Does anyone have any method or ideas for drawing a line straight down a rod blank? My idea was that if I could draw such a line it would make lining up the reel seat and all the guides and tip much easier then eyeballing everything. Since a rod blank is tapered I don't think just lying a long ruler along the blank will work. It would be off to one side. Any ideas?

Do the eyeball and rock and roll.

DR

If you don't want to do the eyeball thing then you may want to consider a laser for your wrapper. I believe eyeballing it would be easier and certainly cheaper.

I made one with scrap wood and a piece of 1" alum. angle iron. Using my dremel tool with router attachment I routed a 1/4in groove on the on one side of the board that the rod will lay in. Then attach another board at right angle. You can then lay the rod in the groove and place the angle iron on top and backed up to the board. I had to put a shim on the backside of the angle iron to get it to line up on center. This works great as a rod clamp also. I just use a sharpie to write on the blank. It comes off easy enough with alcohol

I always get the light that i have that shines down on the rod and follow the line that the light makes on the rod, it makes lining up the guides easier and when i tweak them before i epoxy it makes that also easier. Tight lines!

Go to the hardware store and buy a laser leveler that they use for hanging pictures. It will shoot a straight line when laid on the blank.

I put the handle and seat on then line the top with that then line the rest with the top

maybe you could tape a bright colored thread or fly line to the seat and line them up that way.

After the guides are on I go outside -- better light ---and adjust them

Bill - willierods.com

Bought this

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I would think that for the laser thing to work your blank would have to be very straight. The one's I'ved use aren't.

I eyeball everything also, but as my eyes get older I have thought about getting or making a center finder like the one Barry Thomas has. There was an article on makeing one of these in RodMaker Vol. 12-5.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

I bought one of those and almost never use it. I never could hold it just right to get a good line. It's probably just me, but it may take some practice. You have to secure the blank down to a flat surface and hold it very vertically straight while working with it.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

I just chuck the blank in the lathe and mark as needed

That is what I was going to suggest only you can make one out of a piece of scrap wood about 2 1/2- 3 inches square. drill a 1/4 inch hole in opposite corners with a little piece of dowell pins in each one. Drill a center hole large enough for a china marker. Place over rod blang, twist so both dowell pins touch the rod and bingo, just slide down the blank.

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

Yeah bill but if you let it lean ever so much one way or another your line will not be straight. I made one out of scrap oak, it looks exactly like the one Barry Thomas linked to except you can't see through the oak. I can get a pretty good line with it but not good enough to place the guides. Besides that 95% of what I build is spiraled.

Where there is a need, someone on this site always designs a way. Someone up to the challenge. I eye ball mine in the end but during the process I use the light mounted above method.

James Newsome Wrote:
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> I would think that for the laser thing to work
> your blank would have to be very straight. The
> one's I'ved use aren't.

I think the laser would show just how "not straight" alot of blanks really are.

I eyeball it...that does not answer your question.