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salty fly

my rod is peeling, I can see the graphite

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I have fished the heck out of this rod for 4 or 5 years or so. the finish is peeling off. It is a name brand, with life time warranty. this is my go to rod, I love this thing, I dont really want to send it in. Can I fix it some how from getting worse?post-33030-0-15584400-1368890169_thumb.jpgpost-33030-0-61826100-1368890443_thumb.jpgpost-33030-0-30043200-1368890534_thumb.jpgpost-33030-0-21566800-1368890636_thumb.jpg

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It's just the paint peeling, no harm other than cosmetics, but if it bothers you then you can put a thinned down light coat of clear over that spot and it should prevent it from spreading anymore than it already has. Rod finish is the best thing to use but that would require buying a two part rod finish and sitting there turning it by hand for a few hours every few minutes. Thinned odwn min-wax clear spar varnish would be the easier method. It would still need to be turned every few minutes to prevent sagging but it will not take anywhere near as long as rod finish. Could even try some clear nail poilish over it since it is such a small area and looks to be down by the butt section perhaps.

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It's just the paint peeling, no harm other than cosmetics, but if it bothers you then you can put a thinned down light coat of clear over that spot and it should prevent it from spreading anymore than it already has. Rod finish is the best thing to use but that would require buying a two part rod finish and sitting there turning it by hand for a few hours every few minutes. Thinned odwn min-wax clear spar varnish would be the easier method. It would still need to be turned every few minutes to prevent sagging but it will not take anywhere near as long as rod finish. Could even try some clear nail poilish over it since it is such a small area and looks to be down by the butt section perhaps.

No wonder you get so much done Steve, you've dabbled with the very laws of the universe. laugh.pnglaugh.pnglaugh.png

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That's why I use rod dryers for mine. If you do it by hand then you need to turn the rod about 45 degrees every 3-5 minutes for the first 2-3 hours while it dries, which is no fun at all.

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Sure does look like the paint is coming off, no great drama I don't think. Had a question related to this, have a rod where I have worn the resin off the first guide from the tip top, no idea how maybe backing knot or just casting, can I just put a little epoxy or ccg on it? Also if u have worn grooves in the snake guides is that an issue?

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I think the grooves will ruin your fly line over time. The tip ring should be fine with some epoxy smoothed on. UV might be better for a quicker smoother finish.

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Yeah I might just cover the thread before it starts to fray and fall off and keep fishing till I notice my line fall apart

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I have fished the heck out of this rod for 4 or 5 years or so. the finish is peeling off. It is a name brand, with life time warranty. this is my go to rod, I love this thing, I dont really want to send it in. Can I fix it some how from getting worse?attachicon.gifgrow stuff 007.jpgattachicon.gifgrow stuff 008.jpgattachicon.gifgrow stuff 009.jpgattachicon.gifgrow stuff 010.jpg

 

If you know of a rod builder in your area it might be worth asking for help. I'm not thinking it would cost much and even a hobby builder would have the finish and a turner.

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Sure does look like the paint is coming off, no great drama I don't think. Had a question related to this, have a rod where I have worn the resin off the first guide from the tip top, no idea how maybe backing knot or just casting, can I just put a little epoxy or ccg on it? Also if u have worn grooves in the snake guides is that an issue?

 

Mike, it sounds like you need a new set of guides. If you've got a drying wheel or something you can jury-rig into a turner, you can easily do it yourself. All you need is a spool of thread, razor blades, and some epoxy. If I can do it, any idiot can do it. Well....maybe not ANY idiot. Forgot where I was for a moment.

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As with most products ... if you mess around trying to fix a problem on the finish, you might void the warranty. If you need to get it replaced or repaired in the future, you may have to pay out of pocket.

I'd check with the company, for the two weeks or so it would take to get your factory repaired or replaced rod back, it might be worth the wait.

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Hey silver, can't quite see from the picture but looks like the spiral shrink tape wrap was still left on too when they cooked it, some rods I have seen like that and I enjoy the look.

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I've been building my own rods for many, many years (started in 1971...) but didn't build my first fly rod until 1976 (typical for me, wanted to learn fly fishing so I built a rod before I learned to cast one...). I long ago quit building for others -but still do quite a bit of repair work for local folks that know what they want.

 

As noted above the finish on any rod blank is purely cosmetic (the finish on rod wraps isn't cosmetic -it's there to protect the thread wraps that hold your guides in place....). A word about rod guides... keep them in good condition, particularly the part that your line touches and replace any that even begin to show grooving, cracks, or anything else that might harm your line... If you're only fishing small fish in freshwater it's not so important but big fish can destroy or badly abrade fly line and backing that's going back and forth under pressure on bad guides (and any ceramic guide that loses it's insert also needs immediate replacement -no you can't re-attach a separated ceramic ring....).

