I’m building a 2 piece reel seat with a pine bark insert between the two. Does anyone have any experience applying tru oil to pine bark, wrapping with thread and then epoxying over the tru oiled pine bark. Problem I’ve definetly found is nine bark rapidly soaks up epoxy so I definetly need to seal the bark first before epoxying the thread. HELP!

Josh,
If it was my rod, I would never apply epoxy over tru oiled bark.

Rather, I would simply use thin epoxy that penetrates well and use the appropriate number of coats to establish the final finish. I would imagine that even though pin bark soaks up epoxy that two coats of epoxy would completely seal the bark.

However, I wonder, why you are putting thread wrap over the top of the reel seat.

Good luck

Roger, sorry if I wasn’t clear the reel seats are two piece. Between the two pieces I have a pine bark insert spanning that distance 1.5in. What I have in mind is finishing the bark including the insert previously mentioned and the rear and fore grip which are also pine bark. After finishing I’d like to go between the two piece grip on the pine bark insert and make a couple simple trim bands therefore needing to epoxy those wraps. Seems that the preferred way to finish pine bark is with tru oil. I’m looking for a matte finish on the grips. What type of epoxy would you recommend in this case?

Epoxy over oil is going to fail and turn "gummy."

Epoxy is generally "glossy" but if you lightly buff it after it's well set with a Scotch-brite pad, etc. it will take the shininess off of it. I'd use the same light epoxy for the trim wraps that you use to seal the bark so that it's compatible. If you don't wrap and epoxy the wraps within the recommended recoating time for the epoxy on the bark, lightly buff it with a Scotch-brite so the epoxy adheres to the original coating. Probably best to do a test piece with the epoxy first to be sure that it looks like you want.

Josh,
If you want a matte finish on the area that you coat with epoxy, do some test applications, using varying amounts of talc mixed in with the finish.

You can just go to the store and purchase a box of baby powder and you will be set.

Try different amount of talc in the finish and test it on some old blanks that are laying around. Realize that if you mix talc in the finish, the finish is going to be a touch softer than if no talc is mixed in, but it will give you the matte finish that you wish.

By the way, when I make wood grips, I finish the grips with two coats of high build flex coat, using fine grit paper between coats to both level and give a slight bite to the first coat. In a word, the epoxy finish simply lasts.

Good luck