You know it's a bad day when you pull this manuever... I was in a bit of a rush to finish a rod for a friend of mine late last night. Instead of using my rod wrap finish on a weave that took me six hours to complete I had a brain cramp, grabbed my 5 minute epoxy and went at it. Needless to say it didn't go well. I scraped off the epoxy as fast as I could but to no avail. I am now a very unhappy camper. I'll do what I can to salvage my work but has anyone else have experience with this?

Ouch dude, majorly ouch! It's always when you're trying to finish something quickly eh? Had one of those moments with 5 minute epoxy a few days ago. Had an inlay ready to glue into the butt cap, already recessed, nicely centered to the grip, prepped, ready to glue in. Mixed up, put on the epoxy, then glued in the plate. Wasn't till an hour later I realized it was 90 degrees out of rotation, with the head of the fish pointing straight up to the back of the reel seat, instead of horizontal, facing left. Then had a brain fart and tried heating it with alcohol lamp. Burnt the cork. Tried to cut it around the edge and prise free. Took a chunk out of the edge. Was going to cut it off and start again, but made another plate, trimmed out the burnt and damaged cork sanded and cleaned up, then glued it in right on top of the first. In the right position this time. Sweet!

Then there was the time I used 5 minute on a tight fitting skeleton reel seat........... out of alignment, not by too much. Usable, I thought, and proceeded with the rest of the assembly. Fished the rod, or rather, took it on a trip. First try strapping in a reel, the out of wack alignment broke the glue bond, and the seat insert. Doneskis.....put it away, walk all the way back to the car for spare rod.

That's pretty gutsy-admitting screwing up that badly. And forgive us, a little funny. I, on the other have never made a rod building mistake. Now that's funny

Considering all the stuff written on this board about why not to use the 5-min stuff, I'm surprised anybody would try such a thing if they have followed the discussions here very long. Guess you're a believer now.

Hahahaha, yeah..... but I didn't put it on thread...

The two efforts above were just a couple of unreal screwups. The insert in the butt cap only needed taking down before I put finish to encase it, just had a total mental blackout and forgot to spin it to the right orientation.

As for the seat... well now I have to come completely clean. With a mind to using 5 minute to glue it all up and just temporarily wrap on the guides so I could fish a couple hours later, I had the seat insert reamed to fit exactly, no great amount of sliding into position. It sat nice and tight. Split grip was already glued on with the proper stuff, and fully cured and set, so I figured assemble the seat, pop it on, then speed wrap. Such decisions are made against all logic and experience when the fish are on!!! Downlocking, no foregrip. When I tightened on the reel, the fixed hood broke free of the cork insert and the EVA split grip and spun. Insert stayed put, threaded portion of the seat stayed put.

And after walking back to the car for the other rod, I found I had 5 minute epoxy in the bag, along with the spare tip tops I always carry as well. So carefully pushed the hood back into the EVA to uncover a few millimetres of cork under it, then put some epoxy in there and pushed it back. Cleaned it up an made sure it was straight: lucky temporary fix. Spent the night pulling on GT's, tarpon, flathead and groupers. When I got home the whole thing went into hot water and was disassembled. Redid it the next day with slow set.

Hey Chris....It is totally amazing that I too have never made a rod building mistake, Just like you . Now all I have to do is catch that person who sneaks into my shop when I am gone and messes with my stuff. He does do it less of late but he has been around for many years, maybe if you like I could get him to drop by your place sometime. LOL

Mark....My condolences !!!! Murphy's law has been around for a long time. As a brand new Rod Crafter [thanks to Dale Clemens] I read a article by a person in their publication about keeping ALL adhesives completely seperated from your other rod building supplies, and to date this sneaky person I have lurking around has not found out my secret to mess with me [with adhesives that is]

Do not feel like the Lone Ranger ....SAYYYyyyyy I wonder if that guy Tonto is the one who has been sneaking around messing with me ????....Mind sending me your address Chris ???? LOL

Tight Lines
Tight Wraps
Fishin'Stix by Fred



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2008 10:32AM by Tom Kirkman.

Hey Guys,

Think of the poor guys that engrave the receivers and checker the stocks on $100,000.00 Holland & Holland double rifles and shotguns!!! Thats the last thing, like rod finish, that is done. Nerves of steel and the patience of Job.

You can't rush quality!

Keep 'em turnin.

Charlie


PS: Yep. I messed up a few times too.

Mark,
I had a similar situation.
I had built a pair of ultra light rods for a good client. All finished up and shipped out.

The day he received the rods, he called and explained his concern.
I had aligned all of the guides and tip perfectly, but they were all about 20 degrees off set from the reel seat.
Apparantly for the one and only time, I had aligned all of the guides on both of these rods, wihtout actually putting a reel in the seat during the alignment. It was late and I apparently thought that I would be fine by setting the guides by feel.

I also tried to heat the guides to rotate them to align them with the reel seat. Unfortnately on both rods I used too much heat in one spot and ruined the guide.

So, then I had the pleasure of building two new rods at my expense of materials and time.

I will say that I have never made that mistake again.

Check several times - glue and or finish once.

Roger