first time builder

[hangar]

g'day guys n gals. i'm in the process of rebuilding a rod (2 piece surf)I've made some rollers from bits n pieces and have finished the butt. it looks pretty good except when i applied colour preserver the bindings seemed to expand and boy did i have a hard time fixing them.question is do i need to use preserver. it helped to lay a solid base for the second wrap but still it was hard work. any thoughts would be welcome. the rod is a conoflex given to me from a friend.wraps are basic black on red with some introduced colour hilights.some of the black ended up a bit smokey i dont know if this is air bubbles or the preserver. take care.ive already learned a lot from the forums here

[finga]

Any pictures of the problem?
Where are you??
What thread and what colour preserver did you use?

Good on ya for having a go too matey :D

[sid_fishes]

pic,s are always good at this time mate. as scott has said , what thread and colour preserver was used?and as you have said smokey i would say the the cp has not dried yet. but as all the world knows i could be very wrong .
sid

[sandyd]

What brand thread are you using? I had the same problem of the thread expanding and I put it down to the thread I was using as there was no other explanation as I did not change any other factor in the process. As for the smoke if does suggest it has not dried. If the purpose is to give an even surfice to put your next layer try applying a thin even layer of apoxy.

[Stuart]

It sounds very much like you have used speed thread and a water based preserver. If not speed thread then it would be a cotton based thread for sure, polyester or nylon threads would never sweal using water based sealers. Can you tell us what thread you are using?

Stuart

[hangar]

thanx guys.yes it is speed thread (fuji i think) and erskine cp.i'll get some pix organized asap.as it is i'm quite happy with the rod being the first i did not hold too high expectations.i have about 3 more rods in the garage that i intend on rebuilding hopefully getting into some of the fancy threadwork on the way.i'm also using erskine epoxy for finish on the wraps wich has been a nice even clear finish.i have just got on to the rod works site and find some good products,seems all the tackle stors here stock only erskine products & speed thread.any recomendations on thread & cp/epoxy would be very welcome thanx again. i live in bonbeach victoria been fishing since i was a nipper

[fishermen fred]

been using flex coat highbuild seems very easy to use and not to many bubbles, coming from a beginner.

Chris

[hangar]

got some pix for you to look at.see what you think.like i say i'm pretty happy with the rod overall. A little bit of practice and some good advice and i'm sure i can make a buet rod.ive been looking at some of the rods posted and i am amazed at the effort that you all put in to them good on ya's.the last pic shows the prob.chears

[Stuart]

Hangar

Your thread work looks fine to me, nice and neat and bound tight. I would advise you not to bind to far up the leg of the guide as seen in the second photo. Your coating won’t hold or cover this thread to well and will allow water under the thread and guide foot eventually leading to rust. In the last photo it looks as though you have dumped too much coating on in one go allowing for bubbles to be trapped in the coating, that’s what it looks like to me. Don’t take this the wrong, its only constructive criticism to help you out. In the future, I would use thin coats allowing a day between coats to dry enough before placing the next layer on. Remember it has taken you hours or even days to build and bind the rod, don’t rush the last stage of coating.

I reality you are far better off using a thin epoxy rather than a high build, you get better results, more penetration of the thread, it will flow better and you will get better and more controlled coverage plus it will last much longer than one heavy coat.

Stuart

[hangar]

thanx stuart i'll take your advice on the next section of the rod,i have done the base wraps on it and have work out putting on the colour preserver a section at a time across the wrap and leaving it to dry dosn't allow it to loosen.a little bit time consuming but i wanted to keep going with same materials used on the butt hopefully will finish the top section of the rod (if i get time)this week . cheers. peter