Hello,

Built a rod in a hurry and gave it to my dad thinking that the thread finish was still tacky, but it turns out it never cured properly and the guides are all falling off. First rod in years, I'm sure I mixed the epoxy wrong or something. So I'm going to just redo the guides. Problem is some of it cured, some didn't, so there's some good gunk spots stuck to the rod yet.

Is there a trick to stripping off this thread finish? Would mineral spirits be too harsh on the blank? It's a St Croix SCV (old stock) blank, if it matters.

I used ProKote medium build finish here. First time using it so I guess I could have got a bad batch, but I'm thinking operator error is much more likely.

Thanks in advance,
Scott

Mineral spirits will not work, won't touch epoxy! You will have to scrape off most of it, and use either DNA or Acetone to remove the uncured. Test the acetone somewhere on the rod to see is it damages the rod finish. Terrible when you make mistakes measuring or mixing epoxy, but always a good lesson!

Go back a few years and start reading past posts. All your questions will be answered, very likely many times.

Thanks for the help Phil. Definitely a good opportunity for a fool's lesson since it's just a gift, not a project with expectations. Not sure what I did wrong but I'll definitely be paying closer attention with round 2. I've done lots of rods with my old epoxy and no issues and I'm 0/1 with prokote... But like I said I'm rusty and 95% sure it's my fault.

Thanks!

Scott,
Literally anything that you use to remove the epoxy in the form of solvents, will also remove the finish from the rod.

You would be better off to try to scrape it off with an old credit card or a plastic scraper. With these, there is an outside chance that you can remove the finish debris.

However, you may just have to bite the bullet and remove the finish debris and take the finish off the rod as well. If so, just extend your thread wraps to cover any area of the blank where the finish has been removed.

Generally never easy nor pretty.

Best wishes.

Put a bit of tape just past the uncured epoxy and scrape as much as you can with something soft like a credit card. The tape will prevent the surrounding area from being damaged or at least reduce the chances. Then, when you wrap the guides again, just make the wrap a bit longer to cover any scrape damage. A mild bit of heat will help as well.

Don't do any scrapping, just put another correctly mixed coat over it. It WILL be fine.
SORRY I DIDN'T READ THE FULL POST. IT's time for the heat gun and the utility knife. Sparingly warm the thread wraps and then cut along the feet to remove the guides. You should be able to unravel the remaining thread.Use a Scotchbrite pad to smooth things out and then rewrap.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2020 04:12PM by Dennis Danku.

If your wraps are a mess by all means R & R the wraps , just get it over ,but if still in good shape try a new mix an just go over it , every thing should work out for you , either way ,

William Sidney
AK

Thanks everyone, helps a ton.

Stupid question, but how are the guides falling off with just bad epoxy? Did the thread wraps fail, or some force exerted on the guides before you knew the epoxy was bad?

Sorry man, I know that can be a mess.

Hello Johnny.

If the epoxy does not harden and stays wet the thread will swell and loosen up, then the only thing holding the guides is wet epoxy.

Hope that helped.


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

Robert A. Guist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello Johnny.
>
> If the epoxy does not harden and stays wet the
> thread will swell and loosen up, then the only
> thing holding the guides is wet epoxy.
>
> Hope that helped.
>
>
> Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.


Hi Bob,

It does help thank you. My perplexity was from the guides coming loose from the wrapping because of the epoxy. I wouldn’t expect such an action from the threading, and glad I asked. Learn something new every day!

Thanks!
Johnny