I am was burning the midnight oil last night putting the last coat of flex coat on my niece's fly rod. This morning, everything looked great so I proceeded to wipe it down. For some reason the flex coat down by the hook keeper was not only tacky but flat out sticky. I had the road resting against my pant leg and discovered the problem when I realized I now had a fuzzy wrap!! Insert your favorite expletive here.
In the past I have used a bit of acetone to smooth out a smudge in the flex coat before it set. I discovered acetone to be extremely harsh and St. Croix blanks in particular don't like it so I used some alcohol that I bought on a suggestion of a fellow rod maker. I was just hoping to get the fuzz out of the finish so I could redo it. Well I got it cleared up so it looks nice and then got called away to take of something more urgent. Three hours later I check on it and not only does the wrap look pretty good but the flex coat was no longer tacky. So did I stumble upon some ancient secret to set a tacky finish or should I expect the rod to self destruct in 30 seconds? I think at this point I am going to pack it and deliver it tonight and let my brother know that I may have to come back up and redo that section. Thanks fella's!! Mike W
