I was curious as to the quality and action of the Mud hole unsanded blanks.
They have these listed in their catalog for $4.95 each. They claim that they are in various lengths and actions.

I ordered two of them and found that one still had the cellephone on the blank along with the resin ridges.
The other one had had the cellephone removed, but still had the ridges on the blank.

I put each rod in my rod blank lathe, and then used my semi orbital sander, starting with 100 grit paper going down to 500 grit paper. It took about 10 minutes per blank to clean them up and put a finish on the blanks that were very similar to the G Loomis IMX blanks.

When I checked the actions, I found one to be rated at about a medium light and the other one to be rated about a medium - medium light. i.e. a touch stiffer.
The tip worked out to be about a fast action. I think that these blanks will make terrific Walleye rigging rods.

When I weighed the blanks - each blank has ended up being 6 1/2 feet after trimming the butt and tip to a good lenght - the weight was only 1 1/2 ozs each. This weight is quite comparable to many blanks on the market that sell for about $100.
It will be interesting to see how the rods are, once they are built.

However, if you want to do a bit of work, it seems that these blanks represent a pretty good value.

Take care
Roger

my second build was on one of these blanks. i didnt sand or finish the blank, left it as is. It has a differnet look which I like.

split grip casting rod with no foregrip and alconite guides with a simple spiral wrap. I use it mostly for small spinnerbaits and buzzbaits for bass and really like it for that.

I picked up a couple to play with. My junior high aged son used one to build his first rod. Has been used extensively catching pink salmon in Alaska. Has been a great deal!

Pesco Ergo Sum

I buy those and the already sanded ones for rod extensions and rods for my nephews. My wife has two rods built from those blanks. Also these are the blanks that I use for Laker ice rods.

Honestly, they are sluggish for my tastes so I don't particularly care for them except in my ice rods. They are much nicer than anything my nephews have ever fished with. And my wife really can't tell the difference between them and an IMX. So its all a matter of perspective.



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Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

I would bet they are the shakari's

No, the Shikari's were first quality, painted and sanded, models.

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I got the 3 I ordered. 2 were around 7', with different actions, 1 fast, 1 moderate or so, light or med light power. The 3rd I like! It's just over 6'6", #7 tip, and is much heavier power and maybe a mod fast tip. It seems close to my St Croix's I have. That one is going to become a spiral wrap rod for bass and fluke as a tryer rod. My uncle isn't convinced that the spiral wrap works, so I will loan it out to people to try out a spiral wrap. With thw Fuji Alconite guides, Deluxe trigger seat, I'll have like $40 into this rod only! The other two blanks will prob become reamers for foam arbors and short light rods, 5' light action or so for trout.

The cello is only on one of the blanks as far as I can tell, and the ridges are prominent. The tips aren't square, and the butts have some chips in them, so I will be trimming both ends slightly and sanding them down. Not too shabby for $5 and I get to try other parts of rod making (trimming blanks, sanding/finishing them). Plus I get some more reamer materials, too, which is why I got them in the first place.

Todd, any more of the heavier blanks around??? :)