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Waterproof Finish

John Torchick

John Torchick

Joined
Jan 24, 2010
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Location
Cleveland, Tennessee
Need some help here. I am in the final stages of a custom fly rod. I turned the reel seat out of a piece of blue pine. What should I use for a waterproof finish? I have Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil that I have used for gunstocks. I also tried BLO and CA glue as I had seen a demo for penmaking using these elements, alternating them on the lathe; about four coats of each. My finish looked lousy. Gummed up in big globs. Liberal doses of acetone cured that! I did note that my CA was a medium consistency. Your help is most welcome.
 
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John,

Some have success with BLO / CA, but I haven't managed it yet. Try just using CA and apply several coats. I use both thin and thick consistency CA on my pens and they turn out well.

Best of luck
 
John Epoxy is the best finish I know. If you want to know how to apply it talk to Ed Lewis at the chattanooga club. He is an expert at that finish.
 
For bowls, I like wipe on poly on blue pine. It's a challenge to keep the color clear, so something real colorless is important. On an insert, WOP would also be OK especially with its UV inhibitors. The CA without an oil based product would be OK but possibly a little slower curing than when you can use an oil (I use Truoil instead of BLO on pens and inserts if I don't mind a little darkening) Your friend Steeldrifter uses thread finish on his inserts, which would be very colorless though a little softer than CA.

Dean
 
Hi, Dean! I used Tru-Oil on the first insert (which was too short and had to be cut off). It did darken it but still looked good. I might use Tru-Oil again and experiment with other finishes.
John, I'll call Ed and see what he says regarding the epoxy finish.
Thanks to all for your help.
 
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