well I just applied finish to my first rod. I can see some mistakes but all in all it came out good for my 1st one. Is there any tips for appying epoxy to rods. I used a acid brush to apply it and warmed up the flex coat. How long do you have to mess with the finish without ruining it? also I used heat to get the air bubbles out. It worked good but I think I may have thinned the finish out to much in some spots.any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
applying finish
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CowHunter
Hi,
Congrats on finishing your first rod. Glad to hear it came out so well. Wait till you experience the joy of catching fish on a custom rod you made.
What brand of finish did you choose? The trick is to learn the idiosyncraties of the finish you chose.
I do not thin my mix with chemicals. The A part is usually thicker. I place the A part in a plastic mix cup made for epoxy finish. A shot glass is good for mixing. Then I nuke it for 4 or 5 seconds if I want to thin it. Now I add the B part(hardner)and mix well. Being heated a bit will give a mix without extra bubbles. Bubbles are just a fact of life that we have to live with. I mix for 2 minutes. Then I apply finish. After that I use an alochol burner to remove the bubbles, just pass it under the wraps quickly. Leave it there too long and you will smoke the finish. Do not use a hair dryer as that blows dust onto the epoxy. 15 or 20 minutes later you can flame the finish again while it is rotating on the dryer, but quickly.
I hope this helps.
Hi,
Congrats on finishing your first rod. Glad to hear it came out so well. Wait till you experience the joy of catching fish on a custom rod you made.
What brand of finish did you choose? The trick is to learn the idiosyncraties of the finish you chose.
I do not thin my mix with chemicals. The A part is usually thicker. I place the A part in a plastic mix cup made for epoxy finish. A shot glass is good for mixing. Then I nuke it for 4 or 5 seconds if I want to thin it. Now I add the B part(hardner)and mix well. Being heated a bit will give a mix without extra bubbles. Bubbles are just a fact of life that we have to live with. I mix for 2 minutes. Then I apply finish. After that I use an alochol burner to remove the bubbles, just pass it under the wraps quickly. Leave it there too long and you will smoke the finish. Do not use a hair dryer as that blows dust onto the epoxy. 15 or 20 minutes later you can flame the finish again while it is rotating on the dryer, but quickly.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for all the info Capt Neil and all who replied. I used FlexCoat finish and after I applied it I used a torch to remove bubbles. The torch sounds kind of harsh. LOL But it worked great you could see the finish almost turn to glass. I can see that this is an art and it should get better with experience,Hopefully.I can see some of my mistakes and will not make the same ones next time.This could be bad I am the perfectionist type.
Joined
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10,661 Posts
CowHunter
Hi,
Last nught I forgot to add, get rid of acid brush. Get a 1/4" hair brush. Clean it in 91% isopropyl alcohol or denatured alcohol when finished. You can get the for a couple bucks.
When using a torch have your hand behind the rod so you can feel the heat intensity. Too much heat and one day you will melt a blank. Extreme heat is not needed and don't let heat linger too long in one place.
Hi,
Last nught I forgot to add, get rid of acid brush. Get a 1/4" hair brush. Clean it in 91% isopropyl alcohol or denatured alcohol when finished. You can get the for a couple bucks.
When using a torch have your hand behind the rod so you can feel the heat intensity. Too much heat and one day you will melt a blank. Extreme heat is not needed and don't let heat linger too long in one place.
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