A friend asked me to build a rod for his son.

 

I placed all the guides, wrapped them, and applied the first thin coat of epoxy.  Looked good, but there were a couple low spots so I used syringes to measure out some more, thoroughly mixed for six minutes, and applied the second thin coat.  Initial application looked good.  I left it overnight and came back in the morning.

Imagine my dismay when the second coat was totally out of whack.  It didn't look like it levelled itself at all!  High and low spots all over the place!  I'm using pro kote and used the same technique for both coats.  It all came out of the same bottles.

 

 

I apologize for the poor quality pic, it was difficult getting a good one.  Those little guys that appear like bubbles are actually separate high spots of epoxy.

 

Any ideas what caused it?  How can I fix this?  Do you think I could sand it down and re apply another coat?  Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend so time is of the essence.

I replied to you pm as well. From the pic here it looks like the thread isn't even covered yet. I wouldn't be sanding this. The one high spot is just the foot of the hook keeper which are kind of bulky. If that's two coats I'd just do a 3rd. It doesn't look early as bad as I envisioned. 

It's kinda hard to tell from this pic, but it looks like some of those high spots are stick-ups.  Like you get from a frayed spool of thread.  I've had wraps look like a cactus after the first coat of finish.  Half way through the spool, it just turned to fuzz.  Immediately in the trash.  It is salvageable, as said, with another coat.  Those hook keeps are hard to cover with 2 coats.

None of us can reliably call it from the photo, although it does appear to me that if you say the little guys are bubbles, then you are not doing the process correctly.  Before putting the epoxy onto the blank you should see no bubbles in it.  Any formed from the application can be broken by gently blowing on them or flashing it with a lighter (do NOT apply heat enough to heat the epoxy-I've done it and it sometimes makes the humps like I see in the photo.

 

If you have stickups from the ends of threads, cut them off carefully with a very sharp tool.  If the epoxy is NOT totally covering the threads put another thin coat on.  If the epoxy IS covering the threads you can sand off the epoxy, but don't get into the threads as they will fray and you'll have to do it all over again.

 

Pro Kote takes overnight or more curing so you may not be able to make your time constraints.  It has to be pretty hard before sanding.

 

If you don't like the drama of figuring out when Pro Kote is cured, then use Flex Coat next time.  Watch the video on the link below.

 

http://www.flexcoat.com/learning-center/instructional-videos/mixing-and-applying-epoxy-glues/

If your getting what you appear to be describing as fish eyes, where the epoxy seperates in areas. It can be caused by contamination in the first coat, or if your using syringes with silicone in them it will cause that. As well as thread designed for sewing can have waxes in them that will cause that. If it is the thread all you need to do is cut off a piece of thread a couple inches long and add it to the epoxy when mixing, this will condition the epoxy and help eliminate the fish eyes.

It looks to me like your rod wrapper is oscillating when it turns. I used to use a drill for mine and it did that sort of thing. Try and get it on a flatter surface. Also putting a halogen lamp on the guides helps the epoxy flow and set up faster.

I think it was a contamination issue.  Still trying to narrow it down.
 

I'll be wrapping up part of a broken blank I have laying around and try to eliminate some variables to figure it out further.

Ok I didn't see all the bubbles. A halogen lamp will definitely fix that.