And by the way, there are no exagerations in my claims. Take a white blank, put some Flex Coat on it, stick it out in the sun...it will turn yellow after about 30-40 hours of UV exposure, which is about 4 full days of sunlight.....Nothing exagerated about that...I invite anyone to try it.

Doc, you can see my test sticks in Charlotte.

Andy

I have seen bad fading in 6 fishing days with a very clear finish and posted a picture of it here:
[www.fishingphotos.net]

I was really amazed at this, too. I'd never seen it before. A friend of mine whom I'd taught to build rods ( I helped him build this rod) used a different finish than what I use and had this happen.

Putter
Williston, ND

Andy

I was not knocking your product. I see no mention of ThreadMaster in my post. I have emailed you on several attemps to purchase some of the finish from you. I was only offering my services, as I did to Mick McComesky to anyone who wanted to do a test stick to compare. I didn't claim Australia to have sub-zero temps for prolonged times but if you do your research you will find Australia and Antartica have the most extreme UV radiation levels in the world. The discussion was turned onto yellowing and I thought UV radiation was the cause.
I was mearly stating, which you agreed with me on, clear finish you will experience faster thread fade compared to a finish that yellows.

Ahhhh Randy, you failed to mention that the threads were metallic! Those things do fade terribly I agree!

Myles, I have received no correspondence from you, but that's not your fault....my isp is funky about international emails. If you need me try aldear@stic.net.
Like I said Ross Van Eckenvort also stocks the stuff there in Australia


Andy Dear

Tom Kirkman and All!

Is it rue that Flexcoat yellows?
Where can you buy Threadmaster Finish?

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


Well, yes they do all yellow or amber, both in the bottle and on the rod, well, with the exception of maybe just 2 or 3. Flex Coat does turn yellow/brown in or out of UV light. So it's not a good choice for very light threads or white, but other than those I don't think most guys would find anything to complain about. It's easy to use and has been the standard for probably 20 years now. I've used it on hundreds of rods and except for a few done on white blanks or with very, very light colored threads, I have no complaints. If there were serious problems with it, then nobody would be using it. And, we know that it outsells all the others combined.

ThreadMaster, the new Diamond II, and LS Surpreme are the clearest in the bottle and remain the clearest on the wraps. Of course, this allows greater UV penetration to the thread, so we come down to a compromise no matter what we do. The trick is to find the finish that works within the application you need it for.

I just don't think any of these finishes are bad, they each offer different characteristics and you just have to find the one that works best for the task you need it for.

A good friend of mine is in the fabric business selling fabrics and threads to the furniture and automotive industry. They use a special "UVR Bonded Polyester" and he gave me some to try on a rod last year. It doesn't fade, at least not in a year. I suspect since it's made to withstand exterior use without fading, it could make a good rod wrapping thread. It's a bit stiffer than say, Gudebrod nylon, so it's not quite as easy to use. I'll try to get some samples up. I had promised some to a few earlier but just stay so busy I haven't had time to spool up small quantities and send them around.

I'll try to get some down the the National Show in Charlotte next month. Michael and Billy will try anything (sort of like "Mikey" in the old Chex cereal commercials) so I'll put some off on them and see what they think.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2006 11:43AM by Tom Kirkman.

This thread seems to have gotten way off track! The question was "Does Flex Coat yellow?" The answer is yes! THEY ALL DO! I don't think that anyone was bashing anyone or any company. They all will eventually yellow. It is the nature of the beast. Flexcoat is a great product and I don't think that I's be wrong is saying that probably more rods are finished with Flexcoat than all the finishes combined. The question wasn't whether Flexcoat was good, it was whether it yellowed. It does, they all do, some just more/faster than others.

The thread fading issue was just discussed [www.rodbuilding.org] and probably has a lot more to do with the thread than the finish. The purpose of finishes, CP's, etc was never to prevent fading.

Numerous buildesr (myself included) raved about Threadmaster when they tried it, but I never heard one of them bash any other product when doing so ( The same thing occurred when Rod Bond, LS and many other products were introduced) . Granted, yellowing may be a moot point to some but many are always looking for the "Holy Grail" - the clearest finish, the best adhesive, the lightest guide, etc. There is nothing wrong with that, if everone was satisfied with everything, we would still be building rods like they did in the 50's.

All of the current products are good, that doesn't mean that we should stop looking for better or, more importantly, share our opinions with others when we THINK we found it!

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2006 11:54AM by Mike Barkley.