Hey All,

I was looking over the very first rod I built and I noticed the finish is very uneven. Some places the finish is too thin and in others it is wavy. It's a great rod so I would like to fix this, but I don't really know how.

I have read that if I rough up the epoxy on the rod, new finish can be applied over it. Anyone have experience with this? If I am able to place new epoxy over the old finish this will cure almost all of the defects.

Thanks!

Using sandpaper on a block to try to take the tops off the waves, sand the area to try to even it out. Use something like 220 grit. Don't try to take too much off; the worst thing you can do is sand through and get into the decal/thread/rod blank. It might take a couple cycles of sand then finish again. Make sure you apply the finish using strokes longitudinal with respect to the axis of the blank, and don't apply too much. You want to cover it, but don't flood it. . Don't apply heat-whenever I have, it caused an uneven finish. Others may have a better idea, but that is what I would do. It can be fixed.

There is nothing wrong with sanding down your finish just to get a good look I do it on both my decritive wraps and my guides and I have never had a problem just make sure that all is dry first.

Glenn McMurrian

You have nothing to lose but more to gain.

Glenn McMurrian

Brad,
Yes, you can sand and possibly level the finish - if that is what you really want.

But, every time that I have looked over a rod that I am unhappy with - whether it is mine or someone else's, I generally find that it is easier and faster for myself, to use my heat gun and apply a bit of gentle heat to the guide wraps and then use a razor blade cutting on the side of the rod foot to slice through the thread wraps.

Take another few minutes to clean up the rest of the finish and then re wrap and refinish the thread wrap.

I have found that about 1/2 the time when sanding the finish on a thread wrap - that I hit a thread with the sand paper and have to cut the guide off anyway. So, I just save myself the trouble - quickly cut off the guide, clean the blank and rewrap the guide on the blank.

Good luck

It depends on if you're talking about guide wraps. It's to easy to sand down to thread on the guide foot. Deco wraps are a different story. There shouldn't be any high spots, and I have done that successfully.

I remember my first rod. I celebrate its many imperfections.

Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

John Cates Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember my first rod. I celebrate its many
> imperfections.
It's like a wedding, if something goes wrong (and it will) you will have something to tell your grandchildren about.

Brad,
After building for a few years, I looked over the rods that I still had in my possession .

When I found a rod that was not up to my then - standards- I took the rod, stripped the guides and rewrapped and refinished the guides. In some cases, I also took the opportunity to switch to a different guide set.

No reason not to have perfect rods, so I made it happen.

Take care