Hello-

I'm building an Austin All Star 9' 8wt and an Austin All Star 9' 6wt. Both are two piece rods. The first rod is for my father and second for myself and I would hate to ruin such nice blanks with bad judgement. Both will be equipped with Struble U-1 real seats. I've got a series of what to me are questionable areas that I'm hoping to receive some advice on and I'll list below. Please feel free to comment on any or all of the following:

1. The I.D. of the wood inserts are quite tight to the butt of the blank. I am planning on using masking tape bushings. What would you recommend as the minimum amount of space I should allow for epoxy? I would like to open up the inserts to what ever is best. Also, I have the option of using PC-7 (that I just purchased) or Flex Coat Epoxy from the kit I built my first fly rod on. Would one be considered more suitable for real seat work?

2. I am having trouble finding the spine of the tip section of both rods. It seems that the spine does not follow a straight line from end to end but it is more likely my inexperience. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help you can provide and to Tom for such a great resource.

Steve Erickson

If the inserts are tight right where you want to install them, that's a good thing!
No thread or masking tape needed!

I recommend the graphite or Flex-coat arbors. I rarely use masking tape and even then
for very shallow arbors.

Never used PC-7

If you work on it you will find the spline but if you can't dont sweat it.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Steve,
The Allstar Elites are great blanks. I suggest aligning the two sections so that they are as straight as possible. Orient the rod so that the tip and butt are higher and the belly slightly sags. Many find this to be a better solution than relying upon the effective spine.

Rod Bond is the choice of most rod builders for all grip and reel seat bonding; and for good reason. Not only does it give you plenty of time to make final adjustments but when fully cured it remains flexible. It cleans up easliy with Isopropyl Alcohol and other solvents and it is strong as a bull. It also permits removal of a seat or grip by use of a hot watr bath. (Protect the item in a plastic bag)

Rod Bond is the single best product in my entire arsenal of rod building supplies. Once you start using it you'll wonder how you did without it.
Dave

I would not use PC7. Maybe rod bond or flex coat rod builders glue would be a lot better. Why do you need bushings if the the insert fits tightly already? I am a stuborn old Basque and still use masking tape bushings. I have never had one fail in 28 years of rod building. By the way, I have an Allstar 9 wt. that I simply love to cast and am in the provcess of building a 6 wt. Thanks to Andy Dear I now have an arsenal of fly rods for bream to bone fishing. You will love those Allstars.

Steve Erickson wrote: “I would hate to ruin such nice blanks with bad judgement.”

SHORTER ANSWERS:

ANS–1: Given what you have proposed, you might not “ruin” the project if you use the “wrong” epoxy (too viscose an adhesive for your tight-joint fitting), BUT you can reduce the risks of a muff-up by switching to the best epoxy available for this situation: ROD-BOND. Rod-Bond has superior holding power and has a more lubricating viscosity than PC7, without R-B being so thin that it flows out of the joint under gravity while curing, or lets the part shift or sag under its own weight while the bond is curing.

ANS–2: You can orient the rod axis (of spine or curvature) to your line guides and the plane of (casting or fish-fighting) in whatever fashion or at whatever angle you see fit. It’s actually fairly arbitrary. And often of more consequence academically than actually.

You might like the FlexCoat Adhesive Epoxy for gluing tip-top tubes to the rod-tip. Even ROQ prefers not to use Rod-Bond on his rod-tips, because Rod-Bond is not easily broken by heat. A rod tip glued with Rod-Bond often requires the amputation of the rod, because the actions needed to remove the tube may result in damage to the rod blank.

Good luck, Steve Erickson. … <[email protected]>
-Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2006 02:06PM by Cliff Hall.

DELETED - CMH+++



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2006 03:21PM by Cliff Hall.

Thanks for all the advice. I guess I will put off going forward with these rods until I get some Rod Bond sent out. Oh well, the fish will just have to wait.

DELETED -CMH+++



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2006 02:59PM by Cliff Hall.

To Steve Erickson - Your e-ddress is "<[email protected]>"

My attempts to Post my "Longer Answers" version of my responses, which has more explanation & rationale than the "Shorter Answers" version, has been blocked by an "Internal Server Error 500"

Apparently, as Tom Kirkman once explained it to me, there is some combination of words in my text which either seems offensive to the Server, or has some similarity to a spam e-mailing string of words, or a is like a site-hacker's cracking code. I cannot locate the text in question, so I can't Post any of it in a way that makes any sense.

If you would like to read it, Steve, send me your e-ddress and I will send you an MS-WORD *.DOC (if the file will ship), and / or an in-body text e-mail.

In a word, Go "Rod-Bond". Search RBO for "SPINE", then use your own judgment on spine / curve orientation.

-Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****
E-ddress: "Clifford M. Hall" <[email protected]>



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2006 03:51PM by Cliff Hall.