There have been some good discussion (for me) revolving around the epoxy used for finishing the rods.

A few questions:

1. Can you mix and match different brands? I was wondering if you started with a brand (let's say flex-coat hi build), but you wanted to finish with Threadmaster.
I was curious if the outercoat (threadmaster) has more UV protection would that prevent the lower layer from yellowing sooner??

2. Do these finishes have UV blockers built in?

3. If you use CP and a good finish that has high UV blocking, why would the threads turn color? I take it that CP does not have any UV light blocking ability??

4. How long can you go inbetween applications before you have to use sandpaper to lightly rough the surface? Is it many days?

Just curious..

Ernie

The epoxy will not block UV - but some are not as affected by it as others when it comes to turning amber or yellow. I feel almost certain that putting something like Threadmaster on top of another brand will not protect the other brand, underneath, from doing whatever it was going to do in the first place.

If you wait more than about 3 or 4 days, I'd scour the previous surface with Scotchbrite before recoating.

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

I was surfing around some of the sponsers sites and noticed that flexcoat now has a new formula with UV protection in it.

That's been out for a while. But it doesn't provide UV protection to whatever happens to be under the thread. The whole concept of "UV Protection" is not what people think it is. We have an article in the works for RodMaker that will hopefully shed more light on just what these various terms actually mean and what such "inhibitors" actually do.

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

3. If you use CP and a good finish that has high UV blocking, why would the threads turn color? I take it that CP does not have any UV light blocking ability??

CP only preserves the color of the thread as it appears on the spool of thread so that the applied finish won't change the threads color. As you surmised, CP has NO UV protection to it at all.

Why do threads turn color? Fading I assume you're speaking of? They fade because (most of ?) the threads we're using now aren't made to not fade in sunlight. Only thing that protects them is the UV blocking ability of some sort in the finishes that we use. To date, in general, the clearer the finish, the faster the fading of the threads that we use. It would be nice to have threads that don't fade and crystal clear finishes-definitely the best of both worlds it would be!

If you're speaking of threads turning color when finish is applied without CP, it's just the nature of the beast of our finishes. They turn threads darker and more translucent.


Putter
Williston, ND

It depends on the type of UV stabilizer that’s used in the system. Some are there to protect the polymer finish only from breaking down and don’t really absorb too much if any UV. If the thread finish were to be stabilized with a package of UV absorbers, then those will help protect the threads, or any underlying surface as well as the bulk of the finish. Polymer films are often protected this way by applying surface coatings loaded with UV absorbers. The mechanism is similar to the way a sunscreen applied to your skin works to absorb UV and reduce exposure to the surface and underlying layers.

There is an interesting twist though you would think that increasing the concentration of UV stabilizers would be better, and it is as far as protection of the bulk material goes. But there can be some trade offs. Some types of light stabilizers can also be slightly reactive with epoxies. So in that case, high concentrations can significantly reduce the product shelf life. It's not always a more is better thing unless you have a high throughput of material. The other trade off is that other stabilizer types can turn yellow when they react, which still helps protect the base polymer, but are less desirable when it comes to optical clarity. The chemical interaction of UV stabilizers and absorbers can be a little tricky sometimes and they're not always inexpensive additives either.

mark

Gentleman
There is another way to look at threads fading due to exposure to sunlight. Hopefully it is due to fishing in great weather and catching so many fish on that rod it needs to be reconditioned any way.
Go Fish and build more rods. Remember spatulas for epoxy and brushes for painting houses.
Joe Kassuba

Joe, as usual, you look at things in the right "light". Well said!!

Putter
Williston, ND

Yeah, that was a good one.


Andy Dear
www.lamarfishing.com