As Tom states in Rodmaker(just got it last week the pain was terrible) when doing a reel seat add thread to the area after cutting down on a lathe.This makes a ton of sence due to the drilled in fact that the epoxy only sticks to the thread and not to the blank or reel seat.Question is when you marbleize a reel which I have seen on the photo pages what type of epoxy do you use and how does it hold up?Is the surface prepped in a special way?

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Epoxy finish doesn't really stick to something like a reel seat, but by completely encircling the seat barrel, you prevent it from being lifted and peeled off. That's really the key.

As far as putting it on other items where you can't fully encircle them, you do want to obtain a water break free surface (check the library page for the article on surface preparation. The only real question is whether or not it will hold up over the long haul. You'd have to check with the guys who have done it and see how their stuff is holding up.

.......

So far, so good.
When I first wanted to do this, I talked with Tom. As far as we knew, no one had ever tried it before. Tom steered me away from using any kind of adhesive such as a rod builder's glue because of the bubbles and non-leveling properties.
I did as he suggested and worked all of the surfaces with gray Scotch Brite to get the WBF surface and used high build epoxy rod finish. Now I've always known that at any time, I could get western with this with my fingernail and take it off, but after a year of fishing with them and riding in my rod lockers (several trips of over 6 miles in 3 footers) and so forth, the reels are fine.
I still wouldn't do it for anyone else but myself as I couldn't warrantee it in any way. Kinda nice to know that I've got one-of-a-kind reels on Lake Sakakawea and Fort Peck, though :)

Putter