FYI: jacob, I picked up some purple hart at The Hardwood Store in Gibsonville, NC last week (In case you need a wood resource). It's a nice wood that stands out because it's not overused. I built an eliptical and contrasted the purple hart with ebony & rosewood inlay.
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How and where you will fish it should factor into your decision. I have an 11ft 3 wt that I built for euro Nymphing that has become my go to rod for small streams. A close friend has a 7 ft 3 wt that he uses as a finesse rod for dry flys.
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L
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L
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If creativity and artistic expression are important to you, turning handles & reel seats separately will be necessary. The cost of blanks makes experimenting on the blank prohibitive.
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Billy. Thanks for making the information available.
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3 dowels and a dozen practice wraps yesterday. This issue appears to be behind me.
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Thanks Bill. Looks like helpful informatio.
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Randolph, I do feather the ends, but maybe not as well as I should.
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I am never quite satisfied with my thread transitions at the tip and but ends of crosswraps. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.
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I recently made a reel seat with a sunburst finish ( yellow to brown), usung Rit dye and finished it with CA. Any water based or alcohol based yellow dye should give you your color. If you are not set up to turn reel seats, you could probably sand the finish off a natural color seat and refinish.
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That should work. I found that all I needed to do was put one of the bushings in a set of pen jaws and use for the drive. I didn't experience any complications.
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Hi Tom, Yes I know them pretty well (two trips yesterday). Unfortunately, they do not stock a dead center (60 degree). So I ordered one from Amazon. I turned a reel seat this morning by placing one bushing in pen jaws. That worked well. Thanks
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Ron. I made delrin bushings today. Had to order a dead center, so it will be a few days before I can create chips.thanks again.
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Thanks Ron. That's helpful information.
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Terry, I may try a threaded mandrel the next time I need one. For now at least I have a solution. The loose connection has been as annoying as in-laws. Well, maybe not that annoying!
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The tape and epoxy combination worked. Thanks for the suggestions.
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Ok, here is my work-around. 1. Add tape bushings to each side per Chad's suggestion. 2. Use 5 minute epoxy at the joint between the tape and reel seat blank. I will post results later.
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Chad, do you place the tape to each side? If so how does it hold when you turn?
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Bill, The fit to the mandrel is pretty tight. The tape doesn't fit inside.
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I am curious what other rod builders use to hold the reel seat to the mandrel while turning. I have been using 5 minute epoxy at the end of the blanks. But for me it breaks loose causing the blank to slip on the mandrel. I can get through this by reapplying the 5 minute epoxy (about 3 times). But, there must be a better way.
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Hi All, Do you guys know a resource for floor tile cork? I checked Home Depot and Lowes, and found they only carry cork flooring as a special order, and the samples they have are faux cork flooring that is laminated to another material. I am looking for a place to buy a small amount to try it. Thanks, George
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You should contact Batson to see what they might work out with you for a new butt section.
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Hi Mike, I would be curious to know how this works out using the microwave guides.
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Grant. You used microwave guides on a fly rod?
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Thanks Roger.they had what I needed.
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Recently I built a 11' 4 pc fly rod and am now experiencing difficulty finding a rod / reel case (bag) to fit. Any suggestions for resources would be appreciated. Thanks, George
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Herb. I followed your suggestions for using O rings to perform the static test. It worked great. Thanks.
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Thanks to all for your advice. I cut the protruding points with a razor blade then applied the second coat of finish. Results were great. Thanks again,
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Sure. I know I do.
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