.

Hi Denham,

Best way to cleanly remove finish and guides for me takes elements from the above with a few added steps. Heat up the epoxy carefully and cut a portion of the end of the wrap so you can unravel the thread the opposite direction that you wrapped it. Heat the epoxy (I use a heat gun) carefully from time to time so the thread will pull the rest of the epoxy off. Once all the thread is off, use a popsicle stick and go back and forth over the finish that is still on the blank to abrade it till its white and powdery (it will still cling to the blank pretty well). Then get some denatured alcohol on a paper towel and wipe the epoxy stains on the blank, letting it soak into the abraded epoxy stains. You can use the popsicle stick to go back and forth over the epoxy and see that it will start to cleanly pull the rest of the epoxy off the blank. Repeat the process with the denatured alcohol as needed. The use of the popsicle stick is just enough to do the work without scratching the blank. The process is fast and you won't be able to tell you even wrapped it.

Couple things, you don't want or need to use that much heat. Nothing hotter than I can touch is my basic principle. Also, let the denatured alcohol do the work. The popsicle stick only abrades the epoxy stains enough so the alcohol can soak in.

Good luck,
Nick



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2016 01:41AM by Nick Lam.

Yes it's possible to remove epoxy from a decal area without damaging the blank ... you have to work very patiently using your fingers, nails or plastic burnishing tools, very carefully, no metal tools. You have to be very carefully on your first cut because normally the damage is done at that point. Just cut very thinly to allow your nails or burnishing tool to peel off the epoxy, but don't go deep to the blank. Use occasional moderate heat as well ... and use your finger to wipe off the remaining stickiness, you should be able to bring the blank to its original position. Good luck!

I'd like to thank Nick Lam for his above post. I'm rewrapping 3 Rick Clunn sig. series rods from Bass Pro that are on beautiful translucent blue blanks and I was able to remove the old wrap finish completely with this method. I was able to skip the heat and it worked perfectly. I was just removing the finish that remained after I had the guides off. One of those golden moments when you read a post an hour after you cut the guides off! Don't happen much! Lynn

Cheers, happy building. Nick

Nick I just tried your method but I couldn't get all of the epoxy off to where the blank is totally clean. I've been using alcohol and the popsicle stick but there are still very thin streaks that I'll have to resort to sanding in order to clean it completely. However I will say that this is a great method overall. I can't really imagine any method that could remove all the epoxy without having to sand it a little.