I want to paint my blanks. Is there a special kind of paint I should use? Also, after paint is there a specific sealer/finish I should use over the paint to protect it?

And then you'll need something over the sealer-finish to protect that... On and on. You can easily wind up with so much paint, sealer, finish, etc., that you greatly undermine the rod's performance.

Do as little as possible. Most any quality enamel will work. Better yet, tint some PermaGloss and use that. I'd stop short of putting further coatings on top of either. Let the paint or urethane do what it was designed to do.

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Dondi

I think the PermaGloss with tint is the best way to go.

Paint, PermaGolss or any other coating on a blank is a finish and should be protected.

I always apply a coat of paste wax on my rod after I clean it with soap and water.

The paint, PermaGloss or other finish is intended to be permanent and should be protected, the wax is intended to protect the finish and is not a permanent treatment it is sacrificial.
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The wax tends to fill in voids and fine scratches and tries to form an even surface which makes it shinier. The wax also makes the surface “slippery” and somewhat resistant to minor scuffs and rubs, also the wax makes the rod easier to keep clean (fish slime, stains and other contaminants).

Cleaning the rod with soap and water before applying a coat of wax minimizes wax build up so in theory there is rarely more than one coat of wax on the rod.

I clean and wax my rods regularly and they look and perform great.

Have Fun.

John

Dondi,
All my personal fly rods are raw carbon for the reason mentioned by Tom.I do, however, give them a light coat of a good wax that contains carnauba.
Herb

If ultimate protection is what you want nothing beats Permagloss imo , best thing about it is that it's a very hard durable coating while adding less weight when compared to automotive type paints seen on blanks these days . Achieving a beautiful smooth and even finish is easy with permagloss while traditional paint is not nearly as easy and the last thing you want to do is apply multiple coats of paint on a rod blank to make it look professionally done , the weight difference is easily noticeable .


I use to think paint didn't add noticeable weight but i was very wrong , when i compared two painted blanks to the same blanks without finish i was shocked , they were noticeably heavier .

What product is best to tint PG?

Marbling pigments or pigments from testors enamels. I have used PG and pigments on small scale projects but not to color a blank. Worked well.
Norm

Thanks Guys. I will tinting some Perma Gloss