I'm getting ready to finnish a 7' salt water spinning rod with ProKote and was wondering what the ultimate speed is. Thanks in advance.

Mark,
The ultimate speed for what purpose.
The ultimate casting speed.
The shortest casting distance.
The ultimate speed to polish the rod.
The ultimate speed to dry the finish when driving down the road at the speed limit.
The ultimate speed to dry the reel after a day of fishing.
The ultimate speed to turn the crank on your rod when catching the fish of the lifetime?
The ultimate speed to pull the bait through the water for its best action?

Take care
Roger

Roger,

I think he is looking for the optimum speed for turning while drying.

Mark,

Turning speed is far less important than finish technique and keeping the center of the rod level. I've finished most of my rods turning by hand, half turn at increasing time intervals as the finish dries, starting from about a half turn every 30s to 1m, and turning based on how the finish is flowing. As far as turning with a dryer, you will find many dryers turn anywhere from 5-20 RPM, some faster and a few slower. Mine is an 18RPM and seems to work well for me when I use it. It's like many things in rod building it's a matter of personal preference.

Joe

Joe,
I also assumed that he was looking for optimum speed. The reason that I posted my questions is to point out the need to specific in your individual questions.

Take care
Roger

p.s.
I find that 6-10 rpm is about right for most rod drying. I have found that if I go much faster than 10 rpm, I end up with a finish that is getting "thrown" from the turning speed of the rod.

I have found that with Procoat and Afcote 18 rpms is great, so anywhere from 12-18rpm IMO. This stuff is a little thinner and takes longer to set then some others. I use Afcote and Threadmaster and I can spin threadmaster a 10rpm and will be fine but the Afcote wants to move a bit more so I up the rpms a bit. Hope this helps!!

I have 2 driers, one is 18 rpm and the other is rated at 30 - 36 (never actually measured it). I have used ProKote as well as many other brands on both driers and both work just fine. I actually like the faster speeds because it's easier to apply the finish. My dryer is separate from my wrapper, so I apply finish while it's on the drier.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

I have an 11 RPM dryer that I find works great for ProKote. One thing I've learned from this forum is the thicker the slower, the thinner the faster. I had to test it, and I must say the information is correct. So if you have a dryer between 10 and 15 rmp's ProKote will come up smooth - granted your rod spins level.

Putting finish on at higher speeds helps to get it on quick and helps to make nice edges
Then I stop when applied turn several times to drip then put it on a slower turner to level

Bill - willierods.com