This evening has just been one of those days. I finished up wrapping a Christmas present for my brother-in-law's nephew so he can deliver it later this week. The build is an MHX SJ783. It's a pretty sweet little blank. Had I ordered the SJ783 for myself instead of the MB782 a few years ago, my brother-in-law probably wouldn't have a custom rod yet, but when the MB782 wasn't what I was looking for, I knew it would be a fantastic casual fishing rod for him. This build was a great chance to try out a few new toys, one of the new 2-spool CRB thread carriages so I no longer have to move supports out of the way while using my aluminum track, a new epoxy mixer, and a new dryer chuck. All of those devices are pretty nice, and I'm happy with them.

To start off, when I began working on this rod, I went to the garage to finally bring in my thread box for the first time since we moved in the spring. Well, I discovered a mouse found its way into the box and peed all over just about every spool of thread I own, including the Sulky blue metallic that I planned to use on this rod. Knowing the lead time would be too long to get some metallic in on time, I went to the craft store and found some Gutermann blue metallic that was a better shade than my Sulky. The Gutermann thread is a wee bit thinner than size A nylon, and handles quite well, but the color is very fragile. I couldn't pass it through the eyes on my thread carriage and had to pull directly from the spool, and I could only perform limited burnishing (something that happens with a few of the metallics I've tried over the years). However, it is not very springy and handles very nicely on the wrapper. I should have known it was going to set up to be one of those frustrating builds.

Well, today I finished wrapping the running guides, and naturally a couple of them fought me tooth and nail. It happens, every once in a while a guide or two likes to give me fits.

The next step was preparing for finish. I had the MHX spec decal laid down (and it laid down perfectly) for a few days. Well, I bumped it with my burnishing tool passing by and scuffed up the MHX logo. This isn't a huge deal, I thought, I'll just pull it off, request a new one and install it when his niece and nephew are in town over the summer.

As a last minute addition, I had my wife use her Cricut to make a name decal for the rod. I pulled out a fresh bottle of CP that I was smart enough to order knowing mine had been stored in the garage and was likely bad. Well, I didn't get the bottle mixed up well enough and it didn't lay down nice, and had clumps of solids deposited when it dried. I had to clean up that decal area and try again. All went well.

Finally, it was time to finish the rod, put it on the dryer and call it a night, or so I thought. I plugged in the new finish mixer and mixed up a batch of epoxy, and it was looking great. I found that height of my thread carriage was just about right and in the right spot for a steady rest, so I put the rod in the new dryer chuck, and wouldn't you know it, after testing several times, the motor started slipping and wouldn't turn the rod consistently. Since I picked up a new finish mixer, I had a duplicate motor of my dryer motor from the old mixer. I plugged it in, and that motor started to turn. So, I swap out the the motors, install the chuck, and wouldn't you know it, that motor started slipping too. It wasn't the case that the chuck wasn't installed properly, you could feel when turning by hand that teeth must have broken off of one or more the pot metal gears inside.

So, now, I'll be burning the midnight oil turning the rod by hand. At the end of the day, the finish is doing its thing and will come out pretty nice, but man, what a day.

I guess the rod building gods are telling me its time for a DC variable speed motor for my wrapper/dryer.

Sometimes projects are one step forward and two steps backwards. It’s all about correcting, coping and keeping keeping on.

It must be the mood. I had a long day wrapping a rod that did not want to cooperate. I had two guide wraps come loose during the epoxy. I forgot to adjust the eyes util I had glue on the guide wraps. My bad! A little patience goes a long way. Got it all correct and the rod looks good.

I delivered the rod to my sister and brother-in-law this morning. They were thrilled with it. I'm sure it will be well received by its new owner.

Joe,
I never have issues, let alone problems while building a rod… yah, right! Don’t feel rained-on; it must happen to all of us. If it were too easy, everyone would be doing it. One of the worst things to happen is what Danny experienced = having thread wraps go “boink” while applying finish; bad enough when the wrap unravels prior to finishing which can just be re-wrapped but it is a true test of perseverance and craftsmanship to save it after the epoxy is being applied. The test of a true craftsman is to turn a mistake or mishap into a better end product!
I am glad everything turned-out OK… for both of you.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Can't tell you how many times I called my rod building buddy or he called me to vent because something didn't go right or something was forgotten. It's part of the game and we have fun laughing about our mistakes.