Just got a request to build a St. Croix SCV fly rod with the metallic brown finish. I had seen earlier where when these first came out the finish was prone to smearing or being damaged if you touched it with anything stronger than water. Alcohol?

I was wondering if this problem has been taken care of and are the newer current ones any tougher finish wise? I know not to touch it with a solvent but I cannot be assured that my customer won't get fly line cleaner or floatant on it or something that might contain alcohol. Very expensive blank to have the finish go bad by some innocent thing on the part of the customer. Just need to know what to expect so I can tell him. Thanks for any first hand experience with the current models' finish.

I own one, built it with many alcohol wipe downs without any issue, it dulled the shine a little, but nothing that a polish didn't fix right up. Mine is going on 4-5? years old now, with much abuse and the finish is just fine.

I built another one about 2 months back, same as above, no issues, just a little dulling for AL. I would not put a real strong solivent on it, you dont need too anyway. I did put a coat of thread finish on the split grip area and epoxy forgrip area where the rods are handled a lot.

DR

I have an early model that didn't hold up to cleaning with denatured alcohol. In fact I completely wiped off all of the finish with little effort using only alcohol and paper towels. It is a great blank by the way. I would imagine this problem has been eliminated but I would check with St Croix before acquiring another. I frankly prefer unpainted blanks anyway.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

The problem will be resolved when the NEW Elite blanks are released this fall (Green in color). The current models ARE still susceptible to damage from even the most mild of solvents.

You can always do your own testing in the area to be covered with the grip and/or reel seat ... after all, you need to knock the gloss off before gluing everything up - might as well make use of your efforts.

You may want to contact St. Croix directly to ask the question. I know they had some problems with the older rods, but I was at the factory a couple of weeks ago and at the paint station they were doing a quality control test on the paint with a weight and some sort of abrasive. If it didn't past the abrasive test the rod went into the scrap pile. The people at St. Croix are very helpful people and I'm sure that your question can be answered to your satisfaction directly. They are great people to deal with and are very honest and forth right.

I built an SCV for myself earlier this year and learned NOT to do a test wrap on any part of the blank that will later be seen. It left a ghost impression of the wrap. It has been 8 months or so and it has nearly disappeared now, although I can still see it ever so slightly. I also had trouble with alcohol affecting the finish but fortunately it was in the handle area (I was removing the manufactures sticker).

Even if St. Croix resolved their problem now, who knows if the blank was made previous to that point. I'm afraid to experiment with mine to figure out if after time it hardens and won't be affected. I'd like to know because it is an excellent blank and will build another once I'm covinced their finish problems are resolved.

The current SCI, SCII, SCII Inshore and SCIII models ARE fixed ... durable as sin.

The current SCIV, SCIV Inshore and SCV models are NOT fixed.

The soon to be released SCV 2009 models will sport a new and fully durable finish.

Last time I talked with St Croix they were still fighting with adhesion issues (the source of the problem) on blue blank finishes (SCIV and SCIV Inshore). They are 100% committed to fixing the issue, however.

St Croix has heard our complaints over the years and have been working hard to address the problem. Super company, super product, super people. I encourage other builders to support them whenever possible, they deserve our patronage.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2008 08:13PM by Jim Gamble.

As others have stated, the SCIV and SCV finishes are still on the fragile side.

I use denatured alcohol for a cleaning solvent EXCEPT with those two St. Croix blanks. For those I use Isopropyl Alcohol. It has less effect on the finish. Any slight hazing from a lot of cleaning can be brought up with a polish.

Don't worry too much about it. While color comes off on your rag, it takes quite a bit to get down to the blank. Stripping the finish isn't as easy as one might expect.


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Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

The first SCV blanks, if touched with alcohol, would lose finish right down to the bare graphite. I made the mistake of applying U-40 Ferrule Lube, which contains alcohol, to the ferrule area of a nice SCV fly rod blank. Lost all the finish on the male ferrule in a single swipe. But this has been a few years ago, the newer ones may be much better.

I just swabbed a new SCIV blue casting blank with some alcohol. Gave it a pretty good rub down. Got some blue residue on the rag but the blank finish appeared unharmed. I'd say you're safe on that series if you don't go past isopropyl.

Generally isopropyl alcohol is the strongest solvent you'd ever need in rod building.

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The "Current" 2008 SCV fly blanks are glossy Gallatin Green, and have been shipping for several months. I have in hand a 9' 4wt 4pc blank that is finished very nicely and was assured by St Croix that the finish on these 2008 Gallatin Green SCV blanks was not going to be a problem like the previous brown blanks.