A Van Staal 100S Fuji reel seat GUSA 78L blank Fuji TILVGG guides Concept layout Cocobolo grips
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My first attempt at rod building. I chose Cocobolo because of my dislike of foam grips.
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I used Tuna cord from acid wrap. It depends on how big you want the turks head and how big the rod butt is. I think they make a nice addition to the rod and they an be very classy. I soaked mine with low build when it was mounted. The Boy Scouts refer to them as a "woggle"
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I turned a piece of cork ONCE on my Renzetti. The mess was hideous even with a vacuum cleaner. I will never never never ever do that again. It took an eternity to clean it afterward. Cork dust is more ubiquitous than anything I can think of.
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I have turned many handles out of Cocobolo it's hard and heavy and it can have a redish tint depending on the cut. A word of caution on some of the exotics: The dust from many of these produce an allergic skin reaction very much like poison oak , breathing it is even worse.
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I have turned many handles out of Cocobolo it's hard and heavy and it can have a redish tint depending on the cut. A word of caution on some of the exotics: The dust from many of these produce an allergic skin reaction very much like poison oak , breathing it is even worse.
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The scrap could be made into reamers. Could one assume that most of the breakage occurred near the tip?
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I tried one of their seats and couldn't use it due to the fact that the reel foot was curved to mate with the standard style reel seat and the alps seat is flat where the reel foot goes. Some folks here in the U.S. just tape or wrap the spinning reel to the blank with no seat hence the radiused reel foot. I thought it would look real snappy with a gold reel seat and a VanStaal but no go.They are
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I tend to side with what Mr. Erikson said. My mother is a seamstress and she has a huge selection of thread. She says that some of the sewing thread has sizing on it which is a lubricant to help it move through the mechanisms of a sewing machine. After the garment is complete the sizing is washed out in the laundry. The sizing could be something as benign as cornstarch or as evil as silicone I
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I started with some high end blanks and a helpful word from someone more experienced than I when I began and I made some very sweet fishing sticks (this board helped too!) Welcome to a passion more addictive than golf!
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The 196 tip is perfect for the delicate bite of the sturgeon. I think you will really enjoy a fish fight with that rod. The 270 is also a nice sturgeon blank, very similar action.
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It was Classic Super Coat that was baked in Florida sun for about 3 years. Heat would have made it softer as suggested in an above post. I have no complaints about it, I like the stuff.
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Cheap chinese razor blades maybe? My big clumsey fingers may have had something to do with it. The guides had two coats of low build and they weren't footballs.
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I was canibalizing titanium guides off of an inshore rod that was returned to me because it was snapped off in a door (no warranty in this case). It took great effort to remove the guides from the blank. The penetration of the adhesive was 100% around the guide foot and the thread was like iron. I was ready to get out the dremel after dulling numerous blades. This made me feel good about what t
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United Composites blanks are currently being sold by Charkbait only as far as I know. They are in the process of getting up to speed after GUSA had things less than optimum towards the end when they went under. They do not offer exactly the same line up as GUSA did but I think they are probably pretty close to what used to be offered. Lamiglass also makes some real sweet graphite blanks that d
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Graphite USA is no more. They went Tango Uniform some time ago and have been bought by United Composites USA. Take good care of the blank you have because a warranty is out of the picture.
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Billy's right about 2.5 pounds of fishing lure flying around, I would not want to be in the immediate proximity of that attempt.
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I have heard some good news (I think?) about the old GUSA. They have been bought and the new name is United Composites USA. Chark bait has some of the new blanks that they are starting to produce along with an article about GUSA's spiral out of the rod blank business. They are ramping up production and plan on offering an assortment of blanks. I hope they offer the inshore style as before, th
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Soak the end of the cord in CA and let it harden for a minute or two.
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The fast and easy suggestion would be to target any local body of fresh water for bass. There are some slobs in the ponds and drainage areas. Golf course water hazards hold some biggies. Surf fishing at the Cape is fun too. If you are really serious, hire a guide and fish the lagoon for some reds. Everything holds fish here, you have to decide. Most importantly, if you are visited by the man, m
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I recently finished two 10 ft surf rods with turks heads instead of a cork foregrip and I like it much better. I used tuna cord and finished it with one coat of low build and it looks great. The cord usually gets more attention than some of the other grip materials. I say go for it!
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The Boy Scouts have websites that cover knots such as turks heads and monkey fists. There are also animated websites that show these knots being tied. I use turks heads as a small foregrip on my surf rods, they hold up well when finished. From what I understand, wrapping with cord is old school and one of the first methods of early handles. It takes practice and patience but in my opinion the
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I'm wrapping my first try at a 10 ft surf stick. I started with "D" thread for the larger guides, should I move to "A" thread towards the tip guides? The rod has 10 guides starting with a 40, 25, 16, and then all # 8 fly guides to the tip. I was wondering if I go smaller thread with the small guides is there going to be a strength issue or should I just stick with the "
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I am going to put together some snook spinning rods and I was thinking about something a little heavier than the B78L. Getting freight trained into the pilings seems to be the way they fight, so something with more backbone is needed. That stinks that they went under, having just moved and all that.
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Any word on the fate of Hastings/GUSA? I noticed the Mudhole stock of GUSA blanks getting sparse.
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All GUSA blanks that I have purchased from Mudhole have been in plastic sleeves with a Hastings label at the end and a decal inside.
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What Billy said and more. The rod blank manufacturer is the one that includes the blank decal, they are not stuck in the package at the Mudhole store (they have plenty to do without that chore). As a matter of fact, if you lose a rod blank decal the chances of getting a replacement are not too good. It has to do with less than honorable characters placing high end rod decals on low end blanks i
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You could call Calstar rods and ask Leon Todd directly, he was the father of Sabre rods before they went downhill.
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You can also contact Renzetti directly. They are not so large that they forget who keeps them in business.
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While you're at think about the stripers that will be swimming past your baits. Bank fishing for sturgeon can get interesting, If you get into a nice one be prepared to be dragged up and down the river bank for a few hundred yards. You are going to need a sensitive tip section and a strong butt section.
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