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The time to pop the grain with oil (BLO or Tung) is BEFORE any finish coats are applied. One coat of BLO will do quite nicely on the bare wood. Apply liberally, let penetrate for a short time (say a half hour). then wipe off vigorously. Let cure for a few days and apply your finish coats. It won't work to apply the oil over the film finish coats. Oil finish, BLO or Tung, need to be in the woo
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The best place to find experts on bamboo rods is www.classicflyrodforum.com
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The urethane in single part, consumer grade "urethane" varnishes, spar or not, is not nearly as UV resistant as the non-urethane varnishes, such as the marine spar varnishes such as Epifanes Gloss, Interlux Schooner, or Pettit's Captain's. In full sun they would outlast the Minwax junk by a factor of several times. The urethane resins in single part consumer grade urethane (or polyure
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I'd bet most of those Wal Mart rods do have a warranty. Everything sold by a merchant is warrantied unless the warranty is disclaimed explicitly and distinctively. That's also true of rods you sell made with unbranded, unknown blanks, unless you make it explicit and clear that you are offering no warranty.
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Gorilla Glue and similar polyurethane glues are not as strong as the alternatives. And, while the glue does expand with foam into gaps, that foam does not provide strength to the bond. Titebond and similar PVA glues achieve their maximum strength when clamped very tightly with a very thin film--easy to do when gluing cork rings together, but hardly possible when gluing handles to rod blanks. Ep
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You will find a bunch of guys quite knowledgeable about fiberglass rod values at
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This thread is a good example of faulty methods of pricing craft items. To find prices that produce the most profit is a much more complex process than accounting for the costs of production. The price you want is the highest price that customers will accept in great enough numbers to provide you with the amount of work you want to handle. This is a matter of assessing the quality of your pro
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Polyurethane wouldn't be my choice. It's abrasion resistant but not really all that hard--ordinary oil based interior varnish is considerably harder. In particular, polyurethane varnishes are more likely to have adhesion problems than other finishes--even multiple coats of the same poly can have problems if not applied in just the right window of time. You would be better off using a thin coat
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Tung Oil is a drying oil, and will cure to a solid. It's not as fast as Boiled Linseed Oil, but way faster than raw linseed oil. Tru Oil is polymerized linseed oil. Of course with any of these oils, they cannot be allowed to built a surface film because that film, even fully cured, will be soft. By the way, much of what is sold is not tung oil but "tung oil finish" which is an entire
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What's the origin of this blank? Is it modern or classic, did it come from overseas or a US builder? The reason I ask is that answers to those questions may make a difference as to the nature of the finish needed. For example, modern US built rods would almost certainly have been assembled with waterproof glues and the finish would be largely cosmetic--an impregnation with a light material suc
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When a finish won't stick to a substrate the best solution is to remove as much as you can before it sets up. Then coat it with a material that will stick and use it as a barrier to keep the substrate (and whatever has contaminated it) sealed away from the top coat. The finish that is most likely to stick to contaminated substrates is DEWAXED shellac. Then apply the topcoat which will stick to
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Virtually all wood lathes except perhaps the very bottom end, can accept a chuck as an add on. They thread onto the drive spindle's outside threads while the drive spur fits inside the spindle which matches a taper such as Morse no. ) Some drill type (Jacobson, etc.) chucks can be fitted into the lathe taper as an alternative. I like a scroll chuck mounted on the spindle which has a no. 2 m
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Until I can find an authentic seat for a bamboo rod I am restoring I have an aluminum seat that I would like to install over the origfinal wood arbor that remains on the rod. My question is how to attach it. My first thought is 5-minute epoxy as being relatively likely to be removed by modest heat--that would be unlikely to damage the rod. Now I'm having second thoughts. Any other suggestion
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As far as using paper towels--don't use the standard kitchen type, they're the ones that leave lint. But the blue Shop Towels have dramatically less lint. More expensive, yes, but worth it.
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Bill's got a point. An article about how easy it is to build your own rod certainly doesn't help out builders trying to make a few bucks making custom rods. You want to see articles that talk about the fine points that only skilled custom builders can accomplish in order to make rods superior to what can come out of the mass produced factories.
Forum: rodboard

Bill's got a point. An article about how easy it is to build your own rod certainly doesn't help out builders trying to make a few bucks making custom rods. You want to see articles that talk about the fine points that only skilled custom builders can accomplish in order to make rods superior to what can come out of the mass produced factories.
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Gloss spar IS the traditional finish for bamboo, there are exceptions, such as the "impregnated" rods frpm Orvis etc, You can always let the varnish fully cure and then rub it down to a less shiny look if you like. That, if done correctly can give you a virtually flawless finish. Now really old rods may have lost their gloss, from both abrasion over the years, and from varnish beginn
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Urethane varnish has a long shelf life--until it's opened. Then, unlike epoxy, it can go over the hill in a much shorter time. If you have gelling, even on the top, your problem is the age of the material not the kind of varnish. In addition, it's always a wise idea to filter any varnish, especially if opened previously, before using. Pore out what you will use, and never pore any left overs
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What brand of waterbased spar varnish do you have in mind? In all odds, it won't be very different at all from the Minwax--that is an acyrlic resin finish. Waterbased finishes aren't nearly as resistant to environmental factorssuch as cleaners or bug spray or fly floatants as oil based varnishes, nor as water resistant. You may also have a challenge with dipping since you really can't adjust t
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In recent months, at least, there have been ads in papers looking for folks to wind guides in or around Woodland. No company name mentioned. Of course, Loomis Rods, Lamiglas rods, and North Fork Composites are all in Woodland WA (Greater Woodland has a population of 10,000.)
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Pretty hard for me to see how the fibonacci series would work into building rods. (ie. 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 . . . . ) The ratio based off this series, phi, makes for a pretty rectangle and interesting spiral, but..... Lots of other ratio's can be used similarly in aesthetics--such as square root of 2 = 1.14 or the square root of 3 = 1.17. But I suspect that using column orders would work bett
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Pretty hard for me to see how the fibonacci series would work into building rods. (ie. 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 . . . . ) The ratio based off this series, phi, makes for a pretty rectangle and interesting spiral, but..... Lots of other ratio's can be used similarly in aesthetics--such as square root of 2 = 1.14 or the square root of 3 = 1.17. But I suspect that using column orders would work bett
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While there are speed controllers available for Foredom motors these are FAST in normal use--designed for speeds up to 18,000 rpm. Yes, I've got the decimal right. Realy slow speed on one line of motors lets you get down to 500 rpm. You'd have to go to mechanical gearing or belts to get lower. These are sturdy well made tools, but I can't quite see them dialed down slow enough for wrapping.
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Another good choice which you should be able to find locally is Weldwood Plastic Resin Good. Resorcinol works well--it was used by Garrison among others, but it is very dark purple colored and ill likely give visible glue lines.
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I haven't personally used the Fish Hawk, so I'd just search for Fish Hawk and see what pops up.
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One of the best remedys for poor eyesight, especially that which comes with age and wisdom is MORE LIGHT. Additional light that shines on the work, but not into your eyes helps a lot. Why, it closes down the iris in your eyes and just like stopping down a camera lense that increases the depth of focus.
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There have been reports of problems with FishHawk on the forum. Now that Gudebrod is back you could go back to the old standard if you like.
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According to the University of Missourt web site, MU Gold is based on the Crayola color sunglow gold, which Wickapedia tells us is defined under the RGB scale as 255, 204, 51. You should be able to see that color, at least approximately, on your monitor. It is pretty close to either Pantone 1225 or 810. Since the FishHawk color chart seems to be based on the Gudebrod, Gudebrod 209 called Gold
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