picked up and old school Star Rod, Could use a new finish. Any advice on this? I paint cars for a living, can i just scuff and clear it, or does it need something particular?
Not sure how auto finishes/clear coats hold up on flexing, bending, twisting rods. FlexCote is used by rod builders for sealing wrapped guides and rod finishses. Matte or gloss to consider as well.
Good luck with your project.
If you sand down the blank and remove (or smooth out) the old finish you can use Flex-Coat or similar 2 part polymer coating to refinish the rod. Problem is that if you are doing the whole rod, there isn't a spot to support the front end of the blank on a turner as the whole thing needs to be coated.
I have done this on a few rods and it worked well: Use saran wrap or a plastic bag and "smear" the coating onto the blank so it is real thin and won't drip or run. Stand the rod upright near vertical and let it cure. I'm sure you can appreciate dust free conditions and a clean oil free working surface. Might need 2 coats depending on how the first one goes. Sometimes a rod will suck-up a lot of the coating depending on how oxidized the fiberglass or graphite is. Doesn't need to be thick, just shiny and new. Won't crack or craze, just like the coating on guides. If the old finish on the rod isn't too bad, flex coat can hide a lot of the scratches and dings without it having to be stripped completely down to fiberglass.
Good luck.
Perfect, thanks for the advice. I'm hoping to just tape the roller's and reel seat up and just give it a quick refinish. I feel like it's a great rod, just a little bit aged. No need for a full on rebuild.
The auto finish is probably not a flexible finish and will crack. Use Flex Coat which is a flexible epoxy finish for rods that bend. You will need to rotate it to prevent lumps and bumps for a couple hours.
Flexcoat is not a good choice for this. CPXtra or U-40 Permagloss are a much better choice. They are one part urethane and made for this. I personally use CPXtra from Voodoo Rods.
I believe it was CP extra recco'd to me by Bryan for this exact purpose. I have a Star and and a few Int's that have the haze. I'm going to hit it with maybe 1000 grit wet dry and then recoat, just haven't gotten to it. Re turning the rod, I'm going to do it in two shots so I can move the front support around, using the end of a guide wrap as the transition zone. There's a dip there anyway so if I overlap finish coats a mite it won't be noticeable. Keep us posted on this; you will probably get into this before I do.
J