I just finished a light spinning rod (last Wednesday) and fished it Friday and Saturday at the coast. The problem is that I noticed two problems Saturday afternoon. One I have figured out (I think) the other has me puzzled. First a couple of my guides were loose would turn out of alignment with some effort. I think that was because I didn't scuff the blank under them before wrapping and finishing. The second is what has me scratching my head. The guide wraps have a milky cloud to them. I using Flex Coat CP and finish. I let the CP dry for about 20-24 hours before applying the finish. The finish had 36 or so hours before I starting using it. Could it be the saltwater? CP wasn't dry enough? Could it be the fact that I work in an un-air-conditioned garage when the temp outside was about mid to upper 80's?

Ash

It is not necessary to scuff the blank in the area where the guides will be wrapped. The thread will securely bind them to the blank. I'm guessing that either the blank was coated with something, or you simply didn't wrap your guides snugly enough.

Working outside in very warm weather will make the epoxy set more quickly, but that's about it.

Once in a while, if the combination of humidity and CO2 are sufficient, you can get a mild blush in the epoxy. If you wipe what you have now, does it tend to smear or come off?

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The answers are:

1) tighter wraps

2) humidity in your finish. You need a fairly dry, warm room (70deg F or better) for application. That ususally means moving the finishing table to a place in your house, which I'm assuming has AC and a dehumidifier.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Sounds like re-wrap time to me.

DR

Generally humidity isn't a problem - I've always favored applying finish on rainy days with the windows down. Sure helps to reduce any chance of dust or insects getting into anything.

You're up against something else. Just not sure what it is, yet. Some of these things are hard to figure out without being able to actually see the problem in person.

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Tom,

I totally agree, give me a rainy day to use finish for rods or to paint a car. Cars painted on rainy days are always the nicest looking paint jobs....something about the humidity makes the finish lay down REAL nice, the dust and bug free is extra gravy :-)

DR

Tom - My finish is completely dry and hard. I even tried wiping the wraps and nothing changed. I'll try and get some pics tonight to post maybe that will help.

Russ - My thread sometimes makes noise while I'm wrapping. Pinging and what not. Like its too tight.

DR - I don't mind rewrapping all of them I just want to know what caused it and how to stop it from happening again.

Could it be that I getting down to the last little bit of my bottles? Finish doesn't go bad does it? Maybe its time to start using my kit of Threadmaster.

No, epoxy finish does not go bad.

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Is it the same guides that are both loose and milky? I've had this happen early on when I did not completely seal the thread on the edges and fill the tunnel. I had read in a book about how the finish coming up to the edge and not on the blank had a look of neatness. Even with these tiniest of openings water wicked into the threads and turned the thread milky. I did have one case where enough water got in and loosened the tension on the thread.

btw for anyone counting CP issue posts, I consider this clearly my operator error and not a CP problem. What it taught me early is if using CP there is no tolerance for finish error and that completely sealed edges down to the blank look pretty neat too.

Understood Ash....I'm wondering if maybe like Tom suggested that the finish never adheared to the blank due to something on the blank. Then the guides and finish flex, finish turns loose from blank enough to let water under. I'd wipe that baby down VERY WELL before I did the new re-wrap. I might wash it with hot dish liquid water, then a good wipe down of denatured Alcohol.

DR

I suspect that you didn't get the epoxy finish out beyond the edge of the color preservative thus allowing the water to wick under the finish.

I checked the rod last night after work and everywhere it was cloudy the finish seems to be seperating from the thread. I must be contamination. I'll be more careful next time. Maybe I'll start on rewrapping it tonight.

Ash

If you can move the guide, it is not completely sealed with epoxy. It doesn't take a whole lot of a crack or gap to wick moisture into the threads and turn the CP milky looking. I have tried the very little extra epoxy past the threads for neatness thing and wound up with similar problems. Gotta make sure everything is sealed up well or you run into issues.