DR, Yes I do use syringes to measure my epoxy although I didn't used to. At one time I used a set of stainless measuring spoons like you have in your kitchen. They worked fine and weren't near the accuracy of syringes. I did find myself mixing larger batches than I needed when using the spoons. This gave me an increased margin of error. I switched over to syringes when I read on this board a tip about drilling a hole in the top of the cap on the epoxy bottle & simply storing your syringe there. One of my biggest gripes with syringes is that they were messy & I ended up spilling epoxy when trying to draw it out of the bottle with a syringe. The hole in the cap tip solved this problem for me & I do all my epoxy that way now. By switching to syringes I also don't have to clean up a set of measuring spoons after every mix anymore. Syringes also allow me to mix smaller batches as they are much more precise than the spoons...this helps me save epoxy by becoming more efficient. No syringes are not needed, but they sure have their advantages.

Some epoxies take a matter of hours to set up....some take days. This is only because each company has a proprietary chemical mix for their product. They aren't carbon copies of each other. Each & every epoxy has differing properties. This is GREAT for us as we get to pick & choose which of those properties we want on our rods. We aren't stuck with one or two products that are lacking what we desire.

As far as Aftcote goes, I think it takes the longest to cure than any epoxy out there. With this knoledge anyone that needs an epoxy to dry in a few hours should know not to use this product. For example, LS Supreme will be at a tack free stage in 3-5 hours if I remember correctly. The pot life of LS (approx. 45 minutes?) is much greater than the Aftcote. The other day I had applied Aftcote on a single wrap repair job. After about an hour and a half in the dryer I went to check on it & saw a spot that needed just a little touch up. The epoxy on my foil was still viscous enough to make that touch up. I would have needed to apply another coat had I been using other epoxies. By curing in the heated room like I stated above, that rod was 'dry' in 6-8 hours and delivered to the customer in another 12. Completely bubble free & level. What more can I ask of it?

Epoxies are forgiving mixes. You just have to keep in mind and understand what we are asking it to do by mixing it in super small quantities. I don't know what more to say. The choices of rod building epoxies on the market is mind boggling. The differing qualities they all possess sets each of them apart. With that we are able to choose exactly which of those qualities we want to use in our rods. Along with those qualities will come a learning curve as each epoxy can be a bit different. Learn to properly use the epoxy that contains the qualities you are looking for and you will reap the benefits for years to come.

Have I ever said I love Aftcote? ;-)

Jay

Duane,

I am amazed at the number of problems reported on the posts regarding finishing issue on thread wraps It actually drives me nuts. I have hardly ever had a problem in 20 years and I am no rod building Guru. I have tried abusing the finishes and deliberatly mixing slightly off and still got good results. I routinaly mix my epoxy with the same brush that I am going to apply to the wraps. I have even worked up the mix to a white froth to see what happens and the answer is perfect results every time. I have used wooden stirring sticks against all the good advice it made no bad effect. It just beats me what some builders must be doing to get such terrible experiences with these excellent modern products.

OK normaly I will take great care to mix very accurataly. I will take reasonable steps to reduce parallax error when using syringes. My varnishing room is very warm close to 25 degrees C. I only use brand new mixing cups for every batch I mix. I never touch the inside of the cup. My hands are freshly washed. They are dried on a fresh towel. No eating goes on whilst finishing. I apply the finish very quickly and lay off very quicly with my one eight inch flat brush. On a long rod with 8 guides I may use two batches so I dont have a thickening mix on the guides that get done last of all.

I have not even had trouble when mixing small amount of Gibbs using the droper type end bottles. I found that I could get away with 10 drops of A and B components. I don't reccomend this as any error is going to be percentage wise proportionaly large. But it does demonstarte you do have to be doing something darned awful to get bad results.

Tight Lines and good finishes

MIke O.