[VFB] Epoxy mysteries

[Tom Davenport]

Yesterday  I broke the tip on the Scott rod I made last year, and my 
first thought was "Dang, to get a new tip blank,  I'll have send in the 
whole rod and somebody else will  see the crappy epoxy job up close."

It was supposed to be my best rod ever, and it had  beautiful wraps and 
a nice burled reel seat, but the epoxy didn't cure properly and further 
attempts to fix the problem (while eventually successful), left it 
looking like road kill.  But it was a great rod and fished really well 
and became my favorite.  From a distance looked pretty good too... so 
I've always kept it at a distance!

Anyway, I'm building a couple  more rods as well as eventually wrapping 
the new tip, and would like you to share any epoxy secrets.  I know 
that equal amounts are required, and equal amounts were used with the 
batch that didn't cure. Why is it that the slow cure epoxy is so 
tempermental?  It seems like 5-minute epoxy will cure if ANY mixing 
occurs.

And if the worst occurs again, what is the best way to strip off partly 
cure epoxy?

Thanks, Tom