anyone ever have trouble with aftcote cracking. I looked at a rod I built and the epoxy had cracked along a couple guide foots. I'm sure it took a good blow, but with other rods I haven't had that happen. Maybe it was just a good whack it got!

Alex How well did you prep the guide feet? If the guide feet are not tapered to make a easy transition from the blank to the guide. this can cause the finish to crack.
Good Wraps Bob

You did not say casting or spinning guide. If its a casting guide, the heavy duty type with the extra brace from the bottom of the ring to the foot on each side, that could be the problem. That type of guide is ultra stiff and when the blank bends it forces the foot up off the blank and will crack the epoxy right at the edge of the foot.. I have seen this happen on new factory rods. Consequently I have since stopped buying that type of guide and I have never had any more problems with the epoxy cracking at the foot. If you used standard type guides I agree with the above post that tapering the foot will most likely eliminate the problem. Either way I do not think its the brand of epoxy you are using.

Walt

Non-flexible guides certainly can cause this. So can thinning your epoxy with a solvent or heating it. I'd lean towards what the two posts above mention, however. You need a more flexible guide and/or a shallower taper on the end of the guide foot.

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Like Walt stated this can happen with all finishes. If you havent preped your guides and if they are the stiff style and do not flex with the blank as Tom stated. What type of guides are you using and what type of blank are they on? What are you fishing for?
Good Wraps Bob

st croix 3C62MXF with fuji LSGs. Casting rod. It wasn't from rod flex. I got to looking closer and the epoxy around the hook keeper, the first from the reel and the side guide (simple spiral) are all cracked. I think it at some point the rod got hit, dropped, bounced around, etc. Best explanation I can think of. I brought the guides down to a nice fine, tapered point. The crack on the one guide runs along side the length of the foot.

Now.. best way to fix it is???

You have 2 choices #1 is to rewrap and finish, the other is to take a gray scuff pad an lightly scuff the finsh and put a light recoat over the old finish.
Good Wraps Bob

Did you use CP on the threads? While some guys dont' have this problem, there's a whole lot that have a problem with epoxy cracking on CP'd guides.

Yes, used CP. I'll try to take a picture and post it. From the looks of it, just about any finish would have cracked. Looks like the rod took a pretty good whack on the guides.

If the crack is along the side of the guide foot/feet, then most likely it was dropped. Not much you can do about it other than scuffing and recoating, or rewrapping. Or... just leave it alone. If the guides are still fast to the blank, then you might just continue using it as is.


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Use a black overwrap and if you get the finish cracking you can coat it with Birchwood-Casey black paint and a coat of finish will make it look new, been doing this for many years. Jesse