I just made a rookie mistake and had to strip off a lower guide and work on the butt area. Frustration would be the word. Halfway through cleaning epoxy off of the blank I realized that I'm just getting practice at guide removal and blank clean up! Suppose screwing up and fixing mistakes are the only way anyone gets better. This build has been frustrating, but fun and I've learned a lot. Hope the rest of this one and the next one goes better! Off to tie flies and take a break



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2011 04:24PM by Matt Wegener.

I think we have all been there Matt. Just learn from the mistakes so they don't get repeated. Good luck!

The frustrations of rookie mistakes are the closest thing I've found to a cure for rod building addiction (closest, but not curative). Was recently building up a St Croix and had a winding check that was too big and sat about 2mm off the blank in front of the foregrip. But rather than wait 2 weeks for the correct size to be ordered in, I thought I'd cover the gap up with a few layers of thread. So, after spending a few hours binding all the guides on, I began winding layers of A thread up to the check. On about the 4th or 5th layer - crack!! Apparently thin graphite rods don't stand up too well to the pressure of multiple layers of thread and ended up with a small crack in the blank just under the foregrip bind.

Anyway, a very expensive lesson about not underestimating the pressure thread can exert!

I have what used to be a very expensive Allstar blank in the basement before I accidentally cut too far into the blank about 9 inches from the tip. Now it's gonna be used as a practice blank.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Dave,

Why do you only have one practice blank? I have several. I`ll never tell you why neither.

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

You all are fantastic. I'm feeling much better about it after sitting at the tying bench with a buddy and working up a batch of parachutes. Got to thinking that it took a few years and hundreds of flies to consistently and quickly turn out good ones. This time around the same mistake will not be repeated, maybe another mistake, but I'll learn from that one too.

I should correct myself. That is one of my practice blanks. My basement rods would make an interesting picture.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Photos, please, Dave

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Mark Twain
John in Wethersfield, CT

How much tension did you have on that thread? It actually squeezed the blank until it cracked? With out flexing it or anything?

Matt,
Folks normally don't learn anything from a perfect job.
They only learn, if they have made a mistake that they have to go back and rectify.

Also, by going back and doing it over, it is almost certain that the person won't make the same mistake again.

Good luck and continue learning every day.

Roger

Hi Les,

It suprised me too! Can't easily quantify the amount of tension I had on the thread, just to say that it was a normal for me, and certainly a fair way off the breaking strain of size A thread. The crack happened while binding, so no flexing was involved. I guess it just came down to an overload of multiple pressures (i.e. bunch of small sticks being so much harder to break than one stick) pushing in from all sides. Same thing happens when multiple layers of thread are bound over a length of EVA - the foam steadily compresses in. I doubt you would run the same risk with thicker walled blanks, but it was a hard lesson, and am feeling a bit lighter in the pocket because of it.

Wavy finish, bubbles, fisheyes, mounting the reel seat/tip top out of line...it's all part of the learning process. Thankfully I was able to recover most of my mistakes by stepping back and looking at what I did...then I'd come to this site and run a search. Chances are, it was discussed here at some point in the past.

I did lose a couple weeks of my life this past winter when I couldn't decide on what kind of decorative wrap to put on a rod I was building...I got started on one and cut it off because I didn't like the look. Then I misread a pattern on a second one and had to cut that one off too. After about 5 tries at it, I finally settled on something I liked. Every time I had to cut one off, I always tried to keep mental notes on what I did so I wouldn't make that mistake again.

I don't consider myself very accomplished as a rod builder yet, and I always learn something new when I come back to this site...it's all part of the journey...

Dane,
If the crack with a simple linear crack that ran up and down the rod, I don't think that it is necessarily a big deal.
Peal off the thread wraps that you have on the rod.
Take epoxy and work it well into the crack. Use a bit of heat to further thin the epoixy a bit.

Smooth so that there are no ridges left in the epoxy.

To be completely sure that you would have no issues with the blank would be to take another section of rod blank material. Use a longer piece, so that you would be able to ream it up into the affected area of the blank from the open butt of the rod.
Do some trial fits, and sizing of the blank material, so that you will have a nice fit on the inner part of the blank, when the repair piece has been worked into the affected area of the blank. Now, without cutting off the extra blank material yet, coat the rod blank repair section with epoxy- also use a smaller rod or piece of blank to coat the inside of the blank, do a trail fit, to be sure that the blank still fits into the right area. Then, chop the excess butt section of the repair blank material, insert it up the butt of the rod, and push it home with a smaller rod, or piece of blank material to insure that the blank material stays in the right place. If you do this internal repair, before doing any overcoat with epoxy, you will see a bit of epoxy squeeze out of the cracks that are in the blank. Go aheand and do the overwrap - not too tight on the rod, and finish as before and go use the rod.


Good luck
Roger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2011 02:43AM by roger wilson.

I have actually gone back and re-done some of my original rods. I sitll kept a few of them around as a reminder of how far I have come. The 1st rod that I built, I somehow managed to align the guides around 15 degrees off from the reel seat. Don't beat yourself up, practice, read, and then practice some more. Good Luck!

Steve

Steve Bro
(BroCo Custom Rods)

Thanks for the advice Roger. Might give that a go.