Jerry/all, Thank you for your help. It is very much appreciated. I've only built a handful of rods, mainly flyrods (no heavy-duty SW rods) and even then, it's been a number of years since I built my last rod. As much as I hate to do it, I will have to remove the tip and replace it with a spiral tip. Thank you, Jerry and thank you Tom (as always) for having such a terrific resource for rodbui
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I rebuilt a heavy-duty boat rod for a friend and put a Stewart Large Head Roller top on the tip. Now that it's all assembled, tI noticed that the roller guide is positioned for a rod with the guides on top rather than the guides below the rod as used in a Spinning Reel configuration. This guide is designed to disassemble for maintenance etc. so I swapped the spacer guide and the roller guide ho
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I have been asked by a good friend if I could replace the guides on his saltwater boat rod. I have only built fresh water spinning and fly rods and would like some guidance from the more experieced builders here. The rod is a Daiwa Beef Stick B172RT Extra heavy action rated for 20-50 lb lines. He uses it with 60 lb braided line to pull fish away from pilings and structure. There are four guid
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I second the vote for the Dan Craft 2wt. I built one a few years back and it is a great blank that makes a terrific little rod. Jim Smith
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I had a mouse pull that same trick on me with my first fly rod as a kid. He chewed off around 1/3 of the handle before I found out. I now always store my rods in their tubes, but then again, I don't hike 25km into go fishing so lugging a rod tube along would be a real pain. Good luck in the repairs and let us know what you did and how it turned out. Jim Smith
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I switched over ot using a wide mouthed shot glass to mix my epoxy. I put a small 3X3 inch piece of rug anti skid padding in the epoxy mixer holder and slip in the shot glass. The rug pad holds the shot glass firmly in the epoxy mixer. In 5-7 minutes I have well mixed, bubble free epoxy. When I am finished, I wipe out the shot glass with alcohol and a piece of paper towel. This has served
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Be aware that it also thickens the epoxy and shortens the working time. You might want to make two smaller batches rather than try to do the whole rod with one batch. Also, don't mix the glitter in too agressively as it can sometimes make the epoxy a bit cloudy looking. Just a thought... Jim Smith
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I still placed an order with them after the 27th (vacation time for them) and I received the decals two days later. I think they have someone else handling their routine decals. Either way, I got their usual super fast service. Jim Smith
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I ended up looking at the craft shops in their jewlery making section and found something that worked great for the rod i'm building for my son. It was a small rope twist 9.47 (mm ID) that was 24 carat gold plated and cost me $2.00. I had to clip off the small loop that was soldered on to attach it to a charm braclet or whatever it was going to used for. This took about 2 seconds and the mark
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You might want to consider getting a bit fancy with your wood insert and make it something like the REC SMX780 reel seat that uses a wood insert with cut outs that leave the blank exposed. I built a spinning rod using this reel seat and really like it. I think you could accomplish this fairly easily with a drum sander on a drill press or perhaps set up a sander usng your lathe. Just a thought
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Last night I applied the first coat of Klass Kote to the wraps on a rod I am building as a gift for my son. When I applied the epoxy, I noticed bumps like the thread had the fuzzies or there was dust on the wraps. The wraps has been finished that morning and looked clean and I could not see any fuzzies prior to applying the epoxy. I did not flame these wraps because I had used metalic thread a
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Thank you all for your responses and recommendations. I ended up going with a fairly nice aluminum reel seat and cork grips which I am familiar with and can customize a bit on my lathe. Thanks again for your willingness to share your knowledge and experience on this terrific website. Jim Smith
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I am in the process of purchasing the components to build a spinning rod for my son's birthday. It will be on a 6 /12ft ML fast action All-Star blank. I am used to building fly rods where cork is the "normal" handle material. I have a couple of questions. First, does anyone have any experience with the Martix handles offered by American Tackle? Is it simply a matrixed graphite tube
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If I understand correctly, Klass Koat is actually made for automobiles and it was very highly recommended here a couple of years back. I used it on several rods and it works very nicely and does not seem to yellow at all. Since it is not an epoxy it will eat decals however, so make sure that you cover them with CP before applying the finish. Jim Smith
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I just received a two piece rod back with a replacement tip section blank that had broken on me this past spring. While the replacement tip is the same length as the original tip, the replacement section slides onto the male ferrule of the rod 4 inches which is just about twice as far as the original tip. I have never heard of a ferrule slidnig this far down and I am afraid that this will affec
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Larry your email address is also hidden so I can not email you about the Sage RPL blank. Jim Smith
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Larry, Sorry about that. I had to register again not long ago and thought that my profile showed my email address, which it does now. Send me an email if you're interested. Jim Smith
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Larry, I happen to have a two piece Sage 9 ft 12 wt RPL blank that I intended to build out and decided not to. Send me an email if you are interested. Jim Smith
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I just want to recognize the outstanding customer service provided by Scott at Mud Hole Tackle. I had a warranty issue with a Gatti blank that I built out and Scott stepped in to help solve the problem. We can buy components from many different vendors, but it's the customer service (especially after the sale) that brings people back. Thank Mud Hole, it is appreciated. Jim Smith Georgia
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