I am starting to use CP more on guide wraps, and was wondering how many coats of finish you usually use. I usually only use one coat on guides with epoxy only.

Thanks,
Marc

2 for me, no wrong answer here, it's up to you.

DR

I use 2 coats of Flexcoat Light formula. As Duane says though, it's really your call. If your building a flyrod where weight may be an issue, you want to use as little epoxy as possible to achieve the desired finish. If weight is not an issue and you want a deep penetrating look, you may want to add an extra coat or two.

Harold

2 light coats of Flexcoat over the guide wraps. More then two you might be asking for trouble with cracking on the feet. t]This piece of advise was given to me by Dale Clemens years ago.

Bernie,

Why would 3 thin coats be more likely to crack than two?

DR

When I said two light coats of Flexcoat I didn't mean lite Flex Coat I meant two regular coats but not applied to thick over the wraps.

Duane this is what Dale Clemens told me many years ago and I have been doing it that way and believe me when I tell you I have had phenomenal sucess against cracking guide feet.

Bernie,

I had NO doubt in what you said as being true. I was just wondering what the science/explination behind it was, and if he gave his explination.

DR

2 coats of CP, 24hrs drying time between each. 2 coats of epoxy finish, 24hrs between each.

We use TM ChromaSeal for CP and TM for the epoxy.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

DR pretty much summed it up in his first reply. If you like the results after one coat, adding another one is what I call "opportunity for failure".

Finish cracking around guide feet can happen just as easily with one coat as it can in four. Give your feet a decent prep, and most importantly, you have to remove the thick web of epoxy between the upswing/downswing of the foot and the blank. While the finish sets, go in there with a toothpick or scribe and pull out that web. Keep doing it until it doesn't reappear. If finish isn't covering thread, it has no purpose and needs to be removed.

Whether or not CP has been used is irrelevant.

Very oftren when we discuss rod building we tend to mix Apples and Oranges and by that I mean we talk about fresh water rods, fly rods, and salt water rods in the same context. When I talk about rods I speak only in the salt water area of rod building and what I think applies to me might surely not be applicable to fly rod and fresh water builders.

Duane when the great Dale Clemens told me not to apply more then two thin coats of Flex Coat on the guide wraps I took his advise after all who was I to disregard the advise of the great man. I have been doing that and also a couple of other things to the guides that have given me what I feel is great sucess and peace of mind when I build a rod for someone and I don't worry that at the end of the season or the following year there will be a complaint about feet cracking. No Dale Clemens did not give me a scientific reason and I didn't ask for one.

Mick are you referring to the tunnel at the inside of the guides when you say remove the epocy with a tooth pick .

Bernie, right in front of the wrap, where the foot meets the "leg". Finish likes to wick there in a glob between the leg and the rod.

Mick if you are referring to what I call the tunnel which is where the leg meets the foot and there is a little space then we have very different opinions on the subject. Remember I am talking about Saltwater rods and my experience is that is one place that I make sure is closed when I apply my first coat of finish and I do that with a very small brush that gets into that tunnel. Party boat saltwater fisherman are notorious when it comes to keeping a rod clean, they have this big MACHO thing about their rods looking like they have seen a lot of action and the more beaten up they are the prouder they are.

For many years I have demonstrated a rod that I built for a fisherman that fished all year every day the boats went out and on a very winnter day near zero degrees his hands froze causing him to drop the rod overboard and it remained in 200 feet of water for about 6 months. It was finally retrieved by fisherman in the Spring and they immediately recognized the rod because of its design as to who it belonged to and returned it to him. The Reel disintergrated most of the guides disintergrated and all that was left was the Flex Coat finish and the Grips which are in perfiect condition. The guides at the base are still there because I closed the tunnel and the finish protected it. All the thread work is still in jperfect condition all but the guides. And also by the way the grip had over 500 glue joints and remainded intact. I have shown this rod at many of the old rodcrafter seminars and still get requests to bring the rod to meetings.

So you can see why I say that I close off the tunnel. Now this may not be important to fresh water rods or fly rods and I can understand that but salt water leaves a residue of salt under the guides and eventually will weaken the guides. I have replaced guides for friends and people I know and have found that the guides were weakend by the salt and gook that formed there over the years. Mick I hope I am not lecturing but it is something I strongly believe in.

I think what Mick is referring to is not the tunnel (very important to fill that in) but the area in front of the tunnel where the finish often builds up and "climbs" up the guide frame leaving a large lump between the blank and guide frame.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Thank you for the correction. I thought it referred to the tunnel. I have never experienced or seen that on rods in the place you just mentioned . I guess it's how the finish is applied.

In addition to the glob of epoxy that always forms between leg and blank, I find that it is just as important to try and keep epoxy off the leg of the guide, at the front. This is an especially common occurrence with the high frame guides ( AmTak A's, Fuji Y's, Batson/Alps Y's). That fold in the leg just grabs hold and sends it up towards the guide ring. Coffee filter folded into a corner and moistened with alcohol works very well.