Has anyone had problems with pac bay thread. I was using size A in a burgandy color. The first time that I put epoxy on it the thread fuzzed up underneath. So I proceeded to take that section of thread off. Now I have rewrapped the butt section and epoxyed it and it now has sand like pimples in it. Is this a thread problem or a finish problem? Using flex coat lite.

Thanks for response.

Madfish Rods

Have never had problems with that thread. However....comma.....I had trouble with another well known manufacturer's thread. I got BIG fish eyes all over the thread on two rods - i had finished them together. What the heck??? Of course the first thing I suspected were the tools - but I had been using the batch of mix cups with no problems; the brush - a cheap "acid brush" I had previously used with no problems and cleaned for reuse; The alcohol I had been using on previous work also with no problems. Maybe the air? Or something must have been sprayed in the air and somehow traveled indoors and got on the work?

Stripped off the work and redid all the thread. It happened yet again! Fish eyes all over the place. Ok. Grabbed a piece of scrap blank and began testing samples of everything I was using. The thread I was using was a silver metallic and black nylon. Wrapped bands of each on the piece of scrap, mixed a fresh batch of finish from a new set of bottles, and another from the old set, applied both to the thread. The fish eyes appeared almost immediately over the band of black thread. The thread was contaminated.

Unfortunately I had to strip and redo all the thread work off yet a 2nd time. Hours of work wasted due contaminated thread. Of course by now I had used up a pretty good portion of the batch of black thread (pulling bands of 8 threads at once, multiplied by three wraps). When I made a claim against the vendor they honored my request that the thread be replaced, but prorated the value of the returned spools based on how much thread had been pulled off of them. So I got partial replacement cost - and I wasted many hours of my work on their bum thread. Pee'ed me off. But oh well, can't dwell on this too long, pressed on with other thread I had. And chalked it off to lesson learned.

Lou.

Brad, was glad to see your post as I had the same problem.
I'm in the process of rewraping the guids.
This learning curve of rod building sure is a lot of fun.
Sorry to be of no help, Stan.

Any fraying of the thread will cause those "fuzzies." The only question is, did those frays come about due your tensioning-directional equipment, or from that at Pacific Bay.

Check your screw eyes, pigtails or whatever you use to tension and route your thread through. Make sure there are no burrs, grooves or wear marks. If not, then take some of your thread and wrap it, directly from the spool and by hand, around a sample blank or dowel. Finish that sample. If it does the same thing, you've just gotten a bad spool of thread.

.........

I actually did not use a tensioning device other than my hand. This was a butt wrap that is about 6 inchs long. It really doesn't look like fuzzies but pimples. Can I sand them off and try to reexpoxy. thank for all your help.