help
 

Im working on my first rod and essentially finished; only another coat of flex...
I put a decal on and when i went to epoxy the edges came up. as the rod was turning i kept attempting to press the edges down but this only led to frustration and in the end the edges still didn't stick.
is there any way to fix this? I was thinking about taking a razor blade and removing the portion that didn't stick. any other options? any way to prevent this from occuring on the next rod I build?
thanks

did you put one coat of the epoxy on before you put the decal on?
you should.
I am sure others have their own way of doing it but this is what i do and i have had zero troubles..
I put on one coat clear, wipe the area with alchohol, I use a tiny pair of tweezers and carefully grab the very corner of the decal, place it down, and rub it on very well, from the middle out to the edges..
Then clear it again..
Possibly the decal you used was old or something, poor adhesion..

thanks, i didn't put one coat on first. after the fact i was wondering if i should have. the decal was brand new, just got it the other day from M&D's.
I'll try that on my next rod.
luckily it won't change the performance of the rod, it just makes it look like sh*t.

What king of decal? Stick on or waterslide? If waterslide, you need to cp the edges to prevent what happened.

i think it was a stick on? not sure what a water slide is.
it had adhesive on the back.
i put some cp on the entire thing, as i thought i had read somewhere that many decals will lose their color with out it.

I never use cp on stick ons. Probably why it lifted.

If in fact that sticker has lots of dead space around the fish, by all means slice it off with a razor. don't worry about how the flexcoat turns white after cutting it.the next coat will make that disapear.

if it has a black background,,it to will turn white,,hit the edges with a black maker, then recoat////clear background,just recoat///white background..your on your own.

thanks, i just finished...it was a clear background and i cut the edges and recoated, ill see how it comes out in the morning. wet, it looks pretty good, i might need one more coat and i think it will be all set.

You coat the edges with color preserver and let it dry. then the epoxy solvents can't get under the decal so it won't lift at the edges. If you want . you can coat the whole decal with the cp but just around the edges will prevent it from lifting. This is a common problem for beginners BTW.

thanks for the reassurance.
It is coming out okay, im not 100% satisfied, but its the first time through. Everything was drying nicely and the errors were being covered by the epoxy, until the rod loosened in the bracket and came off the drying motor:smash: :smash: . (thats what i get for going at it mcgyver style i guess.) on the second coat some of the epoxy sagged quite a bit. I was trying to heat to soften the epoxy so it would run smoother, but no luck, it had dried to much.:whackin: :whackin: :whackin:
I'm going to try to neaten up when i get home tonight.
its my first rod and a birthday present for my fiance, the first rod she has owned, so i need to get it looking pretty by tues....:biglaugh:

Been there Done that. If it sagged a lot, let it dry a few days and sand it flat while spinning on the lathe, be careful not to hit threads. It'll look like crap after you sand but after you apply a new coat of finish, you'll never know. Good luck.