Hi.

I want to remove the spiral of the excess resin and the shine from a graphite blank and make the surface smooth and matte (ie. like loomis glx).

I've got from 600 to 1200 grit sandpapers. Perhaps I need to get some scotchbrite too?

Any other advice? I've read the surface preparation and refinishing articles in the library...

Cheers,
Sakari







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2005 07:59AM by Sakari Siipilehto.

If your blank is a smooth gloss finish, that's not excess resin - that's a very, very thin gloss finish. If it has hard ridges that spiral up the blank, that's resin, but it's still only perhaps a mil thick or so. Maybe.

If you still want to take your blank down to bare graphite, you'll need to be extremely careful. On fine diameter blanks you don't have a lot of room for error (exactly why the factories don't do much sanding on the tip areas of their blanks). Block sand for sure, and stop when the stuff coming off is black rather than clear.

Do keep in mind that altering the finish of a blank usually voids the warranty as well.

................

Hi Tom.

This blank has glossy finish (which I want to get rid of) and spiral ridges of that resin. I think that 1200 grit sand paper might be right, atleast to start with and then finish with the finest scotchbrite that I can get my hands on. I know that the layer of the excess resin is very thin and will do the sanding accordingly and will try not to get any black stuff off. I'll do the first experiments at the butt section where the mistakes will be left under the reel seat and handle.

I don't think that blank/rod manufacturers have much time to do the sanding so that a little abrasion is applied, the results analyzed and this cycle repeated until the result is what is wanted. They don't have the time and if there is even small deviation in the thickness, no constant procedure will give the perfect result for all. Some will be oversanded and some undersanded. I think.

The male parts of the ferrules are factory sanded btw.

Cheers,
Sakari

I buy unsanded blanks and sand and varnish them myself. I start with 200 grit and go to 400 grit. I only sand until the ridges are gone, as a matter of fact I leave the deeper valleys there, the varnish will smooth them over. They look very good when done. I have not tried leaving one just sanded with no finish coat applied, but I am sure if you went to like 1200 grit it would turn out well.

Sakari

What you are attempting to do in my opinion is a very difficult and skilled process especially as you will be inexperienced and are doing this work by hand. There are safty considerations to with the very fine dust you will create. It's one thing to hide some work under a reel seat but what about any structural damage you may cause on the way. If you are working on a relativaly thin walled fly blank the risks are much higher of screwing up. What you don't want to be doing is removing all the very small amount of expoxy resin which is part of the pr-preg which has migrated, during the blank curing process to the surface of the blank. This provides in itself an extreemly durable surface, and much better probably than any finish we can apply from a bottle.

My view on this as that as a rule we are probably better off buying our blanks factory sanded where there is a choice. I do have this choice with one Company called Harrisions over here where I can specify unground or ground and finished blanks. It costs about 15% more to have then sanded/ground. I normally go for unground because I prefer to retain as much as possible the structural integrity of the blank. It must be very difficult even in the factory not to expose or even cut into a few of the carbon fibres, at some point on the blank.

Ok this does not help you if you are determined to go ahead and sand your blank, so I would go with Scot above but would suggest that 200 grit is maybe a bit too coarse. You can take the edge of of thoses spiral ridges with 400 wet and dry paper. You can see the final effect by wetting your blank with something like alchol after sanding . You will be probably surprised as to how liitle you need to sand off to get a very good effect/finish.

Hope all goes well.


Mike O>

Sakari,

Welcome from Suomi - Finland. How's the fishing up there? I was In Finland about 15 years ago - on vacation with my father (didn't get to do any fishing though, just tourist stuff).

OK, back to the topic at hand, I once owned an older Orvis Superfine rod with the spiral resin ridges. I stripped off the guides, reel seat, and grip and proceeded to sand the spirals out of the blank using 600 grit sandpaper. The resulting blank became a rod that was light, responsive, and evidently after about the fourth use - brittle. By sanding off the resin ridges, I drastically altered the structural integrity of the blank. But this was a blank that had the resin sanded out of it, not just finnish. Oops, one too many "n's". If I had to do it all over again, I would have just found a matte finished blank. Too much effort, and too much risk. We custom (even recreational) rod builders have enough work to do with our grips, guides, reel seats, thread work, and finishes to be extensively re-engineering blanks. I'm sure I'll get some rebuttal, but it seems to me that if you look around a little, you'll find the blank you're looking for - pre-engineered to your requirements.

Torin.

Hi all.

I tried sanding under the reel seat. Before I got all of the ridges off carbon started to come off too. I see the risks involved (I'm a materials science engineer). So I'll leave the blank unsanded because I can't remove all the visible ridges without compromizing the integrity of the carbon fibres.

I'll try to see if I can get just the shine off with some stuff. It seems quite difficult since the ridges protect the valleys from matting. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure how much very small grooves/surface defects would actually harm the blank if the carbon fibres would be intact. That, of course, would depend on the defect size and shape. 400 grit would certainly make the blank brittle but 1200 grit might not.

Hi Torin.

Your surname sort of gave it in that you might have something to do with Finland. From your father's side I'd guess.
Fishing is ok here. But not great (except for couple of places), so I go to Northern Norway and Northern Sweden during summers to get better fishing (trout, grayling, arctic char and atlantic salmon).

Cheers,
Sakari