In the many years, I have been building rods, and on the many blanks that I have built; I have never run into the problem that I encountered today.

I had just finished building a rod on a well known blank manufacturer.

I prepped the blank as I do with all of the blanks. Before doing anything, I always wipe down the blank with alcohol. This has always removed any residue, oil or any other contaminants that might have been on the blank.

I built the rod as usual with no problem. I then had the rod lettered and proceeded to finish the rod.

ODD

As I was applying the finish to the area, where the writing had been completed, the finish wicked away from the blank leaving many bare spots on the blanks. As I continued to brush, in the hope that I could eliminate the wicking, my lettering began to disappear is is the expected case with prolonged brushing over the lettering.

So, before it got too far, I cleaned up the finish from the lettering area, leaving nice clean edges on the trim area.

After the finish dries, I will spin the blank and scuff down the lettering area with scotchbrite to take care of what ever issue that the blank has.

I suppose that there must have been some silicone or some other contaminant that wasn't removed with my light wipe down.

All that I can say - this was a first for me - and I hope the last issue of this sort.

Take care
Roger

What type of finish were you using? It also sounds like you got a rod that was made off shore for that manufacture. What you might do is put a lite coat of thread sealer over you letters. You might also consider using thread sealer over your wraps.

Good Wraps Bob

Roger....I at times in the past had the same problem but for many years now have had no problem....I also wipe down my blank etc, but where my lettering goes I always put a very light coat of finish, and upon the finish drying I will scuff it with 3M and then letter, after the lettering has dried I put a couple light coats of Krylon Crystal Clear {making sure I mask off for over spray} and I have not had a problem in the past twenty some years.
I also do the same when applying decals. I guess you would say it is being double safe.

Tight Lines
Tight Wraps
Fishin'Stix by Fred

Fred thats an excallent tip

Good Wraps Bob

Why in the world would it matter whether that blank was made offshore or in the states ? There was probably some kind of contaminant on the rag or maybe even in the alcohol that caused your finish to separate.

Lance a couple of years ago I had an off shore blank made by a well known US blank manufacture. When I cleaned it with Denatured Alcohol the gloss finish came off. What happened when it was made the company making the blank tried to cut corners. The US manufacture made good on that blank and the problem was corrected. Roger in your case I WOULD HAVE CONTACTED THE COMPANY OR SUPPLIER. To see what could have been done to resolve this condition. Also I reread the post, I might have read it wrong, but did the original rod finish com off?

Good Wraps Bob

Lance believe me some of the rods and blanks coming out of China perhaps other places have BIG problems with our finishes, whatever they use as a top coat on the blanks repels our finishes, i believe they use UV curing on the guides and that also makes for a mess if they need replacement.
Note I have not heard of any of the sponsors blanks having this problem
John

Many times it's not the blank at all. I've found that the problem is the adhesive some decals have. The only thing that has worked for my decals (both water slide and sticky back) 100% of the time flawlessly is using a couple sprays of Krylon Workable Fixatif. This product drys FAST, it's super clear and compatible with thread finish's on the market today. I did some testing with many of the decals we all use a couple years back due to having the exact problems described. I could mimic the problem EVERY time. What I was doing with the decals was burnishing and pushing them down hard and the adhesive was working out from under the decal and the finish would separate all around and on the worked areas.

I WILL NOT put a decal on any blank without Fixatif period. I'm that sold on it. 100% of the time it works perfectly.....100% is a good number to have. One can last a LONG time too.

I lay down a coat of finish on the rod and let cure, add the decal, let sit overnight, spray with Workable Fixatif in 3-4 LIGHT coats masking off what I do not want it on, let cure several hours and apply finish over, done.

Works for me.......hope this helps.

DR

Folks,
Thanks for all of the thoughts and comments.
I doubt that I had any problem with the alcohol for the wipe or the paper towel that I used to wipe it with. This is the same procedure that I have used with all of my rods.
I doubt that it is a problem with my finish since it is the same finish that I have used for the last many years with no issue.
I doubt that it is a problem with any mixing problems, since the finish over the threads, and on the rest of the rod that was 15 inches up the butt. No, I think that there was something on the blank that caused the problem.

No problem with the finish coming off since it is a buffed matt finish.

I had a bunch of rods to finish today and I used the identical procedure and finish and lettering for the other 5 rods that I did today and every one of those were perfect.

As I said in the original post, in my efforts to brush the finish and having the wicking issue, I began to destroy the lettering. So, before the finish cured at all, I removed all of the lettering and finish in the lettering area. Then, I completed the finish application on the remainder of the rod.

I will scuff the blank in the morning, re letter - and I am guessing that it will be fine.

I will chalk it up to the weird things happening and move on.

Thanks again.

Roger