I am pretty new to rod building. Working on my third rod. First turned out pretty good, for my first two, but I have ran into a problem on the third. I am using Flex Coat high build thread finisher. The first coat didn't cure. Was tacky after a day. I put a layer of lite build, then another. Well now, I have too much epoxy and would like to try to take some off or re-do. I do not want to have to re-tie, just take some of the epoxy off. I started sanding one down, but don't know if I am doing the right thing, and it takes awhile, and I don't want to damage the blank. What would be the best way to get some of the epoxy off to re-do? Heard heat and alcohol, but would like some input on how to repair it.

G'Day Jeff I personally wouldn't use heat or alcohol to remove the epoxy as both could damage the blank .I would just cut them off & redo them but that is just me others will have other methods that they have found suitable .The reason for the first layer of epoxy didn't dry was either incorrect mixing or the ratio for the mix was wrong.

Regards Baz

Bundeena
NSW Australia

Jeff - normally you should be able to put the rod in a power wrapper & sand off the excess finish however, since the first coat didn't cure completely this may not work very well as the uncured coat will 'orange peel' (come off in rolls of finish). I think you may be faced with living with it as is - assuming it is your personal rod - or stripping off the original wraps and redoing/re-wrapping them. I'm just guessing that you tied them off by hand (third rod). Removing them will not be difficult: 1/ cut the thread across the top of the guide foot (start at the end away from the ring and cut towards the ring (saves fingers) 2/ remove the cut off / split thread wraps 3/ find a "tag end" of the wraps that are against the blank and pull - the thread will unwrap with very little force 4/ clean the edges with a plastic credit card or some other moderately stiff plastic implement so as not to damage the blank (the cured epoxy will pop off the blank) 5/ wipe the blank with a tack free cloth soaked in denatured alcohol. It should come out 'factory fresh'

Thanks. That is what I am going to do, just cut them off and re-do. Yes they were wrapped by hand, and they are my personal rods. If the finish was good, they are sweet rods. My first was a 9' baitcast crappie jigging pole, second a 7' spinning crappie pole, this one is a 9'6" spinning for jigging. You can feel a crappie "think" about biting your jig with my 9', and I think once I get this one finished, will be a little better. I have about $185 in each, with components and tools, so with my time, considering it takes me at least 2 weekends to complete, I would have to charge like $500 to make it worth it. I just make them for the entertainment and the experience to learn how to do it and the satisfaction of catching fish on your own rod with your own jigs.

Jeff,
As others have suggested. Just cut off the guides and epoxy and do it over.

When I do this, I use a bit of gentle heat on the guide side of the blank so soften the epoxy. Then I use a razor blade to cut through the thread, on the guide foot. By running the razor blade at a slight downward angle on the guide foot, it cleanly cuts away the thread and epoxy and you can remove the guide. Then, just a bit more gentle heat and you can peel off the rest of the thread and epoxy.

If you get into a tough spot, I just use the razor blade held at 90 degrees to the blank so you are scraping, rather than slicing. By doing this, you don't risk, cutting out a piece of the graphite blank.
If you remove the finish in this area by the guide and thread wraps, because the new wrap on the guides will cover any spot where finish has been damaged.

The removal, clean up and rewrap of all of the guides should take you something in less than 2 hours. Likely 1 1/2 hours total.

When you mix up any guide finish, insure that you have exactly the same amount of part A and part B.
Then, when mixing, mix slowly and mix completely for at least 120 seconds or 2 full minutes.
You will not have issues with soft finish if you do this.

By the way, if you want to wipe down the rod with Denatured alcohol after removing the original guides and thread - (a good idea) - be sure to use several paper towels to be sure that every particle of DNA has been removed and let it dry for an hour or so, just to be safe before starting to rewrap the rod with the new thread and thread coating.


Good luck

P.S,.
As you get more experience, a total build - with preformed grips and conventional reel seat should take less than two hours total for all time spent on the rod, including gluing on the grips, reel seats, taping on the guides, wrapping the guides, aligning the guides and coating the guides.

Of course, there is no glue or finish drying time in this two hour time.

Be safe

I spend quite a bit more time than that. Wrapping the guides takes me a lot of it. I put 15 (using nano) +tip on my 9', 16 + tip on my 9'6". Takes me awhile for the trim bands, putting 2 on each guide.
Here are a few pics of my 9' and 7'.

Btw, thanks for the comments. I got my rod stripped and cleaned up. Going to have to wait till next weekend to reties guides. I only get time to build late nights on weekends. I am going fishing in the morning, so can't tonight. Work, wife, and 2 small girls take all of my time through the week.

Very nice work! Only comment (not a criticism by any means). On the front edge of the guides you can clean up the edges by dragging a length of heavy thread across the front to wick away any extra finish......

Thanks. I will take any constructive criticism I can get. That is how I learned to tie crappie jigs, and not to brag, but I can tie a pretty mean jig.

Thanks for the help. I got the rod finished up. It came out pretty good. I was hoping to make it out this past weekend to try it out and rip some lips, but didn't make it. I was talked into going on a guided striper trip with some guys from work. It was so boring.

Here's a pic of it finished up.