All,
I'm new to building, but have put together a few rods and have consistently had troubles applying finish around the stem of the guide and into the guide tunnel. How do you all do it? I've flirted with the idea of using a syringe with a small tube or large guage needle to fill the airspace and give a bit of a build up around the guide stem. Possibly giving it. Bit of time to cure, then doing remainder. Any ideas would help.
Thank you,

No syringe!!
IMO filling the tunnels is the most important way to stabilize your guide feet.
The way I do it is to fill the tunnels as the first step - BEFORE i apply thread finish.

Before you apply finish to wraps - place a drop of finish at the opening of each tunnel on both sides of the guide foot.
Renourish the drops BEFORE they wick into the tunnel. Do not allow the tunnel to run dry. Keep dropping finish at the openings. Not doing so will cause a bubble to be drawn into the tunnel.
This takes time - when done properly the finish will wick all the way to the end of the guide foot.
Use some unwaxed dental floss to remove the excess finish.
Herb

Simple - put a drop of epoxy on the end of a toothpick. Touch the toothpick to the tunnel opening. The epoxy will be drawn into the tunnel. That's all there is to it.

.................

Derick,
Pretty simple.
I use the flex coat brushes. I keep the brush well loaded with flex coat finish. I stop the blank from turning with the guide up. I just put a generous amount of finish at the tunnel and then go back to turning the blank applying finish at a speed up to 50 rpm.
At this point, I just am sure that I have enough finish over the thread wraps for a complete finish. going quickly from the butt wraps to the tip top.

Then, I slow down the rod a bit, and use gentle heat to thin the finish and to let it flow out nicely. At that time, I will use the brush to either wick off too much finish, or dab a bit more finish on a wrap if it is thin. Again, going quickly from the butt of the rod to the blank.

Normally, that is all that is needed. I will go over the wraps one final time from the butt to the rod with the rod turning at about 10-15 rpm for its final inspection. If necessary, I will tweak a spot to add or delete a bit of finish an assuming that all is well, I will slow the turning rod to about 8-10 rpm for an over night drying time.

I use my power wrapper to apply finish at speeds to typically 50 rpm. If I don't have another rod behind it, I will just leave it on the power wrapper with the rod slowed down as shown above. If I have another rod behind this one, I will transfer the rod to a single rod dryer or a drum dryer - depending on the number of rods being built in this batch. Which every dryer I use, I will set the over night drying speed to about 8-10 rpm. I will normally dry overnight for 12 hours or so.

What Roger said. I also use the forhan locking wrap where applicable.

Roger,
Are you adding finish to the top of the guide foot and letting it seep in, or are you actually brushing it into the tunnel where the guide foot creates the gap?

I basically apply the finish to the wraps and when finished I stop the rotation with the guides pointing toward me. I then pick up a small drop of epoxy from my brush using a bodkin or dissecting needle (a needle on a stick). This drop is touched to the back side of the foot and the epoxy is wicked in filling the tunnel. Rotate 180 and repeat. While stopped I will also remove any excess epoxy that sags from the wrap. I do locking wraps and since it is difficult to apply epoxy to these behind the guide wraps while rotating the rod, this bodkin methods works great. As Tom stated a tooth pick also works well, I just like the durability, stiffness and reuse ability of a bodkin.
Norm

I have used Tom's solution for many decades. It works, it's easy, quick, cheap, and it lasts.

This is how we do it

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

Derick
I stop the rod, and apply finish to the end of the tunnel with the brush and turn the rod roatation back on and finish applying the finish.

The flex coat finish runs into the tunnel and the finish is perfect.

Take care

I fill my tunnels first. I stand the rod tip upwith a slight lean and guides on top. Then take a bodkin or toothpick and put finish in each tunnel. Keep adding finish until the whole tunnel is full. If its
a little cool or the finish is real thick I use a heat gun to get it to flow
into the tunnel.

This is an interesting topic - i.e. filling the guide foot tunnels with finish.

But, I wonder why this is a problem for some folks.

For the folks that are seeming to have some issues with finish in the tunnel of the guide foot; is the guide foot - fitted correctly to the shape of the rod blank?

I see comments listed above that mention adding finish until the tunnel is full of finish. This statement makes me wonder why anyone with a guide on a rod should have any noticeable space between the underside of the guide foot and the top of the blank.

I do prep every single guide foot that I use when building a rod. When first receiving a shipment of guides, I will go through every single one and double check the fit and finish on each guide. If there is noticeable thickness near the end of the guide foot, I will remove this extra material. I will also run the guide foot across a flat stone to insure that the guide foot is both flat and free of any burrs that might cause an issue to the rod blank.

Then, when the guide is placed on a rod blank, the non vertical part of the guide foot is tight to the rod blank as are the sides of the guide foot, and at the vertical end of the guide foot, there is a very slight depression that needs to be filled with finish. But in the application of finish with a brush, the slight depression is filled completely and the rest of the finish application for the guide foot is completed. Then, move on to the next guide.

Summary:
If the guide foot tightly fits the contour of the rod blank there is really no tunnel - to speak of - under the guide foot after the guide has been wrapped tightly to the rod blank. No tunnel, nothing to insert finish into.

Take care

Roger,
I think my troubles may be stemming from trying to keep the brush away from the leg of the guide. I was watching YouTube and they were letting the brush bump into the leg which was essentially getting finish to the top side of the guide wrap. I have been painstakingly stopping my dryer and carefully trying to add fish to either side of the leg and not letting the brush touch it.....ends up leaving a bit of the tunnel without finish.

Really hard for me to explain this, but I hope you catch what I'm trying to say.

What Tom said ..... except that I start at the tip of the foot and work my way towards the body of the guide. As others have said, it's quick and easy and works perfectly.