Thanks for all the help. Ordered the Snake Brand guides. Was amazed at how quickly they came. Does Joe Araguello still sell the agate guides?
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Spocifically I am building a 7'. 3 wt blank. Not sure what brand, configuration, or sizes to use. I have built mostly lightweight carbon rods and tend to use single foots for them. It has been a while since I have wrapped a rod or studied the catalogs for guides.
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What is a good size and brand of silk thread for a 7' bamboo rod?
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Keeping the line from slapping against the rod helps with feeding line during casting. My experience is that your guide setup is a bit too small even for a 3 wt. I would use at least a 10 mm stripper and would not use the 1/0 or 2/0 snakes at the top. A very light tip top is a good thing to use. A good thing about larger guides on a fly rod is that they let the line hang a bit further from t
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Did not know about the Lemke seats. They look good.
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Thanks. Gonna go with the REC tip. I thought the insert tip might be better for playing fish, etc. but have decided the fine tip of the rod puts so little force on the rod that there probably will not be any difference. Had a tip in the drawer anyway. Gonna have to order another couple for the build it was intended for. I do use heat based top cement and use Tom's method of over wrapping to
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Is there a "better" top for a 5 wt fly rod than the REC titanium loop top with the al tube? I used to us Fuji titanium with the gold ring and have one, but it seems heavier. Is the ring material worth the extra weight in the top?
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Thanks Jim. Often wondered about just what you did. Too lazy to actually do it. And I tend towards longer rods.
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I have 2 rods I built on the yellow, multi pieced Lamiglas blanks. Both are good rods. One is 8 ft, the other 7.5, I prefer the casting qualities of my much older Fenwick FF75 though. The Lamiglas blanks I have are light and are very slow action. I actually prefer graphite blanks in the lighter line weights and these fiberglas rods never get fished any more.
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My older Shimano Spirex 4000 the shaft is 3 1/4 inches from the plane of the foot of the reel measured at the spool. The head is angled upwards. The spool is about 1 7/8 inches in diameter. I used a 30 mm guide 25" from the lip of the spool. It has been a few years since I built it and I have no idea how I ended up with it there. Maybe Tom said so? My first go at a 8' spinning rod.
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Not from me. I use mostly 4 and 5 piece fly rod blanks.
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For me I want my casting rods to be a little slower and my spinning rods to be a little lighter in the tip and faster. I agree it does not matter what the blank is labeled. But the action does matter for the application.
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I have a couple of aluminum Reddington rod tubes that I would like to repurpose. They are painted with a powder coated green with the Reddington logo. I would like to repaint. Does anybody have a suggestion for what to paint with? The tubes are too long to heat.
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Been out of building for a while. I am in the market for a 3 wt blank of at least 3 pieces and about 8.5 feet length. Any recommendations? Will be used for dry flies in clear water and spring creeks. Is there anything like the old Sage LL blanks?
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I build my handles on the blank and sand them on the lathe the way the OP was asking about. Yes, it is expensive if you make a mistake. Most wood lathes will pass about 7/16" to 1/2" shaft through the headstock. The size of the #2 Morse taper limits the headstock through hole and you will have to buy a small metal lathe with a #3 or larger taper to get a much larger through hole. I
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It is still stuck. I took the wrap off the female half of the joint and heated it with a spark lighter for a while, then used the rubber grip things and pulled and twisted hard with no result. Not going to do the pliers. I emailed Winston to see what they might do if I send it to them. Probably will end up stripping components and rebuilding one a blank they hopefully provide under the warran
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No, I do not think foam will stiffen the blank. I think you are pretty much stuck with what it is. Cutting tip, maybe, if you just want to change the casting characteristics. I like the idea of testing casting it with a guide and do a CC test on it with the guide where you are thinking about cutting the tip.
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I finally did it. I have a rod built on a 5 piece LT blank. The first ferrule is solidly stuck. I do not want to send it to Winston because I suspect they won't be able to fix it and I would rather not do the handle again. Any suggestions for taking it apart? If it won't come apart can someone cut it apart and fit a new ferrule plug? I can use the rod as is, but would prefer to get it back
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If you are in the business you need to think you can do the repair better than he can even if you tell him what to do.
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I start at the tip of the guide foot and work back towards the opening, trying not to trap air in the tunnel. I generally use a light finish for the first coat.
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I would suggest setting up your 2 wt and rating it with the CC system. Then add enough pennies to load it like a 4 wt and see how much stiffer it probably will need to be. After the CC test you might want to try a 4 wt on the 2 wt rod that you have. Down in the light weights rod rating is pretty much of a gamble anyway. Good time to start to look at the CC system. Also there is (or at least
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The smoothest guides I have tested and used are the Fuji cerment guides. Slicker than the SIC guides, I think.
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Some of my rods are just gonna have to learn to live with stress then, like I do. .
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I just bought the 16" Nova on sale. But my uses now are more bowl turning and furniture parts. Of the midi size lathes I like the Rikon. Good features of it are the spindle lock and the fact that you can add bed extensions. I have not owned one though. I had a Delta mini. Worked fine. But it was always sorta small for me. You can do little work on a big lathe. But not really the oth
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do no know if anybody else is interested, but Woodcraft has the Nova 16 lathe on sale for $400 off now. Mine is on the way!!
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The standard loop fly tops can add a lot of weight in a bad place on a light rod. I like either the REC tops with the aluminum tube, or the titanium tops from Fuji.
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I am not really a less is more thinker. I use a stripper, a tamer about 4 inches up, and generally 1 or 2 ceramic guids past that on the fly rods I am going to fish. So it is fine with me if you do 2 strippers. No, I do not think it lengthens casting distance. I am the limiter there! But it makes the rod handle line smoother on short casts, adding line to mend, and feeding line on short back
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I have several chucks. I have a little aluminum scroll chuck from Penn State that is perfect for rods and mandrels. About $60. And if you chuck the mandrel in the scroll chuck you can chuck down on it and let the mandrel extend through the headstock and reduce bending and whip. I turn most of my grips on the rod blank directly (not reccomending that, but as a hobby builder I can take the cha
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I have tried scuffing. Do not like it much. I would trim the nubs with a razor blade and recoat. If you ever fuzz the thread scuffing you will not like it.
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I have a bamboo that I finished with Tru-oil. I put it on with my fingers, trying to make a thin coat. I did about 4 coats on the rod first. I used a brush and just put it on the wraps. Did not sand the wraps. Might have used som 1200 grit on the blank. Was doing a gunstock and some grips at the time and do not remember all the details on the rod. I use Tru-oil fairly frequently. It worke
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