I recently purchased some blanks that had a matte finish. I was preparing the handle area to be water break free with a scottchbrite pad and noticed it gave the blank an awesome sheen and looked much better than the original matte finish. I decided to scotchbrite the entire blank and it really looked great (just like the Lamiglas XMG50 finish, if anyone is familiar).

What I didnt think about was that I was creating an entire blank as water break free and now when I am fishing any substance that touches the blank soaks in, like scents, water, fish slime. Is there a way to continue to scottchbrite the blank to give it the awesome sheen, but restore it original non-water breakfree surface? How do manufacturers prepare a matte finish after its been sanded?

Thanks,

-Mike

Those matte finishes are just that - finishes. You'd have to go back and coat the blank with something - a satin or low gloss coating for instance.

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

Thanks Tom. Any suggestions on a product used to accomplish this?? Do you have any experience doing this? If so what type of work is required, meaning is it brushed on, sprayed on, dipped in, rubbed on???........Easy/hard to do. Any baking required???

You also have e-mail...

Thank you.

-Mike

I'm afraid you're going to end up right back where you started, that's the only problem.

You might consider taking what you have now and just buffing it with a paste wax. It'll put a little sheen on the rod but it won't be like it was before you fully scuffed the finish and you won't have a water break free surface, for awhile anyway.

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

Michael I night be corrected here.
But I do not believe any this is soaking into the rods blank, merely sticking to it better then if you had left the finish on.
I many times remove the finish off of blanks and if soaking in was a problem? What I use would most likely destroy the blanks.

Before you go through the trouble of recoating it you may want to just try a quality car wax or polish, it will help to slicken things back up and may put a stop to your concerns

Thanks guys. I didnt really think anything was soaking into the graphite fibers, just trying to explain that it was saturating rather than beading up (just like a breakfree surface should do).

I dont think it will cause any problems, but it looks like a dirty rod all day when fishing with spots all over it. And after spending so much time making these beautiful rods, that drives me crazy ...

I'll try some wax and see what happens, I have a blank I can test it on. I am assuming I should'nt put this wax on before epoxing the guides and logo onto the rod???

-Mike

couple of coats of car wax.... Also you might want to look at futura floor restorer or whatever its called that is a acrylic coating of some type most likley more durable than wax.

Wait until after you wrap and finish the rod. Even then, I'm not sure you're going to like how it looks.

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