Any experiences with aftcoat? Good or bad? I am getting ready to finish 2 surf rods. What should I expect. Any pointers will be greatly appreciated.

Another 'me too' finish. Nothing bad nothing special. Long pot life. Try it you might like it.

Like Mike said, long pot life. It's also very clear, and appears to remain somewhat flexible. I've used it for several fly rods now, and am comfortable working with it. Aftcote is in my opinion a light finish - I routinely use three coats on 3-5 wt fly rods. The thing I like most about Aftcote is that if flows very nicely and creates a pretty even finish without the ripple effect I experienced with another brand.

The downside relates to its light formula - if you put just a little too much finish on a guide, the finish sags and pulls away from the ends of the thread wraps and pulls off of high spots like guide feet. So even after the second coat thread ribs show on guide feet and hook keeps. So far I like it enough to use it again though I just ordered another brand, a higher build formula, for experimentation.

You know we're never completely satisfied.....

Good Luck,
Jeff Shafer

This stuff is extremely flexible. A friend came to my shop with a 1/4" thick disck of Aftcote which he had from mixing it on a pice of aluminum foil - I couldbed it bak and forth, crumple it up - and it always went back to it's original shape.

It doesn't finish hard like th eother epoxies, you'll be able to dent it with a fingernail after a year - but the dent always disappears.

Negative - it takes a long time to set up and get "hard".