I just finished putting my prokote epoxy finish on my rod and noticed that there are a few places where when I pulled my thread through to lock it in, I left too much and they made small rough bumps in the epoxy. Is there any way to fix these? I cut one down with a razor blade and it is smooth now but there is a little white spot where the epoxy isn't glossy. Will another coat cover this or will you always see the little white dots?

Also my rod turner quit after I applied my epoxy to the handle area and I got a few little waves in the finish. Is there a way to fix this on the second coat or am I stuck with it?
None of the imperfections are terrible, but id like to fix them if possibke, thanks!

Yes you can cut and even sand down the imperfections, just be careful to not cut into the tread wraps or blank. But apply another coat of epoxy and you won't even notice that there was ever an imperfection.

Cutting those nibs off is the right way to treat them, followed by another coat of epoxy to mend the cut marks.

The waves can be fixed by sanding with fine (220) sandpaper on a block (to sand only the high spots), followed by good a good wipe (no alcohol, just dry or tack cloth (some will disagree about the tack cloth, but I've had no problems using them) then another coat of epoxy. One caution, if you sand into a nib you may "fuzz" it which will cause another nib which will have to be cut after the epoxy hardens. Then you will need another coat of epoxy. Sand after cutting the nibs.

Brennan,
To minimize the thread bumps, hold the thread drum tight when cutting the thread flush to the wraps.
I prefer using a pair of Dr. Slicks fine point fly tying scissors. With scissors, I don't have to worry about slashing a wrap with a razor blade.

Also, after the wrapping is finished and all of the guides are aligned, I use my alcohol burner to go over each of the wraps. I pause for an instant on any nibs with the burner and it will minimize the nib. However, don't stay too long in one spot, or it will melt the thread and you will have more wrapping to do.

After going over each of the nibs, I go over the rod while it is turning and go over all of the wraps. The heat from the burner will tend to shrink the thread just a bit, and tighten the wraps to better hold the wraps in position.

Follow Michael's advice with cleaning up the current rod. If in doubt about the thickness of the finish on the wraps, put another coat of finish on the thread - before you do any sanding. If you sand through the finish and fuzz the thread - you may be able to just put another coat on the wraps, or if you have sanded too much and weakened the wraps, you may have to rewrap that guide.

Good luck

Brennen

Good advice above to deal with the "nubs". However, as Roger suggests, the best case is to prevent them in the first place. Try this. Three or four wraps or turns of thread are sufficient to lock in the tag end of a wrap. But instead of inserting the tie off loop 3 or 4 turns from the end of a wrap, insert the loop 7 or 8 turns from the end. Then, instead of pulling a length of under 7 or 8 turns of the wrap, pull the thread under only 2 or 3 turns, cut the wrap tag end as close to the wrap as possible, and then pull the loop out. When done correctly there will be no nub or excess tag end of the wrap thread extending above the wrap. It's easier to prevent the nubs than to fix them.

What Brennen said. I even use more wraps. Use 4# spectra as a pull-through for smallest diameter.
Herb

Brennam, I use finger nail clippers to cut the little threads off before I put finish on . the concave edge of the clippers lets me get close to the nubs

Another think I do when needed is to either burnish where the thread entered the wrap and burnish it Out Ward Then pull the thread Makes for a large opening when cut I use a razor-blade it covers the ends better
Then re pack the edge

Bill - willierods.com

When I use CP, I don't cut the thread until I've coated the thread with CP and let dry. I then lightly pull the thread tail and cut with a new or almost new razor blade. I've found that I have less chance of cutting into other threads using this procedure.
Just another thing, I buy multiple blade razors at the dollar store and extract the blades from the razor, this gives me many sharp blades at little cost. Much sharper than single edge blades.

I have used the same pair of Dr. Slick fly tying scissors to cut thread when rod building.

I sharpen the scissors every couple of years.

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With scissors, there is little chance of nicking thread that has been wrapped.

Be safe