Can anybody give me an idea of how to support the rod while its turning as I put rod varnish on? I'm baffled because where do you put the supports if the whole rod is covered with varnish?

Not sure why you would apply the varnish while turning. Usually it is done by wiping the varnish the length of an upright rod. Are you applying before wrapping the guides or after? Is it bamboo or other?

bamboo, glass, graphite,? what and why are you finishing the whole shaft?

I have a graphite rod that I painted and want a hard finish over the paint. Should I not use varnish? I figured that if I did use varnish that I would have to have it turning in order to prevent sagging. I assume I'm wrong. Sorry, I'm new to the hobby, lol.

Hi Mke,
If you have a painted rod then varnish is a long wat from being the best covering. Automotive clears is good and has worked well for me while water curing urethanes work well for others. Varnish doesn't tend to last very long and starts to flake off. For automotive finish two part polyurethane with flex additives is the best I have found

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Mike, the rods that I have painted have all been "clear coated" after the paint. I use Krylon Fusion Clear spray paint. It is rather thick, so you have to spray each coat very light. It dries quick also. Depending on what type of varnish you have, it may peel the paint off of the blank you just painted. Two of the rods I used it on are used heavily in tournaments and have held up well since 2 years ago.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Thanks for the info. I have Minwax spray polyurethane, do you think that will work? FYI, I don't have any guides, grips or reel seat on the blank yet.

Just out of curiosity, what do most guys use the rod varnish for?

Hi Mike
Tradition, mainly on bamboo rods.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

I would suspend the blank either by the tip or butt from a rafter in the garage and either spray or brush on a clear coat. That is after testing on a scrap blank to be sure the clear coat and your paint were compatible.

if you want a hard finish that is easy to wrap over cause it is as hard as the clear coating factories coat there rods
I would go with a LumiSeal applied with a 3 Buy 3" piece of folded piece of cheese cloth I did the sponch and it tended to put bubbles in the finish

Do a search here of - coating a blank or - painting a blank

Bill - willierods.com

Whatever you do, please don't use the Minwax spar urethane in the spray can. It makes the blank look very rough. I also tried the Minwax spar urethane in the liquid. As recommended previously, use a couple pieces of cheese cloth to apply a thin layer of the spar urethane and, while it says you can work with it w/in a few hours, just let it dry overnight before you either sand and/or apply another coat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2012 08:41PM by Tom Kirkman.

Here is how I do it.

Figure out how long the handle will be and mark the rod two inches short.

Set the rod in the dryer and put one support as close to the marking on the rod blank you just made toward the butt end. You might have to clamp the dryer and the support depending on length and weight of the blank.

Then using automotive paint mix all parts well and apply using airbrush. You are painting the rod just like a car with a flexible coating.

Put the coats on every 15 minutes then apply the automotive clear at least three coats again one every 15 minutes to get the maximum uv protection.

Let dry and you have a perfectly painted rod blank.

If you have a few dust speckles buff out with an automotive micro polish after the rod is completely assembled as the polymers in the buffing compound will interfere with the bonding of the epoxy over the thread wraps.

I painted some blanks Chrysler Plum Pearl using this method three years ago and they are good to go.

If you want a method that is less painfull it will be less professional and in the end wont last nearly as long before it starts cracking or peeling.

Three years ago it cost 100.00 for the first blank in paint and mostly labor to paint a rod. As long as you were doing more than one at a time each additional rod was about 30.00.

Thanks for the info everybody!

There is an article that on here that tells how to apply U-40 with an air brush it worked great for me. Make sure to follow direction closley

Bobby Stout
Bloomburg, TX

I worked in the auto body field for awhile and in my experience flex agents in automotive paint are not long lasting they are intended to stay fexible for the instulation of a part ie plastic bumper cover and then will harden like normal but auto paints are very flexible I just would not spend the money for a flex agent