This is going to sound very strange...but is there anyone that reads this that does NOT know what Permagloss is?

I ran short of Permagloss right in the middle of a current re-finish job so I ordered some from one of the vendors to the left. In the mean time I thought I'd run to a new rod building shop down the road to see if this guy MIGHT have some Permagloss on hand. My first time in this shop, met the guy, and he said he'd been building for a few decades. I asked if he might have some Permagloss. He scrunched up his face a little and said, "what's that?" Now, I could tell by looking around the shop, at the guy's rods he had on display, and at some of the products he had laying around for sale that maybe this fellow was 'set in his ways'...but it just seemed strange to me that a professional rodbuilder didn't even know of the existance of what I thought was a common product.

Thank God for internet vendors!

Jay

Many "professional" builders are not really up to date on modern techniques or products. Hard to believe, but quite true. They are in business to sell rods, often lots of rods, and they figured out how to do that some years back, settled on products and methods, and are still in that same place today.

Not all professional custom builders are like this of course, but many of them are. In fact, I know several that don't even have computers. The very idea that there are internet rod building websites is a foreign notion to them. It's not surprising that your guy had never heard of Permagloss. Hardly a week goes by that I don't get a call from someone wanting Gene Bullard's phone number or where to get some more Skyline graphite blanks.

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Tom,

I know what Permagloss is, but who's Gene Bullard? (chuckle)

Blessings,
Mo

....and indeed, where can we get some of those Skyline graphite blanks?

OK.....I have heard of the use of permagloss, but have never used it myself. I did a google search and it sounds like it is a varnish like product and not too sure what application it would be for, I have used a older version of rod varnish to cover wraps and didn't really care for it. I am guessing that this a to each his own thing here.

Scott

Being the an analytical chemist that I am, Permagloss got me too wondering what was in it. They say it is a ureathane. I have found it to be more than that. It also contains cyanoacrylate (super glue) in a xylene solvent. This promotes adhesion. It is a very hard finish. I have yet to put on a Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer but I do plan to. The use of xylene is important to the slow drying and polymerization of the cyano acrylate and other acrylic acid based materials in this product. Bottomline in all this is that you cannot produce this stuff (on a small scale) for the price the vendors are getting for it. It is an excellant product. Thank you Tom for the tip about applying it with a foam brush. I just could not load up the brush with enough Permagloss to get a single pass on a large spinning rod.

Ed Smith

Permagloss wasn't adapted for use on rods - it was specifically created for use on fishing rods. Wraps, blanks, etc. It is a moisture curing urethane, dries water-white clear, and is harder and tougher than any epoxy finish, yet more flexible as well.


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Ed,

Try a different brand of brush/foam. I found some very inexpensive ones that really soak the stuff up. I can do a nice, wet coats on a large 80lb class trolling blanks with no problem.

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