This is such a novice question, and I'm almost embarrassed to ask. But, here I go ... Say, you have a casting blank rated for 10 - 20 lbs. line. What does that mean? The tips is soft enough so that a 10 pound test won't break when you set the hook? But if you use lines heavier than 20 lbs, the rod might break? Sorry in advance about this such an elementary question.
Forum: rodboard

Why are fly reel seats usually made of aluminum, titanium or other metal? And why are spinning and bait reel seats generally made of graphite? Where can I find bait reel seats made of aluminum or other metal?
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I read the RodMaker Vol. 8, Issue 2 article on the bumper guide. One question. The article says, "For the first two regular guides and the bumper guide, use double footed guide models." Is there a particular reason why the bumper guide should be double-footed? After running a search on this board, it seems that the goal of the bumper guide is to keep the line as close to the blank as
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You guys are probably done with this thread, but I wanted to add a thought to this thread. What bugs me about Orvis is the pictures they use in their catalogs. They use a bunch of pictures of fishermen (decked in everything Orvis, of course) holding fish while depicting that those fish are alive and soon to be released. Those fish seem dead to me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but fish are dead when
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I've read quite a bit on this using the search fuction on this board. It seems most of you use a lathe and sanding blocks in various grits to sand down a bumpy or wavy finish before the final coat. I don't have a lathe. Is there a way to sand it down evenly without a lathe?
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Billy: I use Flex Coat Hand Rod Wrapper. So the thread tension is provided by these two metal rings that sandwich the thread, and the upper metal rings is pressured down by a spring, which is adjustable. When I wrap from right to left, after a few turns of the blank I use the finger nail of my left thumb and push the thread to the right to make sure there's no gap left.
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I apologize in advance for this long post on such a basic topic. I'm sure you are sick of talking about this, but this is about epoxy finish on wraps. I just can't seem to get it right. I've read books, researched this board's library, tried different threads, different methods, different blanks, different finish products and practiced a lot (I mean a lot) .... I just can't do it right 90 percen
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I'm sure this topic has been covered before, so I apologize in advance for the redundancy. I couldn't find the answer in the archive. Do different companies use the same measurments in describing their ring sizes? Is the size 7 Batson ring the same size 7 by American Tackle, Fuji, etc.?
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I'm getting ready to strip a fly rod and replace its guides and tip top. I'm going to use a hairdryer to warm them up before removing them. Would I ruin the blank if I overheat it? If so, how can I make sure I won't overheat it?
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I'm no expert, but I would like to tell you about my experience because I just made a fatal novice mistake. I put running guides and a top on my latest spey rod that are too small for the loop-to-loop I made myself by cutting a Windcutter and converting it to a shooting head. I took the rod out for the first time yesterday, and I found out I had to really force the connection through the guides.
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I have a fly rod blank that seems to be curved a little. First, I thought I didn't locate the spine right. So I did the spine test several times. When I line up the guides with the spine on the bottom, the rod seems to be bent to the left a little. Is this a defective blank?
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I have an old Sage Light Line 4 wt. blank I'm getting ready to build. It's a 9 ft., two-piece blank. I've noticed that the ferrule section of this blank is unusually long. The female ferrule covers about seven inches of the male part. The ferrule sections of other rods that I've bought or built are all about a few inches. Is this long ferrule by design? Would it cause a problem if I built it as
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When you fit a wood grip on a blank, can you ream it with reamers that you'd use for cork grips? Or do you need an electric drill with bits? I'm thinking of using cherry wood.
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I'm wondering if I should buy a power rod wrapper, and needing some input. I build only a few rods a year, and manual rod wrapper has done the job fine so far. I have a separate rod dryer setup with a motor, and I use a wood lathe for turning corks. Considering that I don't need a power wrapper for these two functions, are there still other advantages to using a power wrapper? Am I missing some
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I’m thinking about putting a wood grip on a fly rod to build something that looks a little different, but I don't know how it would feel compared to cork grips in terms of weight and other factors. The rod is going to be 9 feet, 4 wt. I would appreciate any input. And, are they less likely to wear compared to corks? Do the feels of them differ much depending on what types of wood you use?
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I’m an amateur fly-rod builder who builds only a few rods a year, so I don’t have a huge inventory of rod building parts in my drawers. I usually order items online as needed since the closest shop with sufficient rod building parts is more than an hour-drive away. On weekends when I have time to drive to the shops, I would rather be fishing. One frustration that I always face is figuring ou
Forum: rodboard

I’ve got a couple of fly rods that I have heavily used, and their cork handles look pretty beat up. In the past, I have stripped down the entire rods, and put on new cork handles. I don’t want to do that anymore. Is there a way to repair these grips without stripping down the rods? And, can I prevent this if I used cork seal? What would happen to these beat-up handles if I put cork seal on t
Forum: rodboard

I'm trying to fix my beginner's mistake I made with a Scott spey rod I built a few years ago. This rod has hollow internal ferrules, and I didn't wrap one of the female ferrules to the very end of that section. Over time, the female ferrule has become loose (although no visible cracks), and it seemed its internal diameter would eventually become larger than the diameter of the male part. Since
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After reading some entries in this forum, I understand that the conventional wisdom is you don't need guides tapering in sizes when building a fly rod. You can just use the smallest guide after the stripper or the tamer. Here's my question. How do you determine what the smallest size you could use for a particular line? What's the sufficient amount of play inside the ring? Eijiro Kawada Tacoma
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Thank you! I'll try it.
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Hello. I'm an amateur builder posting for the first time. I'm getting ready to build a 11'6'' 6 wt. spey rod using a 4-piece Batson blank (F1166/7*4DB). Could any of you refer me to a guides spacing chart that I could use for this blank? Thank you for your time. Eijiro Kawada Tacoma, WA
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