All,

I've used Gudebrod color preserver (CP) routinely on the few rods I've built. I thin it a little with alcohol to make it penetrate better, and apply a number of coats, paying special attention to the areas around the guides (usually single foot) and trying to wick the CP into the tunnels adjacent to the guides.

However, after applying the epoxy finish, Cabela's foil packs or LS Supreme, it doesn't matter, I'm still getting "transparency" around some of the guide feet. Where the thread is in direct contact with the blank, the CP is doing what I understand it is supposed to, maintaining the color of the thread, but around the tunnels and gaps between the thread and the blanks, the CP is NOT working.

My question is: How much of the CP effectiveness is dependent on the amount of CP applied to the threads, and how much is dependent on the degree of packing of the threads? In other words, do the threads need to be packed to some extent for the CP to work, or does the CP work regardless of thread packing, as long as you apply enough CP to the threads.

Thanks.

Bilgee

The CP works. You will always have a dark area around the outline of the guide feet because that area does not touch the blank and therefore is on a different background than the rest of the thread.

Splotches and blotches are generally those areas where you did not pack the thread very well and you are seeing the blank through minute gaps between individual threads.


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