Greetings, and happy holidays: I'm building a few rods for Florida pier and shore fishing. The majority of people use braided line down here. The line typically has two specs; first is the srength (test) of the line, say 30# for example. The second spec is the line diameter. For a popular brand of braid, 30# line has "8# equivalent Diameter". The St Croix blanks I am using, 3S
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Thank you all for taking the time to comment and offer advice. In the short term, I solved the problem by using the last of my old Gudebrod NCP. Now that I am out. I'm going to try a few of your suggestions and see what works. I'm building heavier "musky" rods, and using D weight thread. With the new Pro Wrap, I think I'll try a size A underwrap of the same color, then the heavier
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Looking for advice on using light colored Pro Wrap thread on dark blanks. The wraps look great until I put color preserver on them, Then, as it soaks in, the color of the blank starts to show through. I've done my best trying to get the threads packed evenly, but I still get bleed through banding. I can't get good old Gudebrod anymore, so I may have to try FishHawk. Has anyone tried applying
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I've built a couple spiral wrapped casting rods for tarpon fishing (St Croix S III Salt water, 7'6", Heavy Fast, American "Ring Lock" guides), but the local "wisdom" suggests using heavy duty spinning tackle instead. I plan to use the same St Croix blanks, but I wonder if I can use the New Concept system for guide placement. Specifically, I want to use two-footed guides
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Thanks for the quick replies to my question. I read the article in the library as recommended, and it is very clear and straight forward. Fortunately, I live within a couple hours drive of Mud Hole Tackle, and will drive over there with my blank and reel, once I have the grips and reel seat in place. That way, I can be sure I am getting the right number of guides and the right sizes. Good cer
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I've built a few walleye rods before, but this is my first backwater / saltwater rod. On the advice of some pretty experienced people, I will be using a size 4000 reel, unlike the size 1000 or 2000 I am used to. The distance from the center of the spool to the blank is 3-3/8". The spool lip diameter is 2". Is there some kind of "rule of thumb" for the size of the first g
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Chris, Thanks for the reply. Both products are water clean-up. I don't know if that makes them acrylic or not. One other difference is the viscosity. The Brilliance is about the consistency of light whipping cream (making you think it would penetrate more deeply). The Flex Coat is the consistency of an enamel paint (making you think it would sit on the surface more). The reverse is appar
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I'd been using my 4 oz bottle of Dale Clemens' "Brilliance Color Sealant" for all my thread work over the past several years and have finally run low. I did some reading on this forum and decided to try Flex Coat's CP. I spent over 4 hours doing my first complex butt wrap ( a quad diamond design using various shades ranging from yellow through oranges to reds to create a flame appeara
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Thanks for all the responses. The color is even and the "rubbery" feel is apparently normal so I'll go ahead with the FC epoxy tonight. As for shaking it, I did that and also made sure the container was at room temperature before applying the stuff so I guess a little higher viscosity is also normal. Skip
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I'm using FlexCoat CP for the first time and I'm wondering if it has been applied and is dying correctly. I applied two lite coats, 2 hours apart and it feels "rubbery" even after drying for 48 hours at 70 degrees. The wraps look good and the CP is colorless and uniform, I'm just surprised that it has this softer feel, than the Dale Clemens stuff I've used previously. I was also su
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I bought a couple grit coated reamers a while back (not sure of the brand) but they were too big in diameter for the lighter blanks that I build on so I made my own. Here's how: I bought a few rod tip sections from my local components store ($2.50 each) and a bag of 30-60 grit "Black Diamond" sand blasting grit ($6.95 for 50 lbs, the smallest bag available) from the local Northern T
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A long time ago, I bought a bottle of Dale Clemens' "Brilliance" color preserver. Frankly, it looks milky and then dries clear just like the water-based polyurethane I use for my wood working projects. Could it be the same stuff? Can I just refill my CP jar with a couple ounces out of my gallon poly can? In other words, has anyone else tried this and is it really the same stuff?
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I'm about to try building my first fly rod. On the spinning rods I build, I place the guides on the inside of the curved blank (the spine is on the outside of the curve if I am correct). Are the guides inside or outside of the curve on a typical fly rod? Assuming a 4 piece rod, do you worry about the spine in all four sections or just in the top one or two? Thanks, Skip Kerwin
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Thanks for the quick response. I assume you use a good waterproof glue like "TiteBond II" or something like that, correct?
