Name your poison

[Owen]

Just wondering what products everyone has settled on for their rod building in terms of Brands of colour preserver/thread sealer, thread etc etc.

Also what you have found that doesn't work.

e.g.
I was told by one well known rod builder not to use Jack Erskines rod finish.

With the amount of time & effort & money we put into a rod, an extra $10-20 for the right finish etc is nothing if it produces the goods.

[Stuart]

Gee mate you don’t want to know much do you. I use Aftco, Fuji, and as for coating, well that stays with me. What CP do I use? well I don’t use this crap, it fades and washes out your colour in around twelve months anyway. I would like to see any rods built after 2 years were the colour hasn’t faded. Some finishes are better than others, as for Jack Erskines stuff, well I would avoid that at all costs. As a matter of fact, any high build coating system should be avoided as all costs. I don’t know any other industry were you can buy a product to coat in one pass. I mean look at the automotive industry, try and paint a car in one go. To this day I can’t under stand why people spend hours building a rod to go and chuck one coat of high build doodoo on it. Most if not all my rods get a minimum of 6 to 9 coats, chair rods get around 10 coats, bait caster’s and spin rods get around 7 coats. Guess what, I don’t have any problems what so ever with my coating. No bubbles, no sagging, no footballs, not a thing goes wrong when you take your time and spend a few days coating rather than 5 minutes.

Stu

[Owen]

Gee mate you don’t want to know much do you.
Yeah, I know. Trouble is when you're getting into this sort of stuff & you're not in the big smoke your options are limited. Helps a lot if you can sort the wheat from the chaff straight up.

[Bearclaw]

Hey Stu I hope you stir your finish as well as you stir the rest of us.

[roz]

I'm one of those people who use erskin's products, not because I hold an opinion on it's quality, but because that is all I can get, except for 'speed' brand and I won't go there.

I've just been given some samples of 'flex coat' in both thin & high build, I've applied one coat of the thin to the rod I am rebuilding, so it's too early to give an opinion, besides that, waiting for a year or three to see how it stands up to a bit of UV and all the other treatment a fishing rod gets.

As for erskins, I sometimes don't get a good result, but that could most likely be the user not the product.

I have formed an opinion on erskins water based filler, I will give you that opinion when I see you, but it's not good imoh.

Because of my lack of experience, I would never recomend one product over another, but I will say, you get what you pay for.

If you are putting in a lot of effort and time with a wrap and binds, you may as well use a finish that helps show off your work & keep it looking sharp and colourful for a long time.

I know my epoxy application is letting me down big time. I need help in that area but with guys like Myles,Stu, DR,volvo on this site, we should get somewhere.

Sorry I have'nt really answered your question Owen, but with my lack of experience, I would only be putting my head on the chopping block.

cheers r.

[Owen]

Sorry I have'nt really answered your question Owen, but with my lack of experience, I would only be putting my head on the chopping block.
cheers r.

All experiences are valid.
Sometimes when I'm selling welding gear I will recommend a different product depending on the experience of the operator.
I know product A will give the absolute best result, but only if the operator can handle it. If they don't have the necessary skills I may tell them product B is the way to go for them.