Rod Finishing

[travellinglite]

I have just finished wrapping all the guides and installed the reel set and grip on my 1st fly rod. It is a 9', 3 piece 5 weight. The color I chose was a black graphite blank with purple silk wrapping with a mapel reel set with mat black hardware. Now I need to chose a finish for it. I would like to know what the best choice for a finish would be. Any thoughts?

[Chuck Morris]

My 2 cents. I would go with Flex Coat, either regular or lite formula with NO color preservative. The purple wraps will become translucent and almost disappear into the background of the blank. If you want the wraps to stand out then (remain the original color) by all means give them several coats of CP. Remember to coat just the thread with the finish. Some people believe that they have to coat the entire blank and wraps with finish. Especially with a matte black or grey blank. That is not necessary. Sounds like a good looking rod.
Chuck

[travellinglite]

Do you have to put a Flex Coat finish on the blank? I thought of just sealing the threads with cp and leaving the blank with the finish it already has, if one at all. I am new at rod building so please forgive me if this is a stupid question.

[GonetoSeed]

You do not have to apply finish to the blank. Apply the CP to preserve your thread color, let it thoroughly dry and then apply Flex Coat to the threads.

[travellinglite]

Ok, I'm to the point of appling the flex coat. How many coats do you think I should apply?

[GonetoSeed]

That really depends on how much build up (depth) you like. Some builders like a lot of build, some very little. Which ever you like, on your first couple of rods I recommend a very thin first coat. Thin enough to see threads. The reason is it will help with the bubble release, will not "football" on you, and it will provide a smooth fiundation (no waves) for subsequent coats to achieve the depth you want. After you get the feel for how the epoxy works, you may be able to get the depth you like in one coat, especially if you are using Flex Coat Hi-build.

Personally, I like the look of two thin coats.