As mentioned in an earlier post I had made up a test stick on a white blank using some light color threads and leaving spaces for the blank to show through. Last night at our weekly meeting I examined the stick which has been exposed to nearly three weeks of Florida sun and rain-the thread and blank look like I did the wraps and finish yesterday, not even a little change in color is apparent.
I also received excellent service re my order from Andy-very fast delivery
John

Might I make a sugestion about testing finishes on wraps.I have dealt with the printing ink business for quite some time ,and when we had to test pigments used in inks and dyes, we would have our pigment and ink suppliers run them through a battery of tests that simulate exposer to all kinds of elements sun,moisture,and different temps.We also would test different types of laminating films over these inks.It is not very expensive and most ink manufactures have the equipment to do these tests.They can simulate years of exposer in a matter of a few days.It is quite an amazing process to see.I can say from experiance that most of the red pigments that are manufactured do not hold up very well to exposure to the sun, no matter what you coat them with.I am not saying to avoid red threads, but in time they my fade or change colors.I have a rod I built 20 years ago and has been sitting in my basement for the last 8 years, and the red threads are starting to turn a light transparent green.This rod started fadeing and has not been exposed to sunlight in years.Hope this info helps.
Bill Britt

Hi Bill,
The ThreadMaster clear coat itself was tested by the formulator in an accelerated UV device that simulated over 500 hours of UV exposure...virtually no change in clarity. I came up with the same results with a "real time" test in the Texas sun in my front yard.
As for the actual fading of the thread, I'll leave that up to the builders or the Thread Manf. to test that. There is no doubt that the longer a finish stays clearer, that leaves the thread open to a greater degree of UV exposure. It's a double edged sword. However I look at it this way; it takes most of the finishes on the market right now an average of 48-72 hours of UV exposure to turn yellow...very yellow. IThat's not really very long at all in terms of sunny fishing days. From observations on my rods, it takes the thread a lot longer than that to start fading. So, I'd rather have a water clear finish that can be used over white (or any color) thread and have to worry about some thread fading WAY down the road, than have to be limited to certain colors of threads because my finish will yellow in a matter of months, if not days.

I'll say this, If I ever get to fish so much that my thread starts to fade, I'll be a very happy guy.

Andy Dear
Lamar Manf.

P.S. John you said ".I examined the stick which has been exposed to nearly three weeks of Florida sun and rain-the thread and blank look like I did the wraps and finish yesterday, not even a little change in color is apparent. ".........I told you so.

I have no doubt threads change colors over time. However, it takes a lot longer to do so. I LOVE Red, and have rods for only 5 years, which are still Red. I have other rods which see heavy use with Silver & BLue & other colors, which are all shades of ellowish brown after a month. I much ratehr have a rod which the threads fade after several years, than to have a rod turn Yellow.....in a shorter time than it took me to wrap teh rod in the first place.

From my own testing, there ae only 2 finishes which stay clear - Aftcote & ThreadMaster (this is borrowed from Andy's test, but I do have a stick in teh NY sun, but the sun hasn't been out much so I'll take Andy's test as a given). Aftcote does a great job stayin gclear, but imo it is hard to get a level finish, and it is quirky. ThreadMaster is much easier to work with, and gives me a better finish.

Aftcote does stay pretty clear....not quite as clear as ThreadMaster, in addition to the qualities that Vivona mentioned, it is also somewhat more expensive, and it dries kind of soft as well.

Andy

LS Supreme High Build stays extremely clear, once on the wraps. I find it easy to use although many may object to its thickness in the mixing cup.

I've also tried Andy's ThreadMaster finish and I think he's got a winner.

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