I have no idea what to do. I have just finished a rod that I have put a lot of time into, it is part of a 4 rod order that I needed to send out tomorrow but the finish went all buggy on me. I started out with threadmaster lite and have had no issues with it. Lately however, I have been using permagloss. I figured I could finish the rod faster with the Threadmaster but for some reason even though the finish was even when I put it on, it has pulled away from the edges and basically become fat in the middle. It is built up around the guide feet especially. I tried to put on another coat, I figured the overall finish would be thicker than usual but doable. Nope. It started to do the same thing so I took off the second coat. Does anybody have any ideas how I can fix this? I wish I could take some of the set up finish off, well as long as I am wishing, I wish I could take the whole first coat off and use the Permagloss like I should have in the first place.
I'm not saying anything is wrong with the finish, in fact I highly doubt that it has anything to do with the finish. Please Help!
James

I've had the best luck with multiple thin coats of permagloss. I don't expect this information is of much use to you at this time and with this rod, but you might want to try several very thin coats of permagloss in the future.

PermaGloss is a urethane and will never provide the same appearance as an epoxy.

You can overcoat PG with an epoxy if you prefer the epoxy look, but wait several days before you do so.

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

You have some sort of contamination or it is the thread. What kind of thread did you use?

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

James,

I tried a lite epoxy formulation with the belief that I could make multiple thin applications and have a level finish after 2-3 applications. What I learned is that if I applied the least bit too much finish the thin finish would draw in toward the middle of the wrap, simply due to gravity. This situation became even more apparent if I applied any heat to the finish after application to the wraps.

So I went back to regular finish and still try to apply coats as thin as I can. The thicker finish, when applied very thinly, tends to stay in place better and after multiple thin coats looks nice.

Sorry this advice won’t help your current situation.

Jeff

I've done that twice James, at least it was on my rods and I chose to live with that football shape. let me know if there is anything you need that I may have around.

James,
About 99% of the time when you get a football in your guide foot finish, it is the result of putting too much finish on the wrap.

Better to put on two or three coats of thin finish - rather than one heavy coat that gathers in the middle of the guide foot.

When I have encounterd this issue, myself; if I catch it in time, I can use a bit of gentle heat from a heat gun to thin the partically cured finish and then a finish brush to remove the excess finish.

If I don't catch it in time, I either live with it, or cut off the guide, finish, rewrap and refinish.

This is why I find it very important to go back to a rod about 10-20 minutes after the original finish application and check the rod on the dryer - looking carefully at each and every wrap and area where finish has been applied. It seems that it takes that time for a football to appear if excess finish has been applied to the particular area.

Take care
Roger

The two part epoxy finishes will give better coverage as Tom said. What i do is apply the finish on all the wraps, then stop the turner, wait for any drips that may occur, and whip them off, turn 180 and do it again. then turn the dryer on and let dry. check every once in a while but let it do it's thing.

Bill - willierods.com

I threw away any of the finish that was labeled "lite" long ago, and I've produced far better finishes without it! Just use less finish when applying your high build. You'll be very surprised how little you need to get a full coverage and level finish. I now apply two coats of PG first, then wait about 5 days (don't reduce this time frame - you'll be sorry), then apply one THIN coat of high build Threadmaster.

The PG is not needed but that is up to you. Two coats of thread master and your done in two days. drying each coat overnight.

Bill - willierods.com