Hello all. This is my first post and I want to say thank you to everyone who is kind enough to share their knoweldge. A special thanks to Tom Kirkman for writing and publishing such wonderful information on how to build a custom rod!

I am currently working on what will be my first build and am desinging it specifically for smallies. I am building this for myself to suite my style of fishing (wading) here in Indiana and I have a few questions. Some are appearance related and others are design related so here I go :)

1. Can you stain or enhance the color of cork rings?

2. How do you match the ID of metal ring inlays to the OD of your cork ring handle?

3. Is it advisable to try to inlay feathers onto cork?

4. When the reel is seated on the completed or assembled rod, should the point of balance rest somewhere above the the center of the reel arbor on the rod?

5. What are the advantages/disadvantages of a longer rod?

I am using the following items to build my smallie spinnin' rod:

St. Croix SCIII 60MF or 66MLF
American Tackle single foot holo guides (HZTV)
Size 16 reel seat
Custom built split grip handle and fore grip

Thanks everyone and keep up the good work!

I'll throw out a few ideas and let others toss in more. I do quite a bit of fishing for river smallmouth and find that a longer rod enables me to move more line on the hookset. After moving from a 5'10" rod to a 6'4" rod, I find that it is very rare for smallmouths to throw the hook anymore. My advice would be not to go too short on the rod length.

Unless you plan to build a very long rod, balance should not really be an issue. If you keep the guides near the tip of the rod small and light, it's unlikely that the overall rod balance point will fall anything other than back near the reel, probably just in front of it. I don't think you'll object to this once you give it a try.

You can inlay feathers or other items onto the blank, cork, etc. The only thing to decide is how you want to go about doing it. Use the search feature of this site to look up terms like "inlays" "cork" and "staining" and I think you'll have more information at your fingertips than you can digest today.

..........

John Bunner - Since your e-ddress is HIDDEN, I can't convey this any other way. I hope it doesn't dampen other RBO fellows' enthusiasm for Replying to your very interesting questions. My apologies about that risk.

John, this may be your first Post, but from your questions, it's obvious you have put a lot of thought and study into your rod-building & design plans. No other Replies (all dates). Registered 01-26-06. So, if you've been a sideline-gallery Reader at RBO for a day or the last 7 years, I have no idea. But Welcome to the active side of the RBO Forum in either case.

At the risk of seeming pedantic, let me give you a little Newcomer Tour to RBO, just to make sure that you are aware of the many tremendous resources that are available here at RodBuilding.Org (RBO) in addition to the main Q&A Interactive Posting FORUM

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An entire adjunct website dedicated to displaying photographs of the incredible handiwork of RBO rod-builders. It also has a Keyword Search Feature, and is organized by various Categories and also features a User Gallery. You can enter one person’s name, and can see thumbnail photos and links to their pictures. (It sorts by FIRST name) It’s really something.

RBO “SPONSOR LIST” – at LEFT-hand-side of every RBO Page
These advertisers provide the funds that make the RBO website possible.

There are various Author-Publishers of some great Books & Videos. These are available from many of the RBO Sponsors at LEFT. It is their advertising subscriptions which provide the funds that make this RBO website free (and the Moderator Tom Kirkman’s philanthropy).

In my opinion (IMO), getting hard-print copies of the Manufacturer and / or Supplier Catalogs is well worth the effort. I find it easier to look thru a Catalog than to click thru several webpages, especially among different brands & vendors. No computer required.

One other tip: If you become interested in retaining a copy of webpage information, the “Click & Drag” Text selection Feature of your PC mouse can be used to COPY out text and PASTE it into a new *.DOC file on your local hard-drive. Storing pages as *HTML may include a lot of clutter. You can literally, in a few weeks or months, amass enough knowledge and text to write your own rod-building Primer. Or at least a Folder filled with notes dealing with your own rod-building questions. (“It just don’t get no better than this.”)

It looks like you have chosen a great blank for your smallies, and are off to a great start for a first rod project. Enjoy your Rod Trek!

Best Wishes, JB – Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****

John, you missed one thing. Will it be a spinning or casting rod?? That will make a big difference in the suggestions that you eceive.

Mike

Feather inlays can be done on the cork. You can do it in a recessed area that you make in the fore grip or just lay them on top and put rod finish over the top of the whole fore grip on yer spinnin' rod.

When the recessed type is done, the background can be colored by adding a pigment to some finish added in there and then the feather inlay done over that to provide a contrast and a frame to the inlay. The clear finish topcoat can be just over the recessed area or can be over the whole foregrip.

When doing the recessed thing, I like to angle outwards under the surface of the cork to help prevent the inlay from ever coming out of the cork. Of course, if finish is put over the entire foregrip, this wouldn't pose a problem.

[home.comcast.net]



Putter
Williston, ND

1. Cork is wood. Decide what colors of wood stain you like, go to the local hardware store and buy a few small cans, and try them out on some cork rings. NOTE--Since the stain will only be on the outer edge of the cork rings, you can still glue up the ones with the "wrong" stain on them, as you'll turn past that portion when you make your grips.

2. I'm not really sure what you're asking here. Sounds like you need a good set of digital calipers to figure out i.d. and o.d. I don't know how large your hands are, but a 16mm seat is generally too small for most men's hands. I'd go with at least a 17mm, and more likely, an 18mm seat. My favorite seats are the DNPSD seats in sz. 18. I mount them downlocking, with just a touch of cork behind them.

3. You can do it, but you have to coat it with something hard to keep from "scraping" off the feathers inadvertantly (usually epoxy). I really don't like the look of high-gloss cork (which is what you get after coating it with epoxy), so I've not tried to inlay feathers over cork. The split grip area is a fantastic place to do some nice thread/feather work. Might as well--you're not going to use that area for anything else.

4. This rod will be light enough that I wouldn't worry about balance. As Tom said, use light guides near the tip, and the balance issue will take care of itself.

5. That 3S66MLF has enough length and backbone to do exactly what you're wanting to do, IMO. You can go to pretty light line and use a sweep set, or you can go up to some heavier line and really cross their eyes.