For the past 3 years, I have been attending a youth and family outdoor show in the capacity of an exhibitor. I would take some of my custom rods and some rod parts and show the kids what went in to building a rod. Never did a formal demonstration.....until today. Here's the rest of the story:

I never read the label on a jar of Quik Bond until today. Did you know that it says "10 minute Rod Bond"? 10 minutes? really?

I found out 10 minutes isn't all that long while doing the demo today, outdoors, in 76* temps. It seems so much longer when you're in a nice quiet, cool shop with no one asking questions about what you're doing.

The wind didn't help either, blowing my bag of winding checks away and scattering my EVA grips on the ground. After gathering all of my parts and getting the butt cap and winding check set, I noticed the epoxy getting quite stiff......even stringy. Oh, no...better hurry.

NOOOOO, I dropped another part on the ground. Get the rear grip of the split grip set in place and I'm almost home free. Slide the reel seat on.....BACKWARDS. This isn't helping. get the reel seat almost in place.....just an inch more to go. WOW, this is hard. Had to place the butt of the rod on my chest and pull the reel seat towards me. Got it set, now for the foregrip. Need just a bit more epoxy on the blank. WOW, it's REALLY, REALLY stiff. Hurry up....slide the foregrip down and in place.

Now I gotta clean up the excess. Dry paper towel first....no good. I managed to glue Mr. Bounty to the blank. Alcohol, that's the ticket.....lots of alcohol. Wait a minute, this is a family outdoor show......not that kind of alcohol. Mr. Bounty is now drunk and doing his job quite well, removing the excess Rod Bond from the soon to be rod.

Having prepped properly, I had glued up another identical rod last night. After the epoxy incident, the wrapping went off without a hitch.

I'm thinking about taking my lathe next year to do a turning demo, but if I can't even handle something as simple as Rod Bond.....they better have the EMT's on stand-by!!

lol sounds like everyone probably had a good time though...next time maybe mix a little for the rear grip then mix a little more after you get the reel seat ready then a little more after that for the foregrip at least then youll have 30 mins available :)

Scott,
Your skills as a rod builder weren't acquired overnight.
Teaching requires time to become fluent in the requirements of your audience.
Your next demo will be much better than your first. The nervousness will also subside.
I've been teaching fly casting and tying for 20 years and can well remember my first experiences.
Looked more like a comedy routine.
Somehow we think teaching skills should be automatic even if our other crafts took years to "master"

Keep going and put your ego behind. You will succeed.

Gene

and learning from the mistakes that happened this time will help you with what you need to work on to get ready for next time

Suggestion

Have two rods One with the seat and handles Done
Another you can demonstrate how you put them on With Regular Rod Bond
This way you have a rod to show how to do the guides with handles on already
Have all the parts in bages already to be put on This way you take out just what you need and have weight on the bags so they don't fly around

Take your time it will get easier

Bill - willierods.com

I did have 2 rods, one glued up the night before and one to be glued for the demo. My concern was that regular rod bond wouldn't be set up in time to transport the rod home at the end of the day. Given the temps, i was mistaken. I will be using regular rod bond next time.

I always check and have the parts go at least 3/4 of the way down Even if I have to ream them This way they are snug yet not hard to put into place After several hours ( if you are careful ) they will be OK

You can always tape them in place so they don't move Just do not have them LOOSE

Or make up clamp to keep them in place On the Photo Page

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2013 05:45PM by bill boettcher.

Scott,

You didn't glue anything to your hair or clothes? Sounds like it was a roaring success!

Chris

I can see that

Grab the rod with 5 min on and can not let go of it ??? LOL

Bill - willierods.com