I don't know why all the major problems I have are on butt wraps, but here's the issue:

Last night I sat up with a rod that had a fresh coat of finish on the butt wrap (heavy saltwater rod). I watched it for an hour, then went to bed. It was likely only 2 minutes after I went to bed that the chuck on my dryer decided to come apart. I guess the weight of the rod was a little much.

I know that when other people have talked about the same problem, the consensus is to strip and re-do and chalk it up to training. However, I'd like to try the following first.

I intend on using a medium-grit sanding block and hitting all of the high spots (trying to stay out of the thread then (possibly) sanding the rough spots with emory cloth. After that, I'll apply another coat of finish or three to attempt to level what's left. I figure if it still looks bad after a couple more coats I can then strip and start over.

Does that sound like a plan?

You can't hurt anything by trying to salvage what you have. On occasion, it works.

Just remember that when you sand, you must move through several grades of paper in order to get the scratches out from the first. So unless you are starting with pretty fine grit paper you will have to move through several grades. 150 - 220 - 320 -400 is workable. Do most of the heavy removal with the 150 and then quickly work out heavy scars with each of the other grips. Clean the residue off the surface and then follow with a good Scotchbrite scouring and apply your finish.

By all means work carefully and slowly and check your progress often.

.........

Chuck, I have a friend that ordered a rod and was in a hurry for it. It was a bass casting rod and he wanted a Fuji handle so it was not much trouble to put the rod together. I glued the handle, made a chevron butt wrap and finished the guides that morning. In the evening I applied the Flex Coat but not having a drying motor at the time I would turn the rod by hand every 15 minutes or so. I fell asleep in the chair and next morning I had these terrible bumps on the rod. I shaved them off and sanded the finish smooth and reapplied the Flex Coat. The next day my friend called and said that he had postponed the trip for a couple of days.

So far, so good. The follow-up coat is drying now. I'll probably have to do a couple more coats, but it looks like the sanding will work fine (in my case).