I had the chance to stop by the Rod Maker Corporate Offices yesterday.

While there I took a look at some of the Carbon Fiber handles that Mr. Kirkman had used Spar Urethane on for the top coat.
I must say that after seeing the finished handles, the look is much better then the look I’ve seen from epoxy.

Absolutely flawless glass like appearances that gives a lot of depth to the look that I’ve not seen in epoxy coated handles. No waves no bubbles the finishes looked perfect

I don’t always coat mine, but when I do from now on it will be with the Spar Urethane.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2008 06:34PM by Steve Gardner.

No doubt that they are flawless. I have a few grips under my belt now and trying to improve from functional (darn nice) to flawless.

I've noticed that the spar in a can is getting expensive (8 bucks). I'm getting 2 or 3 14" grips and fore grips per can. A quart can is about 12 dollars +/-. What would you think of air brushing spar on. Here's a link [thewoodwhisperer.com] that says you can thin spar with mineral spirits to get the consistency right. The article goes on to say that bubbling may be a factor with it too thin. Rodbuilders know about bubbles. Yet it may spray on just fine without thinning.

Anyone have ideas on how this may work. I don't have much experience with an airbrush but I have a source to borrow one.

Just buy a can of Helmsman Exterior Spar Urethane spray and have at it. About 3 nice, wet coats will do the trick. It's very durable and if it ever wears you can clean, scuff and simply apply another coat.

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I would not shoot it through an air brush. It would require far too much thinning. If you have an HVLP or conventional spray gun you could spray it that way if you are doing enough volume of handles to be worth the purchase (or an airless dedicated to alkyd clear finishes I suppose, but that would be pricey for a hobby). Harbor freight has some decent HVLP guns for $30-50 if you have an air compressor with enough CFM and capacity to handle them. I would want a 20 or more gallon tank on the compressor.

Thank you Dean, no I don't have any of the above and won't be doing high volume so it'll be much more cost effective to continue with the spray can.

You can also get the Spar Urethane in satin and matte, which to me looks better.

Never seeing this, so just asking, why would you want to put a coating over the Carbon handle?

Karry Batson
Batson Enterprises Inc.
Ph: (877) 875-2381
Fax: (360) 683-3579
karry@batsonenterprises.com
www.batsonenterprises.com

You don't need to, any more than you need to put one over a carbon rod blank. But most feel it looks a bit better.


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