Hello agin!!!!!!! I sure helps to register the right way!!!

Any ways, I have built a few rods on differant blank materials but recently tried something differant and wonder what happened. The flex coat dvd explains they thin thier first coat with acetone, I tried this on a graphite blank over nylon thread without color preserver. I ended up with a "stained glass effect", which was unique but I didnt like bine able to see the guide feet thru the wraps. Im guessing the finish with acetone actually melted the nylon to the blank. They were a bugger to get off!!! Then I simply rewrapped the entire rod.
But I m wondering if my guess is correct. Also I used the Gudebrod regular build , not the flex coat finish.
Thanks,
Scott

Anytime you finish without putting Color preserver our using NCP thread your thread will get a transparent look....the exception to this is with black thread. You will see the guide feet through the thread. The acetone seems to excentuate this type of effect.

Joe,
The one thing I didnt mention was that the flexcoat dvd, the young guy said " we dont use cp so that the epoxy actually gets right down to the blank and cements everything together.
Where can I get that type of thread?
Thanks,
Scott

Many of the sponsors listed on the left carry NCP thread

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

Scott,

When you use CP it seals the thread so the epoxy never penetrates it....this is why the thread doesn't get thewet look to it. This can present a problem most rod builders are aware of...when you apply your finish over CP the epoxy will not get as good a bond to the blank....and you must make sure to fill the tunnels on either side of the guide feet. If you fail to fill the tunnels water & dirt can get into your thread wraps and cause a failure.

When you just us epoxy w/o CP the epoxy penetrates the thread and bonds right on the blank...you get a better bond.

Both are widely used it just depends on the look you want to create..hope that makes sense.

Scott, without starting World War III again, Do a search for CP and select ALL DATES. You will get enough reading material/opinions to take up the holiday weekend The strength issue is always hotly debated but I think that the majority of builders use CP. CP wraps have shown to be about 10% stronger which is FAR stronger than needed anyway. The question shouldn't be, is it stronger, but rather is it strong enough!! There are builders building heavy duty Tuna sticks that ALWAYS use CP and fly rod builders that NEVER use it. There is NO right or wrong way. It's a matter of personal preference, the effect you are looking for (CP will retain the spool color of the threan and No CP will make it dark/translucent, which can be a very nice look. NCP thread looks like flat paint)
One thing that I do know is that I do a LOT of guide repair/rewraps on factory rods that DON'T use CP and it's very rare (none so far this year) on rods that I have built (Use CP 99% of time)

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2006 04:05PM by Mike Barkley.

Mike,

Just to clarify.....I use CP sometimes and just epoxy sometimes. Depending on how I want the thread to look. I didn't mean to sound biased one way or another just trying to help to understand what to expect with each technique.

IMO if you do everything correctly with the finish it is more a matter of the style you like than that there is a major advantage to one way or another.

Joe,
You didn't sound biased, my only point was like you just said "IMO if you do everything correctly with the finish it is more a matter of the style you like than that there is a major advantage to one way or another" Nothing wrong with any method that gives the result that you want!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!