Finishing wrap Touch-up

[Chuckwalla]

I have a question for all you rod builders. I have just about completed my first build. I put the finish coat on the wraps yesterday and let it dry. Today I was looking at the wraps and noticed that some of the epoxy (Flex Coat Wrap Finish) looked a little thin where the thread goes up the guild feet. My question: Is it OK to put a "touch-up" coat on those areas? Or should I just let it be?

Thanks

[GonetoSeed]

Sounds like the first coat soaked in to fill the tunnel - a good thing. If you can see individual threads you should apply a very thin 2nd coat now - don't thin the finish or mess with the 50/50 ratio, just apply very thin. If you can't see the individual threads but just looks thinner than the finish of the main part of the wrap it's probably ok functionally, but your eye will see it every time and if it bugs you enough a second thin coat now would be a good thing. If you apply another coat of finish in less than 48 hrs it actually merges with the first coat. If you wait longer than 48 hrs (it fully cures) it is a coat on top of the first coat and you can possibly have future problems with flaking. Also, since lots of people like to touch the wrap while admiring you can introduce contaminates (skin oil) that will cause the second coat to fish eye. To help it bond after 48 hrs you need to scuff it with a gray Scotchbrite pad. Not touching it until you know for sure that there will be no more coats will avoid fish eyes.

btw, check and see if the tunnels did fill. If you see any gaps when you apply the second coat take a tooth pick or fly tying bobkin and place a little in the tunnel. Keeps water from sneaking in and over time messing with the thread.

After hitting send I thought of a "warning". If you can't see the individual threads and everything else has been to your satisfaction, then maybe Mr Murphy is just waiting for you to add the second coat. There have been lots of times that I intended to fix a "flaw" that only I could see only to rue the day.

[Chuckwalla]

Well upon inspection with a 5X eye loop, it looks like the threads are covered, but not very well. So, I'm going to try another very thin coat. We'll see. I'm not sure what caused it because I thought I put enough material (epoxy) on there. I don't have a rod turner; I turned the rod 1/4 turn every 7 min for the first hour and every 15 min the next 30 mins. Maybe I need a rod turner for the next project.