First of all let me correct my statement that the blanks were surplus WWII tank antennas. The Conolon Co manuf';d antennas as well as these blanks - sorry.
My current prob:
Decided I want to wrap in 1950's style using bright colors (orange) with contrasting narrow bands of yellow and black. The blank is honey colored. All of my past work has been with fly rods with small dark wraps, so - I have never used CP before and I read about the horror stories on this site. I am most concerned with the possibility that the guides will not be secure enough because the CP does not allow the epoxy to penatrate the threads. I imagine the epoxy must at least form a "casing" of sorts that will secure the guides to some extent - but not as well as with no CP.
And, of course, the milky look when wet and the sagging of threads - why am I doing this????
I guess my question is to what extent the use of CP weakens the wrap. Do guides actually shift under heavy pressure - as in lifting a good fish off the bottom?

Also, is there a particular CP that is considered the "standard" that Ishould I be using over good nylon thread and then Thread Master over.

This is my first hurtle to get over.

Thanks for any direction you can provide.

Herb

I use Flex Coat CP on every rod I make...NCP or not. I build a lot of heavy use saltwater rods, backwater Redfish/trout rods, and just recently, 3 6-10lb Pompano rods. I have never had one come back to me because a guide came loose. I have made a rod that I didn't get a lot of epoxy down in the well and the guide wrap became milky. I just cut it off and fixed the one guide and have never heard from him since. I won't reccomend a particular product because I believe they all do a decent job and every person on here has their favorite. For me, I just stick with what works and build away. I would say the research and technology used to develope and market the rod building products we use today are vastly superior to what was used in the '50s. No matter what choice you make, you will have a better rod today than that same rod constructed during that era.

Dave
www.cabochonrods.com

Color preserver does not create an inherently weak wrap. The article we did on that subject with a full 50 test samples did not indicate any more than an 11% loss in overall strength and even then the guide was destroyed before it shifted under the threads. So the CP was a non-issue in that regard.

As in most of the products we deal with, problems are normally found to be the fault of the user. For every CP "horror story" there are a thousand success stories (you just don't see them as nobody thinks to post them - forums are generally for problems only). You shouldn't get a milky look nor should your guides come loose even after heavy use. I have some rods that are finished with CP on - no epoxy, and they've held up just fine and the guides are still in place.

If you're still concerned, why not use NCP thread? It looks a bit different but will still be bright and colorful on that lighter colored blank. You may find that you really like it.

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

Dave -thank you.
Tom, as always, thanks.
I will do it.
If I am proud of the results I will post pic - if I can figure out how.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2008 10:50AM by Herb Ladenheim.