hello again everyone.

I screwed up. Pretty bad. I ignored my gut and listened to my obsessive side, i did the direct opposite of what I should have done. I still cant believe I did this.

I ordered a Rainshadow rx7 IST1263F steelhead blank from a online retailer and it arrived to me scratched badly on the butt section, the blank was an olympic green version. I made a post about this about 6 months ago, I obviously did not listen. I should have tried to send the blank back but I didn't, I tried to fix it myself.

At first i tried some fine steel wool to remove the scratches. I don't really like high gloss blanks at all so a satin sheen was ok with me. This actually worked very well, I had a nice satin sheen all along the blank and the scratches were gone. The only problem was that the tip of the butt section had some sort of blemish in the finish in that area that was really amplified by my steel wool work. The grey of the graphite was showing through, about a 4-5 inch section worth that looked like a cloud like texture. This really stuck out against the nice satin green on the rest of the blank.

At this point I should have stopped but instead I busted out the sandpaper and the rest is history, I now have one junk butt section and a new tip section, half a rod, just peachy.

so now what? besides knowing that i am a idiot.

1. Should I just suck it up, admit my mistake and order a another new blank of the same color. That way i can keep the extra tip as a back up against breakage.
2. Try and look into a replacement butt section, see if its cheaper than ordering a new blank and save some money.
3. Sand the rest of the rod sections down to the bare graphite like the area I went rambo on and see if the blank is still usable without the fiberglass scrim which I removed like a fool. (This would make the blank more like the old school Wild River SC2 steelhead rods that had the clear blank finish. I have removed and stripped a handful of these blanks and they are still going strong, but then again they didn't have a fiberglass scrim)

any ideas?

Jason "Bonehead Dutch" VanDeusen

The current tip may not fit the butt of a new blank. Tips and butts have to be hand matched, often by careful fitting of the ferrules.

Sanding a blank is not a good idea - the sandpaper tears and cuts the outer fibers - the most important ones. Scraping or a mild citrus type paint remover are safer bets.

You can remove the finish on what you have now and clear coat it, or paint to whatever color you desire.

You haven't removed any "fiberglass scrim."

...........

Jason,
Just go over the entire blank with first 320 paper and then go over it with 600 wet and dry used wet.
You will have a beautiful matt finish on an excellent with which you will be well pleased.

Roger

After your sanding and taking all the paint and clear finish off, I would guess the tip does not fit well and goes onto the butt a lot more then usual. If the blank is all one color graphite gray, you can take up the space on the ferrule by clear coating. You will have to coat the whole blank. Two coats should do it and the tip should fit well again. After it is dry. Maybe one extra coat on the butt section to be shure. Then since you like the matt finish after several days give the blank a - fine scotch pad - sanding to make it matt again.

You could paint and clear, or even try calling the Batsons and see what they say ????

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2009 09:46AM by bill boettcher.

The only reason that I am sanding the blank is that in the book "the graphite fly rod" skip morris sands his blanks to remove the finish completely on the blanks, blanks that he is customizing. He uses a rod lathe, I do not have a lathe so I sand slowly by hand. The process takes weeks but it works and I can control how much I take off. I have tried multiple brands of paint strippers with little to no success, plus I do not like dealing with the harsh compounds that they use. And since others use sanding with success and I have in the past I use that method.

I have stripped two full rod blanks down with this method with no problems or breakages yet. The most recent a 10'6" fenwick hmx steelhead blank. The blank turned out great.

Since I have not damaged any scrim or will not by sanding I will finish the job and re coat like I usually do.

I guess i just freaked out.

thanks for the replies.

Jason

I use Citri Strip to remove finish down to the bare graphite. It is easy and takes me less than an hour.

I have some citri strip. I have tried it in the past with mixed results, perhaps that was due to colder October weather when I used it. I will try that on the blank and see if works as well as you say now that its June.

I also cracked that skip morris book back open and he only uses sanding to modify blank actions after the blank was stripped, he also uses stripper to remove the finish. Looks like i was wrong again.

Luckily i only sanded the bottom of the butt section where the grip will be, and not completely.

I will stop sanding blanks and give the stripper one more try.

I would not think sanding graphite to "modify" the action of a graphite blank is a good idea. given how they are constructed and what you would have to sand through to change the action.

Jason - I do half a blank at a time. Put the stripper on half, let it sit 30-40 minutes (I think - read the directions), then use a wooden Popsicle stick to rub the finish of. Do it outdoors and wear I protection and rubber gloves.

The paint stripper I have is the Zinnser brand of citrus stripper gel. It @#$%& bad, its very very slow and hardly does a good job at all. So far Its been well over 13hrs with hardly any finish removed
Its a biodegradable formula so maybe thats why its so slow.

I will go on tuesday and try to find citri-strip brand specifically.

chuck, do you use spray or gel citri-strip?

Jason