I’ve searched here and didn’t see any mention of this product and procedure. Wondering about giving it a shot but would like to hear some experiences with it.

I read over the kit contents and the one thing that stood out was their use of light curing UV resin for the guide wraps. This stuff made inroads into rod building a few years ago but only barely. Too many drawbacks. Do a search on this forum for "UV curing finish" and you can find a lot of users results with that type finish.

Will do, thanks

I didn't find any results for "UV curing finish" at all. Pretty obvious few use it I guess.

Hello Neil.

Here is the only article I remember in RodMaker about UV curing finishes, there is no author associated with it just the writing hand(meaning I believe) that Tom or a staff writer wrote it.

Volume/Issue...Article...................................................................................Page.
5/1 Epoxy: UV Wrap Finish System Product Test of Quick Coat Brand. 28

From what I remember the major drawback with the UV curing stuff is that when it cures it keeps curing, over time until it gets brittle.and cracks or flakes off, now they may have found a way to fix that, but I would check on that before I ever used it on one of my rods.

In this article they used a kinda largish light box to cure the finish.


Hope this helped.


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

I would steer clear of UV cured resins. They will become brittle and flake off at some point. If I were you, I would get the beginner kit from Mudhole. I'm sure Flex Coat probably has a comparable kit that would also be a good choice.

This is the video that has me curious:

[www.youtube.com]

I may try contacting this fellow. Wouldn't cost that much to give it a shot I guess but learning curves are pretty steep for me. And too, would hate to foul up a blank in the process. Anyway, was just looking for some firsthand experience.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2023 06:05PM by Neil Toland.

My idea of what looks really awesome and what . the guy in the videos idea of what looks really awesome, are worlds apart.

I understand that wrapping guides can be challenging and not necessarily all that fun, but I personally wouldn't go the tape route. You're wrapping something that is much wider than a single thread, around the tip of a guide foot and then around the foot and the blank. Your chances of getting it as smooth as wrapping a guide the normal way, are IMO, pretty slim to none.

Certainly nothing wrong with trying something new, but I would be trying it on a scarp piece of blank or something of that sort, and make sure I had the process down pat, before I'd try it on an actual rod I was building. And I sure as heck would see how difficult it is to remove a guide put on in that manner.

Not from a seeing how strong the attachment point is point of view, but from a what happens if I mess up and need to do it over point of view.

I've been fishing several rods all yar with the carbon tape wrapped guides and UV finish and they are just fine



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2023 03:51PM by Billy Vivona.

Thank you for that first hand information Mr Vivona. Firsthand information was what I was looking for. Appreciate your response.

I’ve been wrapping guides with thread for about 3 decades but things change. Stumbled upon this video and was curious. Again I appreciate your real world perspective.

Neil I have a couple of videos of a woman wrapping a guide and finishing it on my Instagram. I'm not going to claim it's going to last longer than thread and epoxy, I don't know for sure. But I do know for a wuick turnaround on repairs, or i my case - I shipped 3 blanks to Florida and was able to build myself 3 fishign rods and take them fishing within a couple of hours time - with no wrapper, no turners. Nothing except the handles I brought with me guides, and the carbon tape and UV finish. I freehand wrapped the guides on a kitchen table.
WAY better option than I build 3 rods and ship them and the rods brek in shipping like one of the packages I Sent down tehre with just blanks.

I been useing UV resin for about three years now and I think it has its place on the work bench.
I primarily use it to just tack something down...like fiberglass tape, it helps stop it from wanting to unwind.
I have also use it on thread and it does a decent job as a finish...also a finish on lures.
At the end of the day...I would still go with epoxy for a glue and a finish.
UV resin undoubtedly is warp speeds faster when use with a UV torch.

Well I just jumped through the hoops of Instagram installation and saw one of the videos you referred to Billy. That looks pretty slick

I'm not a big fan of IG for rodbuilding, but it's an effective tool to reach people. IMO, I feel it's worth it to have a kit handy. The UV Curing resin has a lot of uses other than just as a guide wrap finish. When I was at the ROd Forge facility a couple of weeks ago they timed me and it took 7 minutes to coat and cure 9 guides. With practice and on my set up at home I'm sure I could have a rod coated and out on the water in 5 minutes.