Dennis, He did say he wanted to polish the blank after he put on and finished the guides. Hence the wax and polish recommendations. Take care, Chris
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Hi Brent, You can use Pledge furniture polish. Reapply as needed. Take care, Chris
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Hi Everett, Out of curiosity, how close were the two breaks to the nearest guide wraps on each rod? Take care, Chris
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Frank, I've used another brand of uv cure coating, for fly tying. The only way to remove the sticky coating from that was to wipe with alcohol. To get a shiny finish, it needed to be coated with something else, like varnish or epoxy. I hope you're able to find an easier or better solution. Take care, Chris
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Hi Brandon, You can certainly trim and sand, or just carefully trim by itself. You can also use a nice, new, clean file. No oils or metal filings. Whichever method you choose, you want to ensure your tools are clean, and of good quality, to minimize any foreign objects such as sandpaper grit or the above mentioned impurities from being introduced to your finish. You can do a lot to finis
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Adam, I really like the premium burl cork, from Custom Fly Grips. I purchased a bunch from them a little while back, and the colors are great. Chris
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No reason I know of. I used it for a couple of years until I switched to gluing cork with tightbond III. Chris
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Hi Matt, I used to turn all of my grips on the blank. I messed one up, and that we enough to make me real careful from then on. But I decided it was not worth damaging the blank or grip, so I now turn off of the blank. For me it was a matter of getting the proper tools, i.e: flexcoat pilot bit, wonder reamer, and a home made cork clamp. I also made my own drill support for turning the
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Sid, In my experience, the color preserver has wet out the epoxy and returned the shine, just like another coat of epoxy would have. Try it on a scrap rod: scuff a wrap, and then put some color preserver over it. Different types of color preserver may produce slightly different results. Take care, Chris
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Hi John, Yes, you do let the finish set up some before marbling. Amount of time varies on temperature and probably brand. You will just have to work with it. I've waited as long as a half hour, before marbling original ThreadMaster. Take care, Chris
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Here's a link to David's topic. Chris
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Hi Alistair, I do a lot of feather and jewel inlays, and sometimes I have to build up or take down the level of epoxy, because of peaks and valleys. I have done as you proposed: I let the epoxy start to set up, and then applied it only to the valley I wanted to fill. I keep an eye on it for an hour or so, leaving it sit facing up, or hand rotating it to ensure it stays where I put it. Aft
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Hi Jim, I use Threadmaster, and almost always put my next coat on after 6 hours. I usually work in 78-82 degree temperatures, which slightly speeds the curing time. Take care, Chris
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Larry, I like it when guides end up there; less stress on that section of the rod that way. I make sure I have an appropriate sized reinforcement wrap on the female side of the ferrule, then I start the guide wrap. Take care, Chris
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Looks sharp, Randy. Chris
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I think blue and gold together is a great look. Those grips are nicely done. Chris
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Hi Don, Dont know what your experience with underwraps is, but when I've used them, I put a coat of finish on the underwrap before wrapping the guides over. Then more finish on the overwraps. Also, my preference is to not use CP, but if you like it, use it before you epoxy (I think I recall you had asked about CP in an earlier post). I'm sure others will post with their methods and prefer
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Hi David, Epoxy finish won't, or at least I've never had Flexcoat or Thread master dissolve perm marker off of a guide foot. Permagloss, on the others hand, will. Take care, Chris
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Hi David, Now is a good time to start collecting broken rods, and cheap rods from second hand stores and garage sales. Many rod repairs require a piece or two of rod blank, and so it never hurts to have a wide assortment of graphite and fiberglass rods available. Take care, Chris
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Hi Carrington, I only use sand paper. It takes longer, but I don't have the mortality rate that tools do. Take care, Chris
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If you have a strand of non-LED Christmas lights lying around, they can be a quick and easy source of heat for a drying box. Take care, Chris
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Bill, If you have U-40 Perma Gloss in your shop, it works great for this. I use it on all my grips. Take care, Chris
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Hi Andrew, U-40 Quik Bond, color matched to the rod with marbling pigment or Pearl Ex powders (my favorite). Rotate the rod with your finishing motor; I rotate mine at 36 rpm for this application. As others have mentioned, raise the tip end a couple inches higher than the butt end. The Quick Bond starts to set up 10-15 minutes after mixing, depending on temp, so I like to put it on the ro
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Robert, Its all personal preference, but on green rods I like to do gold lettering. If you can do gold on clear, I think that would look sharp. Take care, Chris
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Bill, Probably too late if you've already started refinishing, but in a similar circumstance, I applied Perma Gloss to the existing guide wraps, and allowed it to soak into the cracks. I kept applying until no more soaked in, then allowed to dry for several days, then coated it all with new epoxy. This helped to more securely encapsulate the guide foot, and to also hide the cracks in the ori
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Hi Ben, Although what Roger says is the correct thing to do, sometimes I can't wait! I use the Thread Master regular finish (bought my first couple batches straight from Andy) and when I am in a hurry to use the rod I raise the temp in my finish room. I've used the rods in as little as 6 hours, but I had the temp up to 88-93°f. As long as you are willing to accept some possible finish iss
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Jon, I've done several repairs, like Roger has outlined. Each one has been a fiberglass tip section, slipped over a graphite butt. The female end of the fiberglass tip is beveled, first, so the thread can wrap up it from the graphite rod after glue up. I used rod bond to secure the new tip sections on, wrapped them, and then finished them. Each time I was also able to position a guide
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Double post.
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