Tom-

I just bought your book...Anyhow, I see how nice it is for cork sanding and also to put the masking tape on the blank for the real seat. I saw these two techniques in the flex coat video and figured that it would just make life easier. Are people still using masking tape as a spacer or filler between blank and reel seat. I found this odd...What do you pros do?

Thanks,

Many do still use masking tape for their reel seat bushings. In some situations that's fine, but in others there are simply better ways to do it. The Flex Coat foam arbors are about the fastest and most secure method for mounting seats, but you can do a search on this site for something like "reel seat bushings" or "reel seat arbors" and turn up a ton of ideas to consider.

.........

I may be odd but I just can't imaging sanding or turning in the same place that I wrap. When I sand or turn, the amount of dust, etc is amazing!

I used the same lathe for sanding/turning cork grips and for finishing for many years. As long as you're not trying to do both at the exact same time it's not a problem.

........................

My Partial List: of Tools

Vee Blocks with Velcro tie-down for all serious butt wraps and guide work. Customer not present.

Thread tensioning devices made from 1/4 bolts, springs, washers and self locking top nuts.

Personna Hair Shaper with single edge extra length super sharp blades for thread cutting, vertical blank scraping, removal of finish stick ups after first coat.

High end cuticle nippers for close trimming all metallic threads on trim wraps and metallic pull unders.

Dremel tool with 3,213 attachments

Medication storage area. Cooler for beverages. Wine Rack & Corkscrew.

Rat tail files, set jewelers files, tweezers.

Shop Vac, Paper shreader, garbage compactor, large jar vaseline, invoice pad, cash box and change.

Rod Bond, 2 Ton Epoxy 15 min, Superglue, White Glue, Contact Glue, Donger Adhesive, Bottles of each of the major Finishes, Color Preserver and large bottle of Advil. Tapp Pigments. True Oil Stain, Finish and Conditioner. Nylon Flock.

3/8 inch stainless or monel rod about 9 inches long for roll burnishing.

White plastic odd looking thread packing tool from suppliers. Propane torch and cigarette lighter.

9 inch wooden dowell with small hole in the end for narrow trim bands with metallic thread.

Cuticle Pushers nylon and plated steel fror thread packing. Dental Pic, Plastic Chopstick and miscellaneous pairs EZ of squeeze scissors serated and non serated.

Plastic cups for finish mixing - cheap hard bristle brushes disposable for finish application - aluminum pans to pour mixed finish - cutting pliars to cut tips of brushes off to use as finish stirring sticks - wooden popsicle sticks to stir and mix expxy - toothpicks (You will figure out use)

Paper towells, narrow trim masking tape, wide masking tape, denatured alcohol, Goo Gone, Marine polish with Teflon. Plastic Plano Tackle boxes for components and parts storage.

Small shop lathe for outside work. Reamers for cork work.

Task light, additional lights in shop, heat in shop, air conditioner, vacuum , large magnifying glass. Shelf for Rodmaker Magazine and Vendor Catalogs.

Buckets with styrofoam cut out in top for blank storage.

Additional storage bins for all the excess tip tops and blank exposed seats you will end up with.

Spools of each available color in A, D Nylon and A, D NCP. Additional room in house for thread storage.

Telephone number and directions to his shop of nearest experienced builder. Radio for nerves.
Comfortable chair or stool to get you to that just right elevation to properly see your work area.

After you have figured out how to use all of the above and realized just how much is missing from the list you should then consider an "electric weaving machine".

Pac Bay Rod Wrapper With Chuck Upgrade - You Table is too sort - Underwraps, Sanding Grips, 200 RPM finish Application, Buffing Cork Grips During True Oil Application, Round Edges and Shaping Landings on Preformed Cork Grips, Final Shaping Preformed Grips, Drying Finish and Shop Image Enhancement.

Building permit for additional space to all of the stuff you have!

Decision on Chicken or Egg - All this or more blanks and components?

Develop manual skills before buying rod wrapper then you will know what you really want. I have built over 200 rods in a year on a set of blocks.

Welcome aboard and make arrangements somehow to meet all of us and see this stuff in action at Charlotte. All of the above can be observed in the Photo Area of this board. Search on Tools.

Have a nice day!

Gon Fishn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2005 10:38PM by Bill Stevens.

