I'm building a UL trout spinning rod for our pastor. I turned a reel seat insert from boxelder burl which I bought on @#$%&, since my previous supplier, Steve Kincaid, retired. This block was much softer, generated more dust and didn't seem to be fully impregnated as those i had previously used. Also, the medium CA finish I applied had thickened in storage and, obviously, went on thicker than normal. When I wet-sanded then micro meshed the insert, it looked pretty good. Once I added the reel seat hardware to the insert with epoxy and assembled the complete handle onto the blank, I noticed fine cracking in the finish. It looks like an old oil painting with finely cracked paint and has lost its sheen. The CA finish was most likely the culprit but now I'd like to fix it, if possible. When I wet the insert with DNA, the cracks seem to disappear but re-appear when dry. I'm thinking of adding one coat of Threadmaster Lite as the rod turns on my dryer but that may cause some problems. I'm thinking that the thread finish is too soft for this and when a reel is added, it will bed into the finish. Also, if I add a coat of thread finish, I'll have to fill the front recessed hood with clay (to be removed after drying) or I'll risk filling in the slot for the front of the reel foot with finish as the rod turns. I don't have a high-speed rod wrapper so I can't add a coat of thin CA since I'll have no way to polish it. My lathe will not accommodate the butt section of the rod. Any suggestions or thoughts on using Threadmaster Lite to fix this?

How about something like Permagloss, a moisture curing polyurethane. It gives a very clear, hard and durable finish.
Norm

As Norman, I was also thinking of PG to be a fix for your issue. PG has a very thin viscosity to penetrate the fine “cracks” in your present finish = a good thing but inversely, may not hide / cover those cracks in the actual surface of the PG after cured. Allow me to suggest starting with the PG and if the hair-line cracks are still visible, then overcoat with the TM light as you have already considered. Keep us posted to your progress / solution as it might benefit many. Good luck!!!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

CA is way too brittle of a finish. It will as you have discovered develop cracks and fissures, leading to the induction of moisture and eventually begin discoloring as well as lifting off of the insert. It is not waterproof, nor is it UV resistant. I do well over a 1000 inserts a year, and they are all dipped in spar urethane for longevity. And yes the insert offerings do make a difference. 95% of what I do are stabilized exactly the same way that Reelseatblanks.com were done

Ron Weber

Ron Weber Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And yes the insert offerings do make a
> difference. 95% of what I do are stabilized
> exactly the same way that Reelseatblanks.com were
> done

Ron, Can you suggest a source for stabilized reel seat blanks? I think that another mistake I made was using accelerator on the CA. I have had good results in the past with CA finish but I didn't use an accelerator on the CA.

Thanks for your help!

Bob

Robert Nypaver Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ron Weber Wrote:Unhide your email or send me one

> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And yes the insert offerings do make a
> > difference. 95% of what I do are stabilized
> > exactly the same way that Reelseatblanks.com
> were
> > done
>
> Ron, Can you suggest a source for stabilized reel
> seat blanks? I think that another mistake I made
> was using accelerator on the CA. I have had good
> results in the past with CA finish but I didn't
> use an accelerator on the CA.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> Bob

Robert,
If your insert is accessible all of the way round -- then I would use sand paper to remove the CA finish and the cracks in the finish.

If you do not have reel seat parts in your way - I don't know the appearance of your particular reel seat - you can just leave the rod in one position to remove finish on one part of the insert, then rotate, remove more, and continue until all of the finish has been removed. Then, do a final sand with 400-600 paper and apply two coats of your usual thread coating epoxy.

The finish will be bullet proof and will look very nice.

Best wishes.

p.s.
What ever you do - remove the finish that is on the wood, before you apply anything else to the wood.

p.p.s.
Another thing that will quickly remove the finish is a single edged razor blade. Just hold the blade at right angles, or perpendicular to the piece that you are removing finish and simply scrape the finish off the wood. It will only take a few minutes to remove the finish and have it ready for final sanding.

Obviously, Ron is much more experienced with this type of situation = I stand corrected and suggest you follow his advice.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.