I have stripped down an old rod I am trying to redo from scratch. My question is, now that I am down to a blank, what next? I scraped most of the glue and epoxy off with a heat gun, but there is still glue residue and spots where the blank finish has been taken off. Do I sand down the entire blank with some fine sand paper, clean w/ Acetone, and spray lacquer to get that new blank finish back on it before wrapping again?

P.S. I have another rod that is printed 789 CF on the blank. Any idea what this means?

Hi Brad,
You can sand down the blank with a grit that is just enough to remove the imperfections, then go down in grit until you get the finish you want, be careful not to take too much off and don't expose any fibres. Get as much of the epoxy from the guides off as you can before sanding. Try 400 grit and see how that goes, but you might have to go a bit coarser. I take mine down to 1000 grit and that gives a pretty good finish. If you can put it in a lathe it will make the job a lot easier. Don't use acetone to clean the blank after sanding or you risk removing the resin that is holding everything together. Use isopropanol or similar. You can finish it yourself with laquer but I find automotive two pack gives good results and contains flex additives which stops the coating from cracking. Remember that two pack is toxic and if you do it yourself you'll need a respirator. I get my local panelbeater to paint mine as they've got the setup to do it properly and safely. You can get any colour you want or clears that retain the blank colour. If you get colour get a coat of clears on top to give a bit more protection. I've had nine done and am very happy with the results. They've all been fully loaded and show no signs of weakness. A lot of guys are against sanding blanks but a lot of guys do it, have no problems and get good results. Do a seach on the topic as there have been a few posts in the last few months along the same lines. You'll get a lot of info just pick what suits you best.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla,NSW
Australia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2011 05:15AM by Col Chaseling.

I don't have a picture but I have re-finished an older Fenwick Salmon/Steelhead rod that has that cross-scrim in it (HMXL I think). I basically did what Col is saying. I put it in a lathe and used 1500 grit wet/dry auto sand paper. I then cleaned it with alcohol and used Krylon Plasticote Clear on it. You have to be careful with Plasticote because it is rather thick. I very lightly sprayed several coats. Each coat was just enough to see it hit the blank. In other words if you use that stuff, don't try and get a smooth full coat. Very light coats each time. It came out very nice and is flexible. I also agree with Col to stay away from Acetone. A little heat and some Goof Off works well to get any left over finish/epoxy/glue off the blank. Take your time, and it does really take some time. Let us know what you end up using and how it turns out. This has been talked about before, so many are curious to hear the steps you took and the results. Good luck.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

The best way to strip the old finish off is to scrape it with a razor blade or utility knife, hold the blade perpendicular to the blank and scrape away. Once you finish scraping you can get a nice smooth finish with scotchbrite, you should avoid sandpaper of any kind since you don’t want to remove any of the actual blank material. Once you have it stripped, and assuming it is a graphite blank just leave it bare, most high end rods are built that way and I like bare blanks so much that I scrape the finish off of all new blanks that I get if they come in painted. Once the rod is finished apply a nice coat of wax to the entire rod and it will look great.

Brad, are you wanting a glossy finish or do you just want the rod to appear clean. Once you get the glue and residue off you can, like Mike said, use scotchbrite but if you need to get all of the finish off and want it to return to a glossy look, you will have to put either an automotive clear coat or something similar (plasticote) to make it appear as it was. I also prefer the matte finish (no gloss). It seems like you said that you have a rod that still has glossy areas as well as glue residue. If you do a search here on refinishing a blank, you will get many opinions. Whatever you decide, just make sure you take your time not to sand into the blank fibers. There is a Scotchbrite grit equivalency chart here: [academic.evergreen.edu]

Most use the gray pad. There are a few different gray pads. The regular gray pad = 120-150 grit sandpaper according to Scotchbrite.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2011 09:15AM by David Dosser.

I just refinished some rods this past winter and when it came to choosing something for the blank, I took a chance and tried this: [www.woodturnerscatalog.com]
It is something I started using for my pens. 1 or 2 coats more or less seals the blank and you get a nice matte finish. If you want something more glossy, you would need to add more coats. But it is a gel type finish and takes just a rag to apply it and it very simple to use. So far I have not see any issues with the rods where I used this on the blanks.

have you ever tried to wipe it on like permagloss

Bill - willierods.com

For the blanks, that is what I did, just wipe it on, then rub it out a bit and clean up the extra finish. It more or less just sealed up the blank from all the scrapping to remove the finish. I did not try to get a gloss finish on my rods.

Mike, it seems like that would be fairly easy to work with. How about drying time?

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

If you do multiple coats, it does not need much time between, I am not sure of the exact time. But to go to wrapping on the blank, I waited overnight for it.

Some really helpful ideas guys, thanks! What type of wax/permagloss do you recommend?

So far I have sanded down to just a graphite blank and it looks really good. If I go with permagloss, is it easy to use? Do you wax after permagloss? Also, where to by permagloss, plasticoat, or two pack?

Thanks again for all the help. So far so good. I will keep you guys posted.

Brad

Permagloss can be purchased at many of the sponsors listed on the left. Most hardware stores carry PlastiKote, not sure about two pack?

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

U40 PERMAGLOSS (4oz) any good?