Was wondering if anyone had tried staining an unfinished blank. I have a customer who saw one of my builds on a Batson F905-5 and liked the dark blue color. I am building a MHX HM843 casting rod for her father and she "likes this color...can we do this?' I have painted blanks before with auto paint/hardener/permagloss with great results, but wondering who had tried a "transparent" stain. Couple of questions
1. Would it even work on such a dark colored blank?
2. If so, what type of stain would I need to use that wouldn't break down the fibers/resins in the blank?
3.Or should I just try to talk her out of it and tell her that one of the reasons the blank is "unfinished" is for its lighter weight?
4. Or try to talk her into a "pretty" SCV-SCIV blank?
Her dad is a long time amatuer tournament fisherman and I think he would be more focused on performance vs having a pretty blue blank
Thank you,
Jared

Let me just toss this out there - since you believe he's focused more on performance than having a "pretty blue blank" why not stick with the blank as is, but use a nice dark blue thread for your guide wraps and any other decorative wraps you might do?

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

Thanks Tom, I had considered this, but this is a "commissioned" rod from daughter to father. It's a gift and I hate to say this, but she was just looking at some pics, and saw something that caught her eye. I just wanted to throw the idea out to the masses to see if anyone had tried to do it. I would much rather just wrap in a pretty colored thread and do some marbling above the grips. I think I will just show her some pics of the different colored wraps and possibly marbling or decorative thread wraps and see if i can talk her out of it. Or just look for another colored blank... Thanks for the quick answer

Jared,
Basically a fishing rod blank is made of either fiberglass or graphite.

[fiberglassflyrodders.com]

The problem is that even if you find the color blank you want, the particular specs might not be what you want. Although - take a look at the Rodgeeks website and see what they may have. They can do custom colors.

It is possible to "tint" a blank with tinted PermaGloss, although it'll be a very subtle effect. It is very durable and light, however.

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

Thanks. I will check out the rodgeeks site. Dumb question, but do you tint the PermaGloss with something like Testor's model paint (acrylic or enamel) or a liquid paint pigment? I personally would rather NOT try to color the blank. I know that the blanks might not be the particular color she wants but could show her a couple different colors/blanks in the spec range that he/she is wanting. It seems that sometimes too many choices are detrimental to nailing down what someone is looking for.

Why not instead of spending days trying to find a way to color your blank just tell them that what they are asking for is just not possible. Let them know that the blank color that you're trying to reproduce is applied after the blank has been made at the factory and you have no way of applying a tint of the same color as well as what comes from the manufacturer.

Sometimes you just have to tell the customer that a certain procedure can't be done and to offer different alternatives that are easier and quicker to achieve.

Lance

You can tint PG with the solids from the bottom of a Testor's bottle, or even colored chalk, finely ground. But don't expect it to be opaque or even close. It'll just be a fine tint noticeable in the sunlight.

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

You can paint a graphite blank. I'm not so sure you can stain a graphite blank.

i would suggest looking at the Batson blanks try to find a ( blue ) blank with the specks for her If not
You can get a lighter and Longer And trim

Or try a search here on tinting PG Try Utmost Enterprises

Bill - willierods.com

Gentlemen, thanks to you all.
Lance, that is what I told her in a nutshell. That the blank was a factory blank, it was a factory finish and that whatever tinting I could do, I wasn't sure how visible it would be. I told her that i could search for a different blank with similar specs that had a factory finish with some color. I also offered to paint the blank or do some marbling, but told her that ,although slight, it would add weight to the blank. She finally decided on sticking with the same blank, and marbling only the split grip area. I think she was almost afraid that this "custom" rod for her dad was going to look like an "off the rack" rod.

Tom, I am going to try tinting with Testors and Permagloss on some scrap pieces of blank to see what the results look like for future reference.

Phil, yes. I have painted a couple of blanks and they turned out pretty good. A tangerine orange Chicago bears rod with navy wraps/ white trim and navy/orange/white marbling. And a scarlet red Marine corps rod with gold eyes, navy wraps/ gold trim. They were matching Batson ISB822.5 blanks for my brothers in law. They do a lot of light (1/8 oz) tube jigs for smallmouth in Michigan. I do love that dropshot blank!

Bill, I had thought of looking at a couple Batson blanks as well. But she wanted a high modulus rod and (I could be mistaken) I think that the Rx8 come in a Ti-chrome finish.
Appreciate all the responses and input. Your knowledge (collectively and individually) is worth it's weight in gold

I spray painted a sanded finish blank with Hot Hues "Lazer Blue Candy Concentrate" auto candy color mixed per instructions with automotive urethane clear coat and it is translucent, a lot like the Batson RX6 fly rods. Any auto paint supply will have candy colors, they normally apply over silver metallic on cars. If you do it over the bare graphite you get that graphite showing through.

Greg
Aptos, CA

take a look at DupliColor They should have some thing that will work

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks Greg and Bill. I've got a wonderful auto paint shop local. They helped me find and mixed the "right" colors on my Bears and USMC rod in DuPont auto paint. We cross referenced the "official" Pantone colors because the Duplicolor colors for those builds weren't close enough. But I will definitely keep that in mind. My wife really liked that shade of blue also and I might try shooting that color for my youngest son's rod. It's good to know that the Hot Hues color is somewhat similar. Appreciate it fellows!