<p>Here are 3 of 5 3wt. fly rods I recently built for the Pennsylvania Cahpter of the Brotherhood of the Jungle Cock.  Reel seats (in no order) are osage orange, bloodwood and black walnut.</p>
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This is an antique rod I've been asked to refurbish, but I don't know what to do about a reel seat. It is a "North Woods" rod.
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I have built a lot of short 2 wt's, and others have given excellent advice. I typically follow the advice in Tom's book on the number of guides. I have found that for me and my customers, size one or 1/O running guides meet the requirements for looks and performance. I like single foot snake guides for all guides except the stripper. They offer a tremendous weight savings by using half of the
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It is an odd construction for sure, but there is no set screw. I have double-checked after reading all of the excellent advice (thank you all) and I was correct in my original assessment; there is no obvious way to turn the driven pulley around. Maybe there is a way to press it apart, but I don't think I have the means to do so. I may contact my friends at Mudhole and see if I can exchange it
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It actually is slipping on the motor pulley. Thank you for the advice on the o rings! I have looked for set screws on the drive pulley for the chuck, and I haven't found one. This is the set-up I have: I'll check for binding in my stands. I haven't though of that. I'll clean my belt too. Thanks! Thank you all for your replies!
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I recently purchased a Pac Bay chuck upgrade from Mudhole for my old Pac Bay/AmTac power wrapper. This is the all aluminum model. Overall, I think it is well made. But there are some issues I am having with it, and I'm curious if others have had the same problems, and more importantly, are there any fixes: BTW, I wrote Pac Bay a message and have had no response. 1. The graduations used for
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Thank you for sharing! I was having a fit because I have a client wanting a certain St. Croix blank, but my regular distributors are all sold out. I can breathe now.
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Thank you. Good information!
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Ah, yes. I dint notice the flex information. Thank you!
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I've been asked to build a catfish tournament rod. The only problem is I am far more accustomed to building 2 and 3 wt. fly rods and ultralight spinning rods! My client has asked or a 9 ft., single piece blank that is very tough to stand up against the abuse of the boat and maybe an occasional 100 lb blue cat. As of now, I'm leaning towards a Calstar 550-B, fitted with double footed guides. I
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Thank you!
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Thank you!
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I just completed a rebuild on an old production bamboo blank. I hand fit the nickle ferrules until I though the felt really good, with a positive lock-up and an nice pop when taken apart. Now that I've glued and wrapped them onto the blank, however, the male ferrule rotates in the female quite easily, and I'm afraid they may separate during hard casting. What happened? Is there anything I can
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Cedar is gorgeous when finished! My daughter just accidentally chunked my favorite ultra light spinning rig into Lake George, NY and alas, it is gone. Anyway, it had a cedar insert reel seat I made from a piece of burl cedar I found on the ground years ago. When using cedar, do be aware that it can be quite soft and can have a tendency to crack at the growth rings. These shortcomings can be a
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Ron, What a beautiful rod! I will look into painting. I've been a little scared of it thus far, because I don't have a functional air compressor or other means of spraying nice thin coats, but the idea does appeal to me. Where did you get the fir bark? That handle is stunning! I'd like to try that! Thank you all for the suggestions and advice!
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Wow! Michael, that is a beautiful rod and blank! I will keep this in mind!
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Thank you, guys! Not sure how I missed these!
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I had a potential customer call me this morning looking f0r someone to build him a very non-traditional, brightly colored fly rod. Of course I'm happy to do this! However, after a cursory look through our sponsors, I am not sure that any of the blanks I saw were"loud" enough. I'm sure I missed something, but maybe one of can suggest a nice moderately-priced, fast action blank that ha
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Thank you! I will give it a try. I have micromesh and flitz. If one doesn't work maybe the other will!
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I think I bought it in it's later days. It isn't cloudy, just flat. Tom, I haven't tried polishing. How would I go about that? Thanks!
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No such luck, I'm afraid.
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I have a casting rod that I built for myself years ago. It includes a snake skin inlay and Diamondite finish. Although the finish has done well, it has never matched the luster of an epoxy finish, such as flexcoat. Now that I have solved some of my finishing woes, I was wondering if coating over the top of the Diamondite with Flexcoat would brighten up the finish, or would it look like a gloss
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You can use your quarter inch mandrel, if you like. Now, I put my hand-turned reel seats on fly rods most of the time, and usually in the 3 to 5 wt. rod range. What I do is pre-drill the blank. Very often. I'll bore my blank to 3/8". I have pen bushings for large pens that fit well into the 3/8 hole. I'll use the bushings for holding the blank on the mandrel, just as you would with a pe
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I should add that this new to me method is not a panacea. I just completed a 5 rod order, and on 1 of them, I put the first coat on at too high an RPM. The centrifugal forces slung the finish towards the middle of the wraps, creating a "football" in the middle and dry edges. I "thought" I corrected it, but after drying and a second coat, the center of the wrap is still bulk
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I used water slide decals for my signature a while back. I sprayed the media with the top coat that was required. (In my case the media and top coat was Testors) Then I signed with a silver paint pen, let it dry, cut out and applied to the blank. I let it dry a good long while (overnight) and finished. It seemed to work. I hope that helps! I will say that these days, I use custom made decal
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I've done that too. My early rods were all finished while rotating the rod by hand. However, I'm not one that can "just let it go". If something doesn't look right, I can't stop myself from the poking and prodding Tom is talking about. He's absolutely correct in saying that overworking is the death of many a finish. If you can do it quickly by hand that's awesome, and you will have
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I wanted to share something that I've recently tried in my finishing that really works for me. Maybe some of the newer folks on the forum can save themselves from the years of irritation sub-par finishes have caused me. I'm sure many of you rod buiding vets already have discovered this. When I went to ICRBE back in February, I was looking for a workshop on finishing. I have been to many such
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Thank you!
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I recently placed a sticker on a rod, coated it with finish as normal. Unfortunately, while flaming a nearby wrap, the sticker released from the blank under the epoxy. Obviously, I overheated the area. Anyway, I was left with a mess, and had to recoat the blank in this area with finish, with the plan of reattaching a sticker to the area. Will my sticker (holographic decal media) adhere to the
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Jimmy Crain Jr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Then I use a spray on poly to > protect the paint. I just used fusion for the first time on a fiberglass blank. Just for clarification, are you talking about a spray on polyurethane? If so, does it flex with the blank? Thanks in advance!
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