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I attended a local rod building show in spring '04. One of the presenters showed a technique for determining guide spacing that used a large plywood? background marked with lines radiating outward from a point at constant angles. The rod blank was mounted on the board at the butt end and the rod was loaded by pulling down on the tip until a 90 degree bend was achieved. Then, the blank was ma
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I recall reading somewhere that defects in cork can be filled with a mixture of (something) and the fine cork dust you produce when reaming/sanding handles, etc. Anyone have a formula and technique that they can recommend? Thanks.
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I visited the St Croix rod factory in Park Falls WI today. I've been trying to find a workable substitute for their 2S56LF blank which changed so drastically between last year and now. The new (2006-2007) vintage of the 2S60MLF with the butt sawed off to make it 5' 6" will come really close. If you get a chance it is really worth visiting their retail store attached to the factory. There
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Every rod I've built over the years has been on a St Croix blank. They are consistently trouble free and I love the power and feel and sensitivity they provide. But . . . . . while trying to duplicate an old favorite for a friend of mine I discovered that at least one blank, the 2S56LF, has undergone MAJOR changes between 2005 and 2006. I should have known by comparing their 2005 and 2006
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I'm looking for a couple St Croix spinning blanks, apparently no longer in production. I'm trying to duplicate a rod I built about 6 years ago. The blank I am looking for is S-II material (Satin Black), 5'6". Key dimensions are a butt diameter of 0.360" with a tip diameter of 0.067". My guess is that it was an S256LF. The latest St Croix on-line catalog does not list a bla
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A good friend had broken the tip of his favorite 7' crappie rod between the 2nd and third guides. The blank is an old one-piece fly rod blank and is at most 3/32" at that point. I couldn't find a ferrule that small so I inserted an epoxy-coated 3" "toothpick" of solid fiberglass in the hollow center of the blank, centered between the two broken pieces then slid them toget
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Will someone point me to the proper thread (no pun intended) that deals with the application and over coating of a decal like the one St Croix ships with its rod blanks? I seem to remember people saying that the blank needs to be "roughed up" for the decal to stick properly and also that spraying Krylon over the decal works. After visiting the merrick tackle website, it appears th
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A guide / friend of mine spends a lot of days on the water. His favorite OLD custom rod has been subjected to sun and weather for a number of years, especially on one side. The bad side is dull and a little rough, the "shaded" side is nicked up but looks smoother and blacker. Naturally, the guide wraps are really beat up and are crumbling as well. I'm planning on re-wrapping the gui
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My latest Musky rod has several layers of "D" weight thread. The guides have two layers, an underwrap with guide wrap and separate trim wraps on top. The decorative butt wrap has varying thicknesses depending on how many threads are crossing each other and the base and forward finishing wrap also add a layer. I've applied the CP and the first coat of "lite" Flex Coat to
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I think I once read somewhere that the cork dust produced when sanding cork handles can be mixed with a "binder" and used to fill some of the larger / deeper defects in the cork handle. Is this true? And if so, what should the binder be? Thanks, Skip Kerwin
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Mike, A couple other considerations are guide height above the rod and distance from the reel to the first (butt) guide. If the guide frame is too short or too tall, there will be additional friction. Similarly, if the butt guide is sized or located incorrectly, the loops of line coming off of the reel will actually slap against the blank, shortening the cast, wearing the line, and over time
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I'm building my first spiral musky rod on a 7-1/2 foot St Croix S3 blank. I plan to use a patriotic motif with a red underwrap, a blue guide wrap, and white trim bands on each end, with a little of the red underwrap showing under each end. The white trim bands will be done using CP thread. I'll also do a simple diamond butt wrap with those same colors. Since it is a musky rod, I'm assuming
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I apologize if this is too far off topic but I believe this is the right audience to ask. While Barlows Tackle is not a sponsor of this forum, I suspect others may have purchased stuff from them. If you did, and if you recently received a "thank you" e-mail from them, are you now getting bombarded with bounced e-mail address from that mailing? I just want to know if this is uniqu
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Most of the descriptions in this thread deal with putting some sort of friction on the spool instead of on the thread itself. They all seem to work fine but do not, by themselves, maintain tension when backing off a few rod turns to correct a problem. The addition of a long flat spring with a tip guide or roller at the end solves the second problem. The longer the spring the more travel that
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Matt, That's a great idea about the timer!! Wish I'd have thought of it. The temp's are pretty impressive for 40 watts. Is the box 3/4 plywood? Is it insulated? Skip
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I balance all my rods by inserting a lead "mushroom" iinto the butt end of the rod. I make my own lead jigs so have access to a lead melter. I make a mold for the "mushrooms" by clamping two pieces of scrap hardwood together then drilling a hole about 3" deep using a drill that is slightly smaller than the ID of the butt end of the blank. Then I counterbore a larger
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