[JimG]

I am new to rod building and have been enjoying reading this board for a while.

A friend and I are building a 10'6", 6 wt, two handed rod. We finally got it to the point where we were ready for color preserver. We put in on yesterday afternoon and now after abt 14 hours it looks like ****--splotchy and blotchy---dark and light spots and seems to have turned the thread darker which i thought is what we were avoiding.

I was given this CP at the shop where i bought the blank, etc, to my knowledge it has never been frozen but was stored here in my basemet where it is cool. We had the room temp a abt 75 when we put it on. The CP had a milky appearance when we put it on. We used a small brush and would start on one edge and work across the threads. I suspect the bush was too small and we did not get an even application.

Short of cutting the wraps off and starting over does anyone have any ideas how this project might be rescued?

I would appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

Jim

 

[FLATLINER]

I think what has happened is that you put too much on at one time and the thread soaked in some but was saturated and still had some excess left over on the outside and that dried. You can try to take alcohol and wipe the wraps off, but I doubt you will be able to get it back to perfect. Your thread will initially be darker, but they will never dry back to the original color. Close in shade, but not perfect. What I would recommend (and you are gonna hate to hear this) is strip it, clean the blank and start over. Once complete, apply color preserver in SMALL doses. What you should do is apply it and after 5 seconds or so, wipe off the excess. Let it dry and then apply your finish.
Your preserver is fine. When it freezes, it will form a dense cottage cheese like curd in the bottom of the container.
Let me know if you need more help.

Kevin

 

[rhahn427]

Since your at this point nothing can hurt. First I would try using a hair dryer to make sure it dryed all the way thru. Next I would wipe the wraps with alcohol and put on a second coat incase it didn't sink in evenly ............ try everything before you cut off and start over.

I always wipe my wraps with alcohol and dry before I put anything on a wrap. THis takes off any oils etc that could be on the thread from any number of reasons that would affect the absorption of the CP or finish

 

[JimG]

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried wiping with alcohol but light applications did not touch it. The CP was totally dry and had soaked all the way through. So I decided to re-wrap. I am about 1/2 complete with the rod now. I found that if I left part of the existing wrap to hold the guide and was careful that the trim wrap (silver metalic) did not come off. So the re-wrap is progressing fairly quickly. A lesson learned for me. I do appreciate both your responses and suggestions.

 

[FLATLINER]

Jim,
I kinda figured it wouldn't come off, but it was worth a try. It's not an uncommon mistake but one that you will only make one time, guaranteed! Glad to hear that the rewrap is going ok.