I have been building fly rods for a long time and a lot of times my finish was not setting very well. But for some reason after letting the rod sit in a warm room for a bit the finish would cure. I think back now and I believe this was just pure luck that in cured at all. I was told a long time ago to use a 50/50 mix of the finish coat material so I went ahead and purchased a powder scale and mixed it 50/50 by weight. Now I know why I was having problems. In the past 3 weeks I put the scale away and mixing 50/50 by volume and man what a difference. I want to thank Mr Tom Kirkman and Mr Ken Preston for enlighting me on this. I did test the weight of both resin and hardner. I put 5cc of resin in cup (using the same type of cup for each) weighed it on the powder scale, did the same with the hardner. Man I was way off. I guess someone upstairs likes me cause I sure got lucky for a long time. I was hesitant to post this because sometimes we think we just know what we are doing. At 56 years old I am still learning.

Thank you guys again for sharing your knowledge with everyone on this forum.

I've found syringes and self sealing inserts for my epoxy bottles has helped my results be consistent. And there is no doubt that the temperature of the room can make a significant difference as well. If I had the room I would definitely consider making a drying box.

something my grandfather said to me as a teenager in the late 60's,

It's what we learn after we know it all,
that really counts.

Curt

Dave,
You can easily use weight to mix epoxy if you like, as long as you know the correct ratio.

Put a known fairly large amount of part a on the scale in a cup.

Then, by volume put the same amount of part b on the scale in a cup.

Measure each cup one at a time.

Now, by a simple division, you now know the correct weight difference by weight.

So, if you want to use the same material and use the scale, just use your recently computed proportions to correctly size the quantity of each material for perfect results.

Be safe

Dave stick with the method of mixing you epoxy with equal parts and you won't have any worries. Tom and Ken gave you good advice.

Lance

After 30 years of using finishes which were made to be weighed and finishes which were made to be measured by volume why in the world wouldn't you just go with the simplest method and the method which each manufacturer recommends?

X2 Lance...........

Regards,
Todd Vivian
Mud Hole Custom Tackle

todd@mudhole.com

I agree Todd.
Roger to do what your suggesting means I will need to take my shoes off cause I can't count that high. :)
Thanks for all your input.

Just to quote a genius "How do you know that the man who wrote the reading could read the writing that he wrote?"

Dave,
A simple thing to do, is to call the epoxy manufacturer and simply ask them for the correct mixing ration of part A and part B if you wish to measure by weight.

Not difficult at all and not complicated.

Be safe

WHY???

It is Sooo much easier to mix buy Volumn Who the Heck wants to measure each part of the finish That would take so much time and be NOT as accurate

Use the KISS method It works

Bill - willierods.com

You're welcome. Experimenting is a good thing --- as long as you're ready for the failures along the way.

Dave, didn't you ask your self why you ran out of one part of the finish before the other??? That had to happen .

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)