Anyone had any experience with these? I just ordered one of each to see what they were like.

I have built on both. For a beginning build or for an inexpensive setup. They are ok. They seem to me to bave some blemishes, slight flaws, bad tips or butts. I have had trim the tip and butt on a couple. For the money, you get a good value.

Kyle Robinson

How was the action? I'm building them for me, so looks isn't high on my list as long as they perform well.

I go though about 10 - 20 a year. I use them for repairs, parts for lengthening rods and building reamers,testing wraps and thread colors, finishes,drying techniques, testing inlays, blank cutting techniques, glues, you name it.
I have joined three cut up ones together in parallel to make a sabiki rod where the baitcaster reel pays out the line down the inside of the top blank.. Glued an old guide ring in the cut off tip to reduce wear.
At $4.99 each, hard to beat the price.
I even built 3 i sanded down for a buddy on some trimmed out ones using components salvaged from a bunch of factory rods he backed his truck over.
Good to practice on and make fishable sticks.

Action:depends what they send you.
Some are short, thick at the butt and very thin at the tip, others are more slow action almost the same in the butt as the tip and over 7 ft long . You either ask for what type you want or what you get is the first thing that came to hand. Some are 5 1/2 foot long and good for bluegills some are 7 1/2 ft and suitable for cat fishing the Mississippi river.

I built one on the unsanded version. Kinda like a grab bag special kinda thing. After having to trim the tip and butt I ended up with a 6'8" rod that I built for my wife. I ended up sanding it down which didn't take long. Painted it with some testors black model paint. finished it with a couple of coats of Minwax Helmsmans Spar Urethane, Wrapped it and it actually looks pretty good. The ended up being around a medium power moderate action. Not sure if they are all the same thing. Really not bad for what you pay. Mudholes CRB blanks are really good for what you pay also. just my 2 cents.

Mike

As Lou said, I also use them for repairing busted rods. They make good sleeves for this. Also they will very, depending on what you get. Be open minded, experiment.

Mike, how did you sand yours? I hit mine lightly, gave a coat of epoxy. But I would like to sand, and maybe paint. I have used 1200, then 2000 wet sand.

Maybe we should put some grape juice in the paint. Start a new fad!

Kyle Robinson

I'm confused. I have built on several "sanded" and "unsanded" Mudhole blanks, one of the most recent being a sanded blank marketed as a Mudhole surf blank, built by Lamiglas, and identified as such in the packaging. The blank was flawless, as far as I could tell, and fully up to Lamiglas' excellent standards. The purchase price was considerably more than $4.99, but I got a top quality blank at an extremely attractive price. Just what type of sanded/unsanded Mudhole blanks are you buying?

Phil here is the link to what every one is talking about.
[www.mudhole.com]

Kyle, When I sanded mine down I did it by hand with 150 grit sandpaper. Real slow, it was one of the first rods I had done. I was worried about heating the blank up if I went to fast. I just sanded it till the ridges were gone. Didn't take much at all. I think the link says that it comes with cello tape which had to be removed. The particular blank I recieved did not have any tape on it. I then trimmed the ends, wiped it several times with denatured alch. to remove any dust. Installed a tip top and gave it a couple coats of paint and urethane. Then wrapped it.

Interesting Mike. I would have thought it would be tought to find paint that would flex enough.

In my opinion anything you get from Mud Hole will be a good experience for you! I have built rods on the Mud Hole blanks with terrific results. I built a rod on a CRB blank that the customer told me it was the best rod he had ever owned. Im really impressed with their MHX blanks that they are carrying now. For the money you cannot beat these blanks!!

Brad Hetzel

Mike, I'm still confused. I have the 2010 Mudhole Catalog here before me. It has 46 pages of different blanks for sale, and 100 blanks or more are listed on many of these pages. So far I'm unable to find any blanks listed under the heading "sanded [or] unsanded Mudhole Blanks." Could you provide a page number where the blanks being discussed are to be found? I have enjoyed Mudhole service, products and prices for several years, so I might well buy some of these inexpensive "sanded/unsanded Mudhole blanks" if I could find them and read a description.

You can get to the Mud hole site by "clicking" in the Sponsors list on your left. Then go to the Blanks: /Mud-Hole-Custom-Builder-Rod-Blank: /Sanded-Unsanded-Graphite-Rod-Blanks page.

Phil,

I don't believe I have ever seen them in their paper catalog... I posted a link to the page 2 or 3 replies up that will take you right to the page. Hope it helps.

For helping a newbie build a first rod they are terrific. For catching about 2 gazillion salmon in the hands of my children they have been wonderfully resistant to abuse. If everything provided that service for the buck... !

Pesco Ergo Sum