......to install that
......to order this

What are some of the worst things you forgot to do while building a rod, that you realized afterwards it was laying on your benchtop, or you were short 1 guide, or teh reel seat was supposed to by uplocking, etc.

I'm heading to work, but my first forget off the top of my head - a friend wasnted a light BTing rod for Fluking, GUSA SW70LM, Alcoite guides, EVA grips, exactly what he wanted in colors. A friend delivers teh blank, and gives me a call...."So Mike, how'd Gammie like it? > He loved it, it was light, perfect action, well balanced. >> Good, I'm glad. >>> Well, he was kind of confused as he swore he told you on a dozen occasions to wrap teh rod straight,, not Spiral."

Oh no, I forgot abotu that. He had told me in e-mails, phone calls, in person - and I always responded too bad, I'm doing it spiral anyway. I totally forgot about that request, as I was doing 4 other similar rods all spiral, I just did his the same way. Whooops!!

PS - before you wonder, he doesn't like the spiral at all, he ses no difference and really would've preferred it "normal".

My first spiral wrap - I spend hours figuring out the exact proper positions of the guides, the perfect degree of transition, perfect sizes - everything is great. So I mark the blank where the guide feet end, I get my Gold thread, do teh underwraps, epoxy, 2 days later I start wrapping the guides with Candy Apple Red towards the tip. Man, this is SWEET!! I finish the last 180 guide, and am about to do the transition guides.

Let's check the list: Guide spacing CHECK. Guide sizes CHECK. Position on the blank CHECK. What am I missing, something ain't right. I grab the guide, put it on the underwrap....and realize I have no idea where it goes since I wrapped over the mark on the blank. duh!

I've done the same when I used to mark the spine on teh blank - I found hte WORST spot to mark the blank, is right where the reel seat goes. If you cannot figure out why - it took me a few times to figure outmyself, so dont' feel bad. Reel seats are NOT transparant, you can't see the mark if you cover it with a seat.

At least those times I remembered to put the reel seat ON - once I was in a rush, and installed teh butt grip, made masking tape bushings, and put the foregrip on. That was a glue nightmare, as I was able to get teh grip off, but it dragged epoxy all the way to teh tip. I didn't bother wiping the blank off, I just put the seat on there, grabbed the grip, put it back on the blank, grabed teh blank!!! Oops, grabbed the other grip, Damn! Tehre were epoxy fingerprints all over the place. lol

I built a spin/fly combo with a tennessee grip shaped from burl cork, turned out great. I epoxied the grip on, admiring my work, then realized i forgot to put the phillipson sliding reel seat on the grip before glueing it together. I was lucky that the glue had not totally cured and i was able to get the reel seat on...but when i put it back together, i ended up with a nice glue line between the two parts of the Tennessee handle. I don't think i've ever moved that fast!!! LOL! I decided to leave it there since the rod was for me, just as a reminder to think every once in a while!

Have a great weekend

Carrington Tate
Durango, CO

Couple of years back I built this guy a baitcasting rod and he brought it back after his first trip with it and said the reel seat was not tight. Icut the rod into at the center of the seat and there was not a drop of glue in the seat cavity. Some how after fitting the bushings I left the seat in place and fitted the encapsulated grip and glued it in place, then finished the rod. Talk about feeling dumb! Jesse

Completed wrapping a spinning outfit and was applying the finish when I realized I had wrapped one of the guides backwards, with the foot facing toward the tip instead of the seat as the rest were.

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

THREE times I've glued up a baitcasting rod with a spinning seat. That's when the mistake was caught and I gave 3 guys great deals on a spinning rod while I hurriedly worked up the baitcaster properly for the other guys.

All happened years apart, but I've done it 3 times... what a loser! Even a horse only hits his head on the top of the barn door frame once and ducks every time after that...

Putter
Williston, ND

Ok how is it you always pick a subject that I have pulled a boner move on. I think somebody is feeding you info on my past screw ups. I landed a great deal from my travel agent(also a fishing fanatic like me) for 4 rods to fish in Baja. I had done some marlin casting rods for him in the past (about 5 years earlier) and they were the old honey colored Sabres and all he owned was custom rods wrapped identical so I matched his theme. He now wanted me to make 4 rods for trolling, 5 1/2 rods, Roller guides, Gimbals, long grips and the whole nine yards. Put the parts list together to order later when I got closer to his due date which was about 4 months away. I looked up his wrap colors and wrote them on my forms with all the other pertanent info ie grip lengths and so on. Well I had sorta gotten into a groove with my rod building and most everyone was now using black blanks. You got it !! I had these 4 beautiful rods done on time and handed them to him with a big smile on my face but saw confusion in his. I said: "what is wrong?" He said the color. I showed him the spec sheet from his other rods and assured him that the wraps were the RIGHT colors. That is when I found out that it was the rod. You see Sabre didnt make Black blanks in the old days and I just ASSUMED( we know the saying ) he had black blanks. I havent always been the luckiest guy when I screw things up but this time I was. He saw his color wraps on a black blank and fell in love with them. Bottom line: I got to remake ALL this rods over in black blanks. Phew!!!!!! He still thinks I did it on purpose.

Two words... winding checks.

I'm with Jesse on the non epoxied reel seat. When doing more than one rod at a time, I'd do say 5 handle assemblies. rear grips, epoxy reel seats, fore grips....one phone call or other interruption can cause minor "mishaps". Luck had it that the rod was very heavy walled. I ended up just drilling two pilot holes through the reel seat and blank, epoxy injected into the holes, and a couple stainless finish nails slipped through the holes, filed down flush. Probablly the strongest reel seat mount ever....felt really stupid though.

This is about as stupid a "I forgot" as ever happened. I was building a 9'-4 piece 10 weight for a saltwater fly man. Rod has 4 sections, right? well, I overlooked the butt section and glued the handle and reel seat on to the second section; nice looking 6 3/4 foot 10 weight!!!! now thats ignorant-gb-

Gene....thats a King Forgotten Friday Follie (LOL) But I can see myself doing just that with a 4pc 10wt. You must have been pretty upset after that one!!....(note to self: If I ever build on a multi piece- travel blank, when the blank arrives IMMEDIATELY put the blank together and Scuff up where the reel seat goes)....thanks for your fallability and honesty.

I came sooo close to doing the same thing Gene did , I went as far as Scotch Brite scuffing the 2nd section 'till I realized it wasn't the bottom ........... thank God for Permagloss. JHD

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