A friend of mine wants me to build him some stand up rods. I usually only build graphite spinning reels so this one is new to me. He got some Shakespeare Ugly Stick blanks but they are unfinished. My question is how do I finish them? Do I need to sand them first? After finishing will you still see the spiral wrapping?
Thanks

If you search the archives here you will uncover an excellent thread relating to that very topic. Try "blank finishing" or "coloring blanks" in your search and see what comes up. After reading those please come back with any specific questions.

On matter of the "spirals", these will still be seen and felt, unless you sand them off. There is no reason to do so unless you just wish to have a smooth surfaced blank.

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Tom - I was under the impression that the spiral ridges on the Ugly Stik blanks are a natural result of the Howald process that is used in their manufacture and cannot be sanded down without weakening the blank - which is why the factory leaves the blank that way. Am I wrong,or do your comments only apply to blanks made in the conventional manner?

The ridges you see in the blank are a result of the tape wrapping process that manufacturers use. You have the option to leave them on or sand them off, but keep in mind that the proper sanding machine should be used to do so. We sand most of our blanks, but that is kept in mind during the design process to allow for the removal of a certain amount of fiber. Once sanded, you may or may not see the witness marks, depending on what color paint you use. I've never seen a blank painted without being sanded, so I don't have any direct experience there, but I would imagine that it wouldn't coat real well.

Exactly. Because of the heavy duty nature of these particular blanks you can likely away with less than precise sanding. But do the best you can if you choose to sand them. Use a sanding block and go very easy on the tip area.

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I do alot of this.

I sand on a power lathe at about 1200 rpm. Start with 120 grit and make about 2 second stokes about 16inches long back and forth. Make about 5 strokes then wipe clean with a wet cloth. Repeat just until the unsightly rings have disapeared (not more). Continue throughout the blank. Then switch to a 320 grit and sand in the same manner until the scratches from the 120 grit disapear. The go to a 400, then 600. The process takes me about 45 min to an hour.

I usually don't finish the blank persay, I polish it with an automotive polishing compound, and leave it with a matte finish. But I have used flexcoat give it a shine with fair results.

The thing one needs to remember is that once you go beyond about 1 mil thickness you are going to be into fibers that contribute to the structural make-up of the rod. This thickness could be a bit less or a bit more depending upon the particular blank and whether it is already painted or not.

The heavy duty blanks obviously provide a bit more margin for error, but one should not proceed with any blank sanding operation without a good deal of care. (For removing paint, I prefer scraping rather than sanding.)

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If you go to all of the trouble to sand and refinish the blanks, you are at a point of dimenishing returns on labor expended versus getting finished blanks.

The spirals will not go away. If they do, you are into base matt and you are screwed.

The spirals also make your wraps look like Fido's butt.

IMHO, talk your bud into picking a finished blank. Lot's of good ones out there that will more than offset the labor involved in making a silk's purse out of a sow's ear.

Thanks guys. I think I'll try light sanding and finishing the area that gets covered with the slick butt. If he doesn't like that finish he'll have to get some different blanks and put these on @#$%&.