Rod wrapping question

[tomahawk]

I haven't wrapped a rod in a few years but started a project a few weeks ago. I just finished a Dodger weave on it and I am ready for the finish. I was looking for a recommendation on which finish. I work kind of slow so the pot life (working time) is important to me. In the past I have used aftcoat and flex coat. One last consideration, the least time I bought finish, i bought the aftcoat and had to buy pretty big bottles, of which, most goes in the trash because I wrap so few rods.
Thanks,
Tom

[Hunters Pa]

Mix it on aluminum foil. For some reason it gives you more work time before it sets up

[bubblehide]

Tom, I'm a bit confused here. Every finish I have used (with the exception of urethane) is two part epoxy, and takes hours to dry. So I don't understand how most goes in the trash, unless you are mixing to much, or it gets to old due to the quantity you by.

Now you can buy thin and thick body epoxy rod finish. Thin body will give you better penetration. Thick body will give you a thicker finish, per application layer. And you can first apply a thin body, and top it with a thick body if you wanted.

The bottom line is that in most cases, epoxy rod finish is is epoxy rod finish, you either want thin body or thick body, or you want to use both. You can buy it in 4oz, 8oz and so on, all the way up to 55 gallon barrels. But you want to use all you buy within a year if you want to avoid spoilage.

I hope this answers your question.

[Scoot]

Is the only finish I've ever used 50+ rods
Thin coat thick coat finish ?? What's
The brand?

[Hunters Pa]

Flex cote used to have regular and high-build for a thicker coat on one application

[tomahawk]

Bubblehide, sorry about the poor explanation. When I have used flex cote in the past, if I don't work quickly, after about 30 minutes, the epoxy gets thicker and hard to spread evenly. This has resulted in a slight hour glass shape to the finish. The reason I end up tossing a fair bit of finish is the shelf life as you suspected. I have 2 half filled bottles of 4oz aftcote right now that are a few years old (at least 2 years). I just looked them over, the hardener is like iced tea color and the resin is really clear. Both flow smoothly and do no have any "crystals". I always thought the shelf life was about a year and I remember the flex cote getting crystals.
Hunterpa the foil works because it increases the surface area and lets the heat generated by the chemical reaction leave faster. This slows down the chemical reaction and gives you longer pot life. I used that trick when epoxying granite on my BBQ but had not of it for the rods.
My flex cote experience is with high build only.
thank you all for your responses.
tom

[mrJB]

Tomahawk -

In case you haven't used them, C & M Custom Tackle (http://acidrod.com/index.html) carries several rod finishes, thick and thin, including Flex Coat, Rodsmith, etc. You can even call their storefront and they will answer your questions. Good So. Cal rod building supplies.

BTW, I mix my epoxy in the inditation on the bottom of an upside coke can, wiped clean with acetone first. Holds just the right amount for one good pass on an average rod...

[grey zone]

I use Classic Coat which comes in 4oz. bottles and if I did not have that I would use Flex Coat. The pot lives of the two are similar and after about 20 minutes they get hard to work with so I just mix another batch using 1.5 cc each of resin and hardener. I make a few rods every year and usually cannot use up a 4oz. bottle before it goes bad so I don't worry about waste. The best tip I can give you is to use a heat gun on the finish after you apply it to a guide or wrap, this brings the air bubbles to the surface and helps the finish penetrate into the threads. The heat also softens the finish which will help you even it out if it was getting thick while being applied.

[FlyFishinYakr]

I've used Flex-coat since I started to wrap my own rods back around '82-'83.
When I started to work for a tackle shop, another employee who also used to wrap "shop rods" and I were given 32oz. bottles of a new brand called 'Rod-Kote'(?) as samples for our shop use. They stayed clear for years and had good shelf life and as it took me over a year and a half to use up.
Since then they went out of business, changed their name or got bought out but I don't know by whom.
I've used ProKote with success and have no complaints, but for my Fly Rods and light Saltwater I use U-40, Flex-coat Lite and Flex-coat regular.
Over the years I've learned how many guides (depending on the rods/type length) I can coat before the epoxy starts to set too much to be useful so I don't waste too much and I have an acquaintance in the medical supply industry and I have a couple of bulk boxes of 10cc and 50cc syringes so that I mix exact equal parts of resin and hardener so I never waste a batch.
I bought a Custom Power-Wrap when they were still built down here in Torrance and while I was working at the tackle shop so I have a pretty easy time with the first coat as all I do is apply a light coat just to seal the threads and guide feet (where most of the bubbles come from) just after I'm finished wrapping the guides. I don't even transfer the rod to the dryer until I've applied the first coat.
As for extending the use time, when the epoxy starts to set for the first time, if you're using a plastic cup you can microwave the epoxy for a few seconds to extend the set time and use more of it before it sets. Be careful however...I wouldn't recommend doing it more than once or more than 10 seconds on a medium setting. In my experience doing it twice will accelerate the set time and gives you less time to fix when applied to the rod with additional heat.
As for recommendations, Flex-coat has been a staple for most commercially made rods since forever.
Also to address your quantity concern, they are also the most available in different oz. quantities that aren't from other manufacturers. Finding 2, 4, 8 and 16 oz. bottles are not difficult to find at tackle shops or order online.
I hope my .02 helps some.
FFY

[tomahawk]

After being out of town for most of late December and early January, I finally got some of the flex coat ultra V and put it on this morning. I tried the heat gun for the first and last time (over heated and dripped on one guide, PIA to fix).
I have a question about minimum time between coats. I have always used 24 hours but would like to work faster this time.
I as a side note, to anyone who weaves patterns, I was unhappy about how long it took me to make my pattern instructions and the potential for errors due to the manual inputs.So, I wrote an excel macro that will make the instruction set for me. I set it up to handle a single color, 100 thread x 150 turn pattern. They way i set it up, i find a picture to weave, in excel make the cells squares, paste picture in excel and size it to cover the correct number of cells, make the color in the picture transparent, then fill the cells that are part of the weave, run the macro and the instructions pop out. Seems like a lot but only takes an hour or so and the chance of making a typo or skipping something is zero. What you see in excel is what you get. I can post the VBA and pictures if anyone is interested.

[skrilla]

I apply the next coat as soon as the previous one is dry to the touch. Usually 3-12 hours depending on the brand of finish and the temperature indoors. Test it by dabbing the excess finish left over in the mixing cup.