What do you use to clean a blank before applying epoxy finish and after drying before delivery? I am new to the forum. Sorry if this has been
brought up before.

I don' t clean a blank before applying epoxy finish, I don't have to. It's not dirty. If there may be tape residue on it, DNA takes care of that. On a completed and FULLY dried rod, a household furniture spray type of thing works well. Car polishes are to much work. I hope I'm understanding your question.

You don't clean a blank before applying finish, I do all that before the build starts, you have to get rid of all contaminates before grips, reel seats, and wraps are installed. I use soap and water, followed by denatured alcohol.
The worst you should have to do is a bit of dusting with a fine dry brush.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2017 09:07PM by Spencer Phipps.

Dawn dish soap and clean microfiber cloths to clean glass and carbon fiber rods before the build.

Post build for all rods, J-Wax being very careful not to contaminate anything in the rod build room.

I use denatured alcohol. In my situation I have blanks piled up on racks where they collect scratches, dirt, debris, and koodies Old, NOS, new, whatever. And I'm often pulling them down to see if they'll fit for some application I have in mind. Consequently they get scuffed and more. A quick clean with alcohol tells me what I'm dealing such as whether I need to touch up scuffs. Bottom line, my blanks get cleaned before I wrap them.......

The use of alcohol as the last step before applying epoxy is not universally recommended. Better to use no fluid as the last step. Probably more of an issue with the use of epoxy for structural applications, like reel seats.

John, if you choose to come back after all this, I'll ask again. Did we understand your question? I get the sense you want to epoxy an entire blank? Is there a need for that on your project?

John,
To clean the threads after they have been wrapped, I use blue painters tape to tack off any dust or other contaminants that may have gotten on the thread. I never put any liquid of any sort on the thread after they have been wrapped before applying finish.

Apply finish, let dry and ship.

Good luck