anyone have any good tips to making color preservative really soak in. I'm finding my finish to be blotchy once the flex coat goes on.
can't notice it before hand, after 3 coats of preservative. had some flex coat foam up on me and never did clear up wonder if it was too warm prior to mixing - any fed back is welcomed. dave

Blotching is generally a matter of wraps that have not been packed well.

Never thin your CP.

Never expect CP to perform miracles. If you put a very light colored thread over a very dark colored rod blank, you will loose a shade or have dark areas.

............

If your blotchyness is caused by an incomplete coat of CP, you can tell by waiting until it is completely dry and brush on some Isopropyl alcohol which will show any incomplete coverage. Let the alcohol evaporate and recoat with CP.

That's a neat trick. I assume you mean hit it w/ isopropyl after you apply color preservative and before you flex coat. Dave is SOL on the rod that he has already applied the flex coat.

Makes sense, any liquid should darken the threads, even water. but isopropyl will evaporate quickly and completely. Smart.

It can also undermine the CP already on the wraps. Be careful.

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Sure Tom if the CP is not dry, but since I don't believe a lite application of IA will desolve DRIED CP, a lite coat of IA will show the Incomplete coat of CP without bothering the CP. Worked for me when I have used it and like I said before, let the IA completely evaporate before recoating with CP.

On really thick wraps I find that a warm 50/50 mixture of water and C/P works great. I take a small hyperdermic syringe and inject the watered down mixture along the side of the guide foot on both sides and immediately spin the rod and level out any excess. It has always worked for me to solve inconsistent finishes as it also fills the void created by the wrap going over the guide foot.

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Blotching is generally a matter of wraps that have
> not been packed well.
>
> Never thin your CP.
>
> Never expect CP to perform miracles. If you put a
> very light colored thread over a very dark colored
> rod blank, you will loose a shade or have dark
> areas.
>
> ..by meaning "not been packed well" your referring to the CP being well soaked or the wraps not being fletch tight enough...
the thread was a gudberod 387 A medium burgundy on a matte GLX blank . do you think thread tension may have something to do with it as well because I had the same happen with a light blue size A thread as well.
what i did to correct the..problem was heatgun the flex coat off, cleaned with acetone, let dry, recoated with CP and warmed the flex coat in hot water for 5 min., applied a thinned mix using a few drops of acetone and turned until absolute dry. Then applied a second coat of flex coat. The dark area was no longer. On the other side of the guide it was the opposite and I ended up removing the wrap, cleaning the area with acrtone and re-wrapping with fresh thread. Repeating the same steps as on the opposite foot. I beginning to think there was some kind of residue on the blank, possible glue from the masking tape. I use the green painters tape instead of the standard white masking tape.
but your right about the CP not 100% every time....