I just finished putting on the first coat. My wife decided now was a good time to inform me she’s not real big on the dryers running through the night (worried about fire hazard) It was 8:00 when I finished. I’m thinking it’ll be set enough to turn the dryers (2 rods) off in 3 hours? Or, should I make her a pallet in the storage building? :)

Thanks!

Make her a nice comfy pallet.:-) 3-4 hours should be enough I would think if it’s high build.

Thanks!

Daryal,
Introducing the “wife” and “fire hazard” aspects of rod building certainly may jeopardize some standard rod building protocol and procedures. But if you purchased your curing motors here in the US, they had to conform to quite stringent laws to avoid any possible problems. I have absolutely no problem running my curing motors overnight and I sleep like a rock!

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

Daryal:
I have been using Flex Coat High Build for many years, if mixed correctly and dried in 70 -75 degrees, and rotating 3 to 4 hours should be good to go, I leave it for another 24 hours to cure completely.

Rich Kline Custom Rods

Daryl,
Here is an easy solution to your problem.

Place your rods and dryers in a cabinet.

Then, add a fire suppression system to the cabinet that will activate in the case of a 300 degree elevation in temperature and then both you and your bride can sleep with no worry about fires ever again.


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Or you add a 4x12 foot outbuilding that is at least 200 feet from any other structures with heat and air conditioning and place your dryer in that building. In case of a fire let it burn to the ground, collect the insurance payment and build another one and again sleep well through the night.

There is always a solution for any sort of problem.

Neither solution is necessarily a sensible or necessary solution but it would solve your problem.

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But, the best solution of all is to get up 2 hours before your normal rising time and go to your building area and apply finish and put the rods on the dryer and let it spin for the hour before you leave for the day. Then, assuming that you bride is at home during the day - that she may also be out of the house - keep an eye on the dryer. Assuming that this person is going to be around through the day that person can check on the rods from time to time. If there is any sort of an issue - make sure that that person knows where the power switch is so that the power can be turned off in the case of an observed emergency.

Take care and sleep well.

Thank you gentlemen!

Update: She slept like a baby in the shed! :)

Kidding, of course! The finish was plenty set in 3.5 hours! Going to clean up any flaws this morning and get the second coat on so I don’t have to worry about it again.

I should also mention that she broached the topic of enclosing our patio this morning. Even though it's just the two of us, and we eat at the bar 99% of the time, she's not too crazy about my building rods on the dining room table, and having dryer(s) setup on the mantle. The patio is around 30-40 foot long and 10-15 foot wide. It would definitely be nice to not have to set everything up every time I get ready to build a rod. The other option she brought up was to get another storage building and set it up beside the current one and run power to it.

She's as much of a penny pincher as I am, if not more so. She must really dislike me building on the dining room table to propose one of two relatively expensive propositions. lol

If the room is at normal living conditions, suitable for humans, no "drying tents" or other devices are necessary. Just let them turn at a few RPM's and everything will be fine. If not hard in the morning, just wait a few more hours. Test by checking the epoxy mix you used. Not the rod. This is not rocket science.

I've built a lot of rods and never have used a "drying tent" or anything like it.

I use Flexcoat finish and don’t use a dryer, I turn the rods by hand. I put on light coats of finish and turn my rods for about 1 1/2 hours and then just let them sit and never had a problem with the finish sagging. Been doing it this way for 40 years. Threadmaster sets upon the same amount of time. Pro Coat takes longer, 2 1/2 hours.

Get a timer