I was fiddling about on the internet and found this interesting article by a custom rod builder describing, amongst other things, the variations in pre-preg quality available on the market today. He also describes what is meant by a "carbon blank" and how certain blank manufacturers use this term loosely.
By reading this you will begin to realise why rod builders such as Sage have achieved the standards they have.
It is a fairly technical article but worth reading.
http://www.davidnorwich.com/CarbonFl...Fallacies..htm
Mario Geldenhuys
Smallstream fanatic, plus I do some other things that I can't tell you about
"All the tips or magical insights in the world can't replace devotion, dedication, commitment, and gumption - and there is not secret in that" - Glenn Brackett
Mario
Ok. When I've finished with Tolstoy's "War and Peace"
I only posted that excerpt to show that blanks are not all the same wrt quality etc.
What intrigues me more is the centerless grinding technique used to make mandrels. A 000 mandrel has a very fine tip, as you know. Imagine the mandrel for that.
If the materials are stored in subzero temps, to prevent deterioration, will no further deterioration take place, once it has been baked?
Or how much will take place over time in sunshine and high uv conditions?
Korrie Broos
Don't go knocking on Death's door, ring the bell and run like hell. He hates it. (anon)
Nymphing, adds depth to your fly fishing.
Nymphing, is fly fishing in another dimension
Korrie
Epoxy laminates all suffer from UV degradation. I have seen exposed GRP pipelines that look like cotton wool! The sun had "eroded away" the outer resin leaving fibres exposed.
A UV stable paint coating is applied to epoxy/carbon blanks to protect them. Similar paint to automotive.
(On certain blanks that I have used that came from NZ, this paint film has sometimes been applied inconsistently with darker and lighter areas - not good)
In my industry, all the UV protection is GLOSS.
Now I wonder.
What finish is this UV stable paint coating?
If we rub of the "gloss finish" on the rods, are we not damaging the protective coating?
What about the matt rods, that looks like they have not coating?
Or is the UV exposure of a rod, so small (fishing only weekends, plus the rods wave thru the air etc) that the consistent UV exposure is to small to worry about?
Korrie Broos
Don't go knocking on Death's door, ring the bell and run like hell. He hates it. (anon)
Nymphing, adds depth to your fly fishing.
Nymphing, is fly fishing in another dimension
Korrie
AFAIK the UV protection is not a function of being matte or gloss, but rather of the inhibitors in the paint itself. If you sanded a rod or blank to remove the paint, you would end up with a matte black finish. This would be the exposed carbon fibre laminate and in this form it would be prone to rapid UV degradation upon exposure to sunlight.
Sanding the gloss paint to achieve a matte finish would be ok. We used to do this on our custom windsurfers without any noticeable problems.
As an aside, I found a PU spray (matt clear) at BW. Spraying this over a gloss rod instantly converted it to matte and reduced rod flash. Quick and easy.
As a student, for pocket money, we flogged a mat spray for the TV screens.
Worked like a charm.
Took the glear of the screen, and you could watch it from all angles.
Made some beer money with that.
Korrie Broos
Don't go knocking on Death's door, ring the bell and run like hell. He hates it. (anon)
Nymphing, adds depth to your fly fishing.
Nymphing, is fly fishing in another dimension
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