Chip in rod finish

[bronjuan]

Hey all,

So I got my first good ding in one of my rods the other day and I was wondering if I should do anything to it.
If so, what product would you use to fill in the ding?

Thanks

Bron

[TieFlier]

There isn't too much you can do about a ding if its in the rod material itself. It would be advisable to replace the section with the ding, to avoid an equipment failure down the road. One way to check if the damage is serious or not is to flex the dinged section close to your ear. If you hear any sort of cracking while doing this then the damage is pretty bad and the section should be replaced. If you don't hear anything you should be ok to use the rod but be aware of the damage and keep an eye on it when in use.

Carbon fibre or graphite is a very interesting material when you look at it. Once it has been cured and set to its final shape it can't be altered without added significant flaws or weaknesses to the structure. This means that carbon fibre or graphite should not be cut or sanded without putting cracks into the material. Once this material is damaged is very difficult to repair, if not impossible right now. (sorry to get technical on this next bit) All graphite and carbon fibre rods are made what is essentially and carbon fibre fabric that has a polymer resin embedded within it. At this stage the fabric is very pliable and tacky. To create the strong stiff material we see in our fly rods the fabric is formed around a mandrel and cured in an autoclave (an oven that controls both temperature and pressure) at a certain temperature and pressure conditions specific to the kind of carbon fibre and resin being used. During curing the polymer resign solidifies and the polymer molecules become crosslinked. This means that once the resign is "cured" it is so bonded to itself that it can't be melted easily as it would burn before it melted. When final structure is cracked or damaged either the carbon fibres have been broken, the polymer resign has cracked or both. If another material is added to fill in the crack it could make the problem a bit worse. If the fill material is not able to flex the same as the rod it will cause a stress concentration at that point during use. This will cause the damaged area to grow and eventually break the rod.

I hope this helps you out. Try the damage check i mentioned above, but if it were me I'd be looking to replace the rod section.

[bronjuan]

It appears to be more of a chip in the clear coat, not necessarily graphite damage. Does that change the scenario?

[TieFlier]

Yes that does change it a fair bit. I don't think the chip will be a big problem for you as it shouldn't cause a major failure. I'm pretty sure that the clear coat could be reapplied which should remedy the problem. I'm not sure how to go about this though, perhaps someone else can chime in here.

[Dfisher]

If you are not very fussy about the repair job, but just want to seal the chip in the clear coat, apply some clear nail polish to it. Another alternative
would be to put some UV activated product like "knot sense" on it. Soon as you take it in the sunlight it sets the finish.

[Speynut]

If its just a chip i the clear coat, get some Permagloss rod finish and give the spot a few swipes with a coffee filter lightly wetted with the permagloss. Allow to dry for an hour and repeat. I use this method to refinish entire rods and it works great.

Colin