Bill you forgot to give us the answer.

Is it the arbor on the exposed reel seat???

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

let's all email him LOL

Every one of the answers from everyone are true and have happened to me before! The real error and one that is very difficult to fix has been causing me pain for over two years. In the past week or so I have communicated with Ralph O'Quinn and Tom Kirkman on another matter and they both knew what I did wrong instantly. I was kind mad because after all the time I have spent doing things wrong I would have never known that there are certain basics that if violated will cause a lot of undue stress.

When I initially used the denatured alcohol and literally submerged the cork piece in the stuff trying to get all the excess Rod Bond off during the initial cleaning I was creating an animal that would come back and bite me. The porus cork, Rod Bond, alcohol mixture was driven deeply into the pores of the cork and it did not set or evaporate. When I came back over the top of this goop with the mineral spirits based True Oil I made a paste like mess on the surface of the cork that will not dry in weeks! That tacky feeling on cork is caused by something done with cleaning, sealers, coatings, adhesives.

The Legends Rule - don't put solvents on cork!!

Thanks Ralph and Tom for this Christmas Present!

Gon Fishn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2005 09:05AM by Bill Stevens.

literally submerged the cork . i did not know you did this. Think you said you washed off the adhesive.
I will wash off cork with alcohole then run a dryer over it. But just the outside.

That @#$%&, I think the fishing trip would have been much more fun :)

Thought you were going to say you forgot to put the "BAD TO THE BONE" on the rod. Just got in my 2nd hundred of the pins, he is not making the "MINI" pins at the present. Jesse

I have in the past used an alcohol dampened paper towel to remove the excess FC epoxy after I epoxy the rings together.

Is this a mistake still if one doesn't use tru-oil on the cork? I usually do the paper towel step while the handle is still on the threaded rod. After a day or so on the rod I remove it and then epoxy onto the blank... Guess my question then is... is there still an inherant problem with using the alcohol on the rings to remove the excess epoxy without the tru-oil??? Maybe I have been lucky and have just skated below the radar so far... please let me know. Might have to change my ways?!
Chuck Ungs

I am hoping Ralph or Tom will read down this far on this thread and give us their opinion. The epoxies like Rod Bond used to stick rings together do not contain a solvent. If you are going to do furthur work with the cork surface of any kind there may be interferances caused that can cause problems. I have stopped immediate clean up of surfaces I put together with two part epoxies with solvents. I am taking a lot of care with just clean paper towels to remove excess. If you are doing rings it may be best to eliminate the solvent contact for cleanup of excess epoxy. I dunno - but maybe best would be to simply wipe off, let dry and turn n sand for final cleanup.

A major production rod company has a rash of reel seat failures on exposed blank seats. I cut a few apart and noted that the fit up was not real close on the failed rods and that there was a sticky mess in the joint area. I will bet they cleaned the seat windows with a solvent at time of installation.

I do know that Ralph will use harsh words when you tell him you use Cork Seal on top of a freshly solvent cleaned cork surface.

Gon Fishn

I think Ralph will also tell you that if you have glue squeeze out from the rings, you've used to much!!. Watch him apply Rod Bond......put it on the face of the cork and then TAKE IT ALL OFF. What's left is the amount needed for proper adhesion. And denatured alcohol works just fine for getting rid of any glue still on the seat or blank.

The one thing you don't want to do before any final application of adhesive or finish (of any kind) is to wipe the surface with a solvent. Cleaning them first with a solvent is fine, as long as you then move on to preparing a water-break-free surface for your adhesive. You can read about this in past issues of RodMaker or right here on this site's online library.

In the case of getting epoxy off of cork, you are pretty much forced to use some sort of solvent - wiping it with a paper towel alone isn't going to cut it. Better to not get any epoxy on there to begin with, but if you do and need to remove it, use the solvent. But, if you then plan to apply anything over that surface, I would strongly recommend that you sand it prior to doing so. You needn't take a lot of cork off - just hit the grip from end to end with some medium grit sandpaper. Don't overdo things - you don't need to reshape or reduce the diameter of the grip. Just knock up some dust and remove a very fine layer off the surface so anything you got down in there will be gone and you'll be left with a clean cork surface to apply whatever it is you're going to be applying next.

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

well, i won't take a guess; too many possibilities. but i'd like to add true oil on cork shouldn't be a problem since cork is a wood product. try it, i have.

eric
fresno, ca.

I've used tru-oil on cork as well and like it somewhat... but only apply it AFTER the rod is built and AFTER the thread finish is completely dry.
I dunno, something about the word "oil" freaks me out so I worry about what it'll do if it gets on a surface that I've yet to apply thread finish on.

This thread is a perfect example of just how hard it is to communicate properly in this forum.

Grant Darby - my post detailed the use of a preformed grip -I used no rings and this grip was not glued up by me - I bought the thing in one piece. The Rod Bond extrusion I referred to was caused by wiping off the Rod Bond from the surface of the blank and squeezed out when I slid the cork grip in place on the blank. This really means there was a "tunnel" completely through the thickness of the cork piece that was filled with Rod Bond. I just wiped off the top surface with the alcohol and left the remainder in the channel to dry. I guess this if why Rodmaker magazine is so important to all of us. The detail of subjects like this covering all the details supported by pictures can deal with this type of thing in a completely different manner.

Gon Fishn

Very good thread Bill,
Very entertaining and very informative !!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I use pre-made cork giprs and apply my Tru-oil coats on the cork BEFORE I glue up the handle assembly, wipe off the excess epoxy with paper towels and denatured alcohol and have not had a problem to date.