While in Charlotte, Tom Kirkman mentioned to me that he’d had good results with sponge brushes (Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc.) when applying Perma-Gloss to rod blanks. I just tried it and it works like a charm. I’m refurbishing a surf rod for a friend and the outer layer (brown) was badly chipped down to the glass in places. I tinted the Perma-Gloss with brown pigment from Testors model paint, soaked the small (2”) sponge brush with the mixture and just brushed it onto the blank, lengthwise.

Tom had suggested drawing the blank through a hole in the sponge brush but because of the large diameter of the surf rod, I couldn’t use that technique. The sponge brush however, just as an applicator for Perm-Gloss, is far superior to anything I’ve used yet. The finish I got is pretty much blemish-free.

It’s apparent to me that the key to getting a good, streak-free layer of Perma-Gloss on a rod is to apply it quickly and in a fairly generous amount, then leave it alone until it dries. Looks like using sponge brushes is the way to do that.

Thanks Tom for a great idea.

Pete Kornegay

Cut the foam brush into lengthwise strips and it also work great for wraps.

I bought the brushes after talking with Tom on the same subject; just haven't had the time to do it yet. Good to hear the feedback, Pete; I'll be trying this soon.

Putter

Putter,
Does that mean you can turn those green blanks into some other color?

Cool. I have one graphite 4wt. fly blank and 1 old fiberglass surf blank I want to refinish. Now I know how I will do it, with the sponge brushes and some Testor's paint. Thanks Tom and Pete and Don for the tips on this technique. I'll wait until later in the spring when my garage is warm enough to do this and keep the fumes out of my house.

So it's ok to add pigment to Permagloss? I had not thought of that. Sure would be faster than painting, THEN clearing. Do it all in one step. Great method...thanks.

Jay

There are probably other pigments better than those found in Testors paint but that's what I had available at the time. If you use something like Testors paint, let the pigment settle for several days, pour off the solvent and then dip out what you need for mixing with a toothpick. Many other folks on the board have had success with TAP pigments and Perm-Gloss. In Charlotte, Ken Preston demonstrated that Perma-Gloss can be mixed with the color-shifting glitter and successfully applied to the rod blank with a gloved finger.

Pete K.

Don't forget that Klass Kote epoxy paint is ready to go, if they have a color you like. I made a test with the foam brush and it worked well.

Don, when you say you tested Klass Kote with the foam brush, do you mean for finishing the wraps or refinishing a blank? And if it was finishing the blank, did you do the pull-through technique or brush on technique? Thanks.

I do wraps with the brush also, but I was speaking of painting the blank. Klass Kote is really designed to be sprayed, but as an experiment I painted a blank with 2 coats of finish. Very hard to a fingernail. I did not do the pull through, I painted it with long brush strokes. You use gloss catalyst for the wraps, and a colored catalyst for painting. I think with 2 coats of color, you would not need an overcoat of gloss. I would thin the paint a bit for use with the brush.

Okay, thanks. Sounds like a couple of good options here for my blank refinishing projects. I've only done one so far and I used Permagloss just wiped on with my finger. Looks okay considering how bad the rod looked before I did it but I don't think I used quite enough Permagloss for fear of getting drips and bubbles. Thanks guys for the detailed method descriptions.

Will foam brushes work with Flex-coat for that first THIN coat

I don't know about the Flex Coat. Do you intend to thin it? The brush works well because it loads with the thinnest of finishes. As the mixture gets thicker, you are probably better off with a palatte knife/spatula. I would be concerned with bubbles in a thicker mixture. The foam lays the finish on flat. Applied at the top, you get more finish, less when applied to the side of a wrap.

Tap Plastics has tints that should work well

I tried the technique that Ken Preston describes in his DVD, with finish epoxy and Testor's. I didn't like it, the epoxy didn't get hard enough. When I tried to wrap on it, the thread dug in to the finish. I know I mixed it right. I don't have any Permagloss or Klass Kote so I couldn't try them. I do, however, have some craft epoxy. The type that you put over drawings and pictures to make plaques. It gets quite hard when cured. I thought about trying that next time. Any thoughts?

Bill in WV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2005 09:24PM by William Bartlett.

Bill in WV
I think you put on too heavy a coat . I had the same problem the first couple of times I tried this. What was going wrong (for me) was not realizing that the epoxy / pigment mix would distribute color evenly and if I put it on in short strokes (1 to 3 feet) then spread it evenly with longer swipes (3 to 5 feet) the "goopy mess" of finish squeezing out between threads would go away. It isn't an issue of mixing it correctly 50/50 it's more like multiple thin coats on thread wraps rather than one really heavy coat coupled with pouring off the excess thinning agent from the Testors and using just the pigment to do the tinting. I would not use the casting epoxy - I think it will have a tendency to crack and split when the rod flexes.

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On PermaGlos and pigment additives. I did this as an experiment on the second day of the show in Charlotte. To guage how much of an experiment it was: I got a small bottle of PermaGlos from Ralph O'Quinn at his booth, bought some Rod Bond from MudHole, two short cork handles and a rod blank that was on sale from Andy Dear at Lamar reel seats at around 10AM and assembled the rod. Randy (Putter) did a second demo of his amazing marbelizing technique at my booth around noon. When he was done I put the rod in a drying set up and mixed Alsa color change flakes into some PermaGlos; an some dark blue jig head powder paint in another dollop of PermaGlos (with Randy cautioning me about pouring PermaGlos into plastic containers -- was he ever spot on!) . All very highly scientific you see. At about 1PM folks gathered 'round and " a-paintin' we did do " . The results were "mixed" with several lessons learned. FIRST LESSON: do not pour PermaGlos into plastic containers! SECOND LESSON: Do not try to mess with PermaGlos - it sets fast and "a little goes a long way". Apply it in one pass in a thin coat. If it doesn't cover as you expected you either did not put in enough pigment on that first coat and will have to make a new pass after it has cured completely . The secondary (totally non-scientific) lesson here is that you MAY need more pigment in PermaGlos than in epoxy . After the application of the Alsa pigment /flakes we moved on to the PermaGlos / jig head powder paint mix. This was less successful. However I am not sure why . You see by this time the PermaGlos had pretty much eaten through /dissolved the plastic container and there may have been some cross-contamination from the plastic or something about the powder paint that resulted in the PermaGlos never hardening as it should have. Perhaps Ralph or a chemist would have insight on this - I do not and have not had the time to do a more careful repeat of the PermaGlos/powder paint application nor have I had the opportunity (or reason) to try the foam brush approach which might work much better. As has already been noted "thinner is better" .

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I haven't messed with the Klass Kote fiinish... Can one or more of the "base" (pigment coats tints) be mixed to get different colors? Aadding white to black to get grey for instance?

Ken, I might have been right on about the plastic containers and Permagloss, but I was wrong that you couldn't put the color change and Permagloss on a blank successfully. I miss the experimentation and "why not try it" attitude that you exemplify!! This just drives me harder and farther...

Putter

That epoxy has to be fully cured before wrapping over. At least 2-3 days.
I tried the auto clear and found it to set almost like permagloss. To quick for me.
The last time I looked at Klass Kote's site, they say it is a " tinted epoxy " ??
I have not played with this stuff yet [www.minwax.com]
it's a clear sheild from minwax?
Just some thoughts [www.willierods.com]

Ken: get that air brush yet?? Wish I had the room, I would paint all mine with the air brush and be done with it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2005 07:26AM by bill boettcher.