Mike B- Go to Home Depot, spend $40 on a Rigid Shap Vac. Whatever size you can get for $40, will be perfect. When you sand, clamp one end of teh sandpaper to teh edge of teh vac hose with your thumb, hold the other end of teh paper with your hand, you'll sand and ALL, and I mean ALL the dust will go straight into teh vacuum. The Vacuum will work even better, if you turn it on, lol.

Seriously - I sand everything where I wrap & where I mix & apply finish - I NEVER have a problem with dust. Nevernevernever (jinx!). My drying box is directly above where I sand - tehr eis no dust anywhere sinc eI vacuum it all up the minute it goes from: cork, EVA, Hypalon, graphite, FC arbor, butt wrap epoxy - to dust. And when I'm done, I vac up all teh dust that fell off the different grits of sandpaper onto teh bench. Everything stays clean, even though I'm a slob.

Even with a dust problem, does anyone really think anohter person is going to notice a few flakes of dust in teh epoxy - quicker than tehy will notice bumpy epoxy or gaps in teh thread, or just general slop on the rod?

Billy, My wrapping area is a disaster bench full of tools parts, thread and numerous things that I have no idea where they came from or why they are even there!! Rather than actually clean the area everytime that I vacuum/sand,etc., I have my lathe in another room (which is also a disaster!) next to where I wrap



Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

If you have the luxury of another room for that dirty work, or can roll a lathe outside to do it, that's even better. But if you have to do it all in one place, you can do it with good success. I think I still have a photo on the photo page here of my first lathe bench with built in dust collector nozzle hooked to a shop vac. The nozzle can be postioned anywhere along the lathe bed.

..........

I want to be able to make saltwater bay rods, offshore kingfish and snapper rods.

I am thinking of getting a flexcoat hand wrapper [shop.mudhole.com]
Is this a decent choice, also what dryer should I get? Can I get a lathe later and just by premade cork handles for now.

What dryer can I buy....

If I bought an electric wrapper, can any be used as a wrapper, dryer, lathe, finisher? Just curious seems like an electric wrapper you can apply the adhesive if it is run real slow.....Can you still do hand wraps with electric if you go that route.

Thanks,

The Flex coat hand wrapper is an excellant choice and it, and numerous home made versions are very popular.

The dryer is a crap shoot. Everyone has different preferences in speed ranging from 2 to 200 rpm. I have 3's and 30's and still do most by hand I have pretty much settled on the 3 when I use a dryer and sometimes I use the 30 for repair jobs. You can very definately use premade handles but you might take a look at a Grizzley hobby lathe for cork/EVA work Great little unit and complete with drill it's well under $100. Handy light and portable. [www.rodbuilding.org]
Depend on the wrapper. When you know exactly what you want, do some homework aned ask for opinions from people that have them.

Personally, I would always use a separate dryer, so that I can be using the wrapper while I have something drying. You don't want to tie up a very expensive lathe for hours while the finish on a repair job is drying!
Not sure what you mean by finisher but if you mean applying the finish, you can use your wrapper but you can use a dryer, or like most (I think) apply while turning by hand (which you need to do anyway when filling tunnels, wicking excess, etc. Don't make it an more complicated than you have to!!
If I were you, I'd read Tom's book twice, get some components and start building! I think you are concentrating way to much on equipment that you may or may not even want or need. You have no way of knowing until you build some rods. You can't depend on anyone else to tell you what you need. You have to learn what works for you!

Keep in mind that NONE of the equpment you are considering will enable you to make a better rod!!! If you need any help, feel free to shoot me an e-mail

Mike

Well, for what it is worth this is my opinion on hand wrapping versus power wrapping. I went to a Renzetti 3 years ago. After having wrapped 3 yrs on a hand wrapper and 3 on a power wrapper I will say a hand wrapper is like using a hand saw compared to a power saw,btw i am a carpenter by trade. The power wrapper is like having a third hand to me, once you get on to one of these machines there is less thread packing. Today i would buy the renzetti bed and three rod supports to start out and add the rest later if you wish. Hand wrap on that awhile, tension your thread through a book or whatever. I think it was Jesse Buky said if you learn on a power wrapper you don,t have to learn later how to use one. Yes there is a learning curve to these machines and i love mine. Imho. John