I've seen pic's in the photo section of fly rods with epoxy tapered from the blank up to the reel seat or fore grip, to make a smooth transition. I tried this with less than impressive results .Where can I go to learn about this technique. This Forum is a wealth of information. Thanks in advance
Ken Blevins

I've done several and have a few pic's of them on my site under the "Rod Building" area. Copy/paste this url in your browser:

[duanerichards.proboards23.com]

It's really easy to do:

Put on one coat of epoxy to seal the reel seat ends, let dry. After sealing the ends mix up your thread epoxy and put the rod on the dryer turning and LEVEL. Add the epoxy to each end and build the ramps up as much as you can (it will drip off, once it drips stop adding). Now the waiting game.....keep a check on your epoxy, and as soon as it thickens up nicely, but hasen't gone so far that it won't level out, add the center of the ramp with the thickened epoxy. You want the epoxy to be thick at this point and just add it to the center of the ramps and watch it level out and help it along in doing so. Once you get the ramps the height you want you're done. Let the rod spin until the epoxy is totally dry.

Its really easy. Try it once on a junk blank and you'll get the idea of how it works and that will help you do the 1st rod well.

DR

Ken,
I just did one (sort of) on a split grip bass rod. But, what I did was build a very small taper from two corkrings that I wrapped with black thread. I slowly built up the finish (about 5-6 light coats) to make the transition from the reel seat to the blank incorporating a hook keeper. Email me if interested and I'll send you a pic. Randy.

Ken,

Here's what I usually do - Put my rod in the dryer (or turn by hand) and put a gob of 5 min epoxy where the blank joins the seat. Raise the tip a little to get the ramp angle that you want. The turning of the rod will give you a nice smooth ramp right to the edge of the seat. Just wrap right up the ramp and when you get to the top, just put a small dab of Super glue to hold the tag in pace and tape the end out of the way. Put finish on and when it's dry, trim off the loose end flush. Makes a nice looking transition.

You can also just add some pigment into the epoxy to get the color you want and skip the thread and jusst put a hook keeper wrap where it meets the blank, to hide the transaction. I saw Ralph Oquinn do it with Rod Bond in Charlotteusing his finger to shape it. Worked perfect for him but,. as much as I love Rod Bond, I can never get it smooth or concentric unless I use 5 min epoxy


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!!