I've actually have an order with him right now, placed it on the 21st of Feb, billed CC same day and have heard nothing since, I also work during the day so its hard to phone to find out whats going on and there has been no response via inquiries through his web site. Concerning since Dan has always been very good to work with. C
Forum: rodboard

I found a quick way to cut rings of any thickness very similar to Bob's, I put 6 or 8 rings on a pen mandrel, run it on my lathe at 800rpm and slowly lower an Xacto razor saw onto the rings. Works great on all types of cork, very clean and straight, which I could never get with a jig (user error I would suspect)
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Another suggestion would be Beulahs 11' surf/switch blanks. they make a great switch rod for casting overhead off the beach and double nicely as a shorter spey rod. a lot of guys on Vancouver Island use these rods (both off the beach and on the rivers), and they are starting to get a following on this side of the Rockies as a great pike/streamer rod. Colin
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I use it a lot, only thing that bothers me about i is the way its wound on tho the spool in a cross wrap pattern makes it twist a bit when wrapping using my power wrapper. Otherwise it is a great thread. Colin
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Tom, thats why I'm wondering if a 180 degree or 1/2 spiral will be of any benefit. We also use a lot of side pressure when fighting steelhead and salmon on our Vancouver Island Rivers and thats when we see a lot of breakage. Colin
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Hi Phil, yes and no, with the spey type casts line speed is not as important as a properly formed D-loop and a good anchor. A lot of singlehand casters fall into a bit of a false sense of 'powering' the cast in order to get it out there and usually that ends up in a pile of line at the rod tip on the forward stroke as they are rushing the D-loop and not providing a good anchor. My forward cast
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I think Scott may be on the same train of thought as the person who asked me to build this. With a spey rod the power stroke is the back cast forming the D-loop, the forward cast is transferring that power out over the water and doesn't necessarily put as much strain on the rod. I am thinking of doing a 180 degree spiral with the first guide(stripper) at 90 degrees to the bottom and then work
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From what he has told me, this has been a topic of discussion between himself and a well known European spey caster for quite a few years and just has never been put to the test, your comments mirror what I have told him. In the end I will probably end up building this rod for him just to answer his curiosities, and then probably just as quickly rebuild it. Colin
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I've been asked to build a spey rod using the 'Roberts Roll" for guide placement, although I understand the advantages that this would provide to a casting/mooching rod I just can't see what it would accomplish for a fly rod. has anyone ever considered this or at least heard of it being done? Thanks Colin
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Don't think Mr. Meiser is involved with Beulah anymore. I've had a chance to cast their new surf rods and they are very powerful rods, you could probably go with an 8wt. Another application of these rods is as a shorter spey rod, I do know of someone that fishes this rod as a spey and finds it performs very well.
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You said 'bottles' Do you warm both the resin and hardener? if so try only warming the resin. Colin
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I would contact James Shaughnessy at Beulah, this is becoming a popular conversion of this blank and he may have some better info on spacing. I also know there was some rumors of a Beulah Center Pin rod coming, but haven't heard much more about it. Colin
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Grips, matching reel seats, inlays & inscriptions. Colin
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What about a Raven Blank? I've got a couple 11'6 pin blanks and they are really nice. Don't have grip length on hand but will take some measurements for you when I get a chance, I've used both fixed seats and sliding rings (as well as some old Hardy sliding seats). For guides I've used Pac-Bay LXBG's or Forecast Model UD or VD's. Colin
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I found that I had to 'Donate' a few rods to local @#$%& to get some buzz going, also sold a few rods to friends for a much reduced cost in hopes that word of mouth would bring in business. I have a web site, I get a few hits everyday, but few turn into sales. I sometimes think that if I could dedicate myself full time to it then i could get it to work, but I just can't afford not to work. Col
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Thats a tough one Rob, I've recently moved from Van. Island and was doing a little custom work (hardly enough to break even) and a fair bit of repair work for a shop in Nanaimo (I think they are still looking for someone to do repairs) as well as some work for a shop in Qualicum. I know there is a lot of interest on the island for custom stuff, there seems to be a lot of old Hardy 10/10 blanks fl
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Ken, I blew up a 10/10 blank a couple weeks ago, but as you said there aren't any mandrels out there that will take a 24" grip. So i do my fly grips on a mandrel, mooching, float and spey on the blank (I just try to be more careful). Colin
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I struggled with bubbles for quite a while, tried all sorts of different solutions, none seemed to really work. Went out and bought a Pac Bay mixer, followed Andy's advice and only heat the resin bottle, mix for 3 minutes, pour onto foil, wait a minute and blow on finish with a drinking straw. No more bubbles!!! I've become so confident with this method that I use it with EX-74 (finish I use on a
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What gets me is not always the shipping fees but the brokerage fees I have to pay when vendors ship via UPS (not blaming the vendors), that and the Canadian gov getting their piece of the pie as well, can quickly double any shipping fee a company might charge. Colin
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Tom, will RodMaker ever be available in Canada again? Hate to think I'm missing out on all that great information available. Thanks Colin
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