I tried the application of the apoxy as you instructed. It came out just as you said it would. I am just jazzed. flat - flat - flat. I rotated the 180deg's. guides up then guides down, removing what felt good by wicking with a Macdonalds stirrer. This method really give you a good feeling about what is the right amount of apoxy. Its very easy to watch the apoxy level and also to know when its time to rotate. I had a lot of trouble keeping my hands off constantly taking too much time fiddling with the finish using previous methods. This approach just stops that bad habit all togeather. I sat with it for about 1hr 45min then went to the motor (6rpms) its been 4 1/2 hours now and it looks as good as it did when I started rotation. Im sure the 1 1/2 hours was well spent.
Good stuff Tom. I feel my confidence in apply apoxy up about 200%.

So I guess you got your yearly subscription price worth in that one article? Maybe more? I know exactly how you feel. I've been building a long time now but have had several troublesome areas addressed and fixed through the pages of the magazine.

One thing you can always count on is that the information presented in Rodmaker is accurate and trustworthy. Anybody can build a better rod with the information found in the magazine. It's all good stuff and as good as this message board is, the magazine puts it to shame.

Ironically my wife had ordered my subscription for my birthday without my knowing and I had no idea yesterday at the same moment in time asI wrapped the last guide she came from the mailbox with my first issue and it happened to be the one with Toms article. Getting old sure is good.
I cant think of a message board anywhere that is so well done as this one and RMM is elegantly done. (I had ordered a back order some time ago so I had seen it) I understand why everyone waits with such eager anticipation.

It should be consider a classic among all the rod building articles ever written by anyone. I wonder how many tens of thousands of rod builders would find all their finishing problems solved just by reading that one article.

Not to discredit any of your statements, which are absolutely true. I got the same suggestion from reading the past posts here on the forum, have been using it since I read it and it works awesomely every time. The only difference between here and RMM is that the articles go into way more detail than can be shared in the forum venue. Thanks Tom for this forum and for keeping past posts available at all times and not archiving.

Bill in WV

It's just very hard to do in message board posts what you can do in an article with full text and photos.

On the point of the article, getting a very nice epoxy finish is terribly easy to do. So easy in fact, that I've always thought that many miss the ease with which it can be done. Two epoxy finish manufacturers personally thanked me for writing the article. They said it addressed about 99% of the questions they get from consumers every day. I hope it's helpful to many thousands of rod builders.

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