kengore,

There are a lot of gawkers and not many talkers. You are the only one out of over 100 viewers that replied

Thanks for confirming my suspicion about the flash. Actually I was "fishing" for a better way to do this. On inexpensive graphite rods I have created a stealth finish. I worked my way up to something that worked by trying common abraisives.

These didn't work:

Soft Scrub
Comet
Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound
Scothc Brite No Scratch Pad

Since it was a cheap rod, I also tried etching it with lacquer thinner and mineral spirits. Hats off to Rhino, that didn't work either.

This finally worked:

Scotch Brite Heavy Duty Pad

There's just enough grit to dull the finish without aggressive scoring. The pad provided a good way to apply pressure evenly. Wetting the pad controls the dust nicely.

Some day I will give steal wool a try.

PS I was glad to see that the Cortland Rod I just bought came with a matte finish blank though the wrappings are shiny epoxy. Oh, well.