Ok so a customer brings me an 8' 2wt Thomas & Thomas (LPS 802) with a patch of bare blank right in front of the factory-lettered area (where it says "Thomas & Thomas") and he wants me to put a feather inlay there to cover up the bare spot. It looked to me like he had sanded it there, for some reason, and I really didn't ask any questions. I thought maybe it had a decal he didn't like?

So I do the feather inlay and I am cleaning up the area just past the feathers where I got some color preserver beyond where I had planned to run the trim bands and finish. I started with water and that was taking awhile, so I break out the denatured alchohol. In 2 gentle wipes I had the CP AND the rod's dark blue finish off down to the bare grey graphite! I mean the finish just wiped right off like it was wet paint!

As far as I can tell, this rod was factory-built and had a very dark blue (almost black) gloss finish on the blank. Just wanted to see if anybody ran into this before, and to warn you not to wipe with de-natured if you run into one. At least now I have some idea of how that bare patch got there. I guess his feather inlay might have to be a little longer than I had planned.

Matt Smith
Greensboro, NC

he should have sent it back and got another rod.

St Croix had ?? a problem with I think it was flat black.

Bill - willierods.com

There have been some finishes out and about lately that don't hold up well to even mild solvents. I guess you found one of them. The St. Croix SCV in the brown finish was another.

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And people pay HOW MUCH for Those blanks Darn shame !!!

Bill - willierods.com

It scared me...I will admit it! The first wipe I came away with a blue paper towel, and the 2nd one went all the way to the grey. My hand was shaking! I also said a word or two I can't repeat here.

First thing I did was look to see if someone had re-finished it or something, but as I said, it appears to be a factory rod and the color is the same as any and all pics I could find on the internet.

My favorite 9 wt. is one I built on a brown SCV blank. As Tom predicts, the finish has worn away ahead of the grip. I am assuming this amounts to purely cosmetic damage and will not affect the rod's performance or durability. I hope the assumption is justified?