I've shed my first blood rod building and have sweated plenty but someone forgot to warn me about the tears. I was excited to finally be dipping the tip section of my first rod and I got everything in place. I purchased a 5'-0" length of pvc and didn't quite have enough varnish to fill the entire thing but I knew I had enough to dip a 3'-0" section. My plan was to dip tip first so I needed to figure out a way to hold the ferrule end while lowering it in the tube. I had an ingenius idea to tape a piece of string around the ferrule and into the varnish it went. I was on my ladder, watching the tip section submerge but I couldn't see good enough to stop at the tape and therefore tape, string and all got varnished. I didn't think of it being a big deal and slowly drew the tip out of the pipe and everything looked great (except for my blotchy wraps). As I was holding it by the string and trying to figure out where to hang it (I don't have a drying cabinet yet), the varnish released the tape and string and my tip section hit the floor and rolled around in sawdust. After inventing numerous new swear words, I wiped off all the varnish I could and hung it to dry. I looked it over this morning and it didn't look too bad so I will try to sand it this evening. I have since acquired some more varnish and a T12 tube cover to add to the pvc. Lesson learned!

That's a bummer. I've been known to invent a few new words at times like that.

Dave

we must work at the same place...slow day. thanks for the laugh...i've been there. I have dropped freshly varnished rods on the floor, slammed brand new tips section in the door on the way out to give the first cast, had children break rods before completion, and had splines magically flip inside out during glue up (note: have a bathtub ready to wash TB111 off in case a screw up). I'm with you...its a labor of love and well worth every mistake and blunder.

how else is one suppose to be a cranky old rod builder.

and for the record...every rod turned out and has its place in the rotation and you can throw a freshly glued rod in the bath, wash all the glue off, stick it in the heater vent for one hour at 75 degrees and reglue it with no problems.

after all....its just a fishin'pole.

Mine was when I was redoing a butt section with grip and reel seat installed. I was lowering it into the tank and the rod that the string is wrapped around to the motor slipped out of my hand.
by the time I grabbed it I'd varnished half the grip. Not to mention that the varnish did the lava flow over the sides of the tube. I wiped it down and later gave the whole grip a light coat of tru oil to even out the color.

Why dont you hang the tip sections from the tip top loop?