building a rod for a friend. in the butt area i applied epoxy to a 3" section of rod to seal a signature wrap and a section of bare rod with no thread underneath. it went wavy on me. i have no problem removing epoxy when thread is under it but i am a little concerned about trying to remove the epoxy on a bare blank section. any ideas? i could sand the waves out and recoat or i could remove it altogether and start over.
if i do the latter what method would you use to remove the epoxy without damaging the blank? thanks, larry

Hi Larry,
Long time no hear from. I myself would first try and sand it down and recoat. What sounds like what might have happened was that the area that is wavey got some type of oil either from your hand or some other unknown object so after sanding I would use some denaytured achohol and clean the area thoroughly and then re-apply the coating, but make sure its a thin coat first. Now if that doesn't work then with a sharp blade slowly peel off the epoxy you may loose the color of the blank when you get to the area that had no thread, that is a chance you will have to take, now if the coating is still tacky then it may not pick up the painted part of the blank and all you will have to do is clean the tacky epoxy off of the area and start over. Just make sure you clean it with the denatured achohol first....

If you need anymore help don't hesitate to contact me?

Neal Cissel
Neals Fishing Products

hi neal, thank you for the response. i have built many rods for my own use and most of them are nearly perfect. this is the first i have built for compensation (barter really) and i messed it up a little. i will of course take the most conservative approach first. what i did was sign that area with a sharpie, then overcoat that with some water based urothane to seal the sig. i then scuffed that with steel wool. that is where i got the wavyness. there is prbably some oil in the steel wool to keep it from rusting. did not clean it with alchy.

have not started on the 10 wt tiger eye yet. had two other projects in front of it.

my best wishes to you and your family.

Larry,
When I use a sharpie I usually don't use color preserver I just apply the epoxy over it, after the sharpie has had sometime to dry.

Have you been doing any fishing lately?
My best wishes to you and your family also.