 

The quickest way I know of to re-touch finish on a guide wrap that's in need of repair is ordinary nail polish (another use for Sally Hansen clear.....). All you're going to do is lightly cover any place where the thread is showing (I wouldn't bother for cosmetic wraps -only the ones that hold guides in place). I seriously doubt that any rod manufacturer would decline to honor a warranty on a rod where you touched up the finish on a guide wrap but you can call them and ask first if concerned.... If you want to replace a guide I'd make a point of checking with the manufacturer first in case that might void your warranty...

 

Now for the fun stuff... I've recently begun re-building all of my working rods (everything on my skiff that's not a fly rod) and have decided to do without any finish at all on the rod blanks. The first three have really come out nicely and here's what I've been doing if you want to give it a try.... After stripping down the blank (removing every guide, all thread -even the check wraps, then removing every trace of FlexCoat, the finish I use for coating thread....) I carefully hand scrape the entire blank an inch or two at a time with the side of an old single edged razor blade (makes a fine scraper using the non-sharpened side...). The side of the blade is held at right angles to the blank and you carefully remove every last hint of finish without harming the blank at all.... Once the blank is thoroughly scraped down I carefully water sand the explosed blank using nothing coarser than 200grit wet or dry paper, then work down to 400 grit. All I'm doing is smoothing the surface to prep it for re-wrapping -I do my best not to remove any of the blank itself... Once the blank has dried off the next step is wipe it down with a cloth with some alcohol then the new guides are wrapped onto the blank, they receive two coats of FlexCoat (a two part rodbuilder's finish with the consistency of honey...) allowing the rod to sit for 24 hours between coats. Once the finish is thoroughly dry I carefull wax the entire blank, rod wraps and all with two or three coats of fiberglass wax and the rod is ready for service (very hard use in my case...). I've also done this with one Thomas & Thomas Horizon blank (an old 10wt that I built more than 15 years ago) and I've been very pleased with the results. I completely re-built it leaving only the Powell reelseat from the original build. A word about the blanks used to build fly rods -any that come with a nice color are still just slate gray graphite (or carbon fiber if you want to use the European term) underneath... That's why any nicks or scrapes will show the graphite underneath... That lovely old T & T rod went from a green color to standard graphite color as the result of the re-finishing process... No wonder so many would far rather just send a rod back to the manufacturer. That's a luxury you just don't have if you build your own fly rods (and one of several reasons all the fly rods on my skiff are factory, not custom built (which sounds better than homemade...), at all...

 

Hope this helps. I was lucky enough to learn most of what I know about rodbuilding from pros in the south Florida area. The fellow that taught me the finer points of building fly rods in the late seventies and early eighties,Abe Gaspar, worked at the old Uslan rod shop (Nat Uslan, the founder, built five sided split bamboo fly rods instead of the standard six sided that you normally see...). The young guys in that shop were always building new and innovative stuff. That shop is long gone but shops like it still do high level work if you can find one...

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

(954) 435-5666

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Hey silver, can't quite see from the picture but looks like the spiral shrink tape wrap was still left on too when they cooked it, some rods I have seen like that and I enjoy the look.

 

The spiral shrink wrap impression on the "ridged blanks" is sanded off on the GLXs.

 

Flyfisin'Jam is referring to an un-sanded ridged blank. Here is the cellophane tape being applied before baking the rod blank. Once the tape is removed after baking, the result is a ridged blank with spiral ridges of resin above the graphite fibers.

 

legpage_7.jpg

 

 

"When the resin in all the blank sections is done curing, the blanks are ready to be turned into castable fly rods. First, the mandrels have to come out of the blank. “We use a pneumatic pull press and a specially-sized die that exactly fits the butt of each different blank section,” explains Johnson. Next, the tape is removed from the outside. For natural-finish rods, like Scott’s current G2 series or Orvis’ older Clearwater,the ridged blanks go straight through to production. Most rods, however, are sanded at this point. Orvis’ Rosenbauer explains that there’s no performance difference one way or another, but most customers now prefer “shiny rods,” so the manufacturers usually oblige. However, sanding is a delicate process that requires a lot of skill (take too much off and you’ll weaken the blank)."

 

 

http://www.itinerantangler.com/podcasts/2011/06/from_scratch_how_fly_rods_are.html

 

 

 

http://midcurrent.com/gear/how-fly-rods-are-made/

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