The New Concept guide system will help keep the weight off the tip of the rod without sacrificing guide placments. I made up a 9 footer with all single foot guides. My last 5 or 6 guides were 8mm, and the stripper was a 30. The rod has great balance, just slightly butt heavy, just the way I like it.
Forum: rodboard

There is a metallic mylar product called Monokote which is used by hobbyists to cover fying model airplanes. It has a temperature activated adhesive on the back. I suspect this builder may have used it and tacked it to the rod using a cool iron or a quick shot from a heat gun, so as not to upset the resin in the blank.
Forum: rodboard

I agree with Putter. The garnet "hurts" with the blue.
Forum: rodboard

I use the standard drywall fiberglass tape without any problems at all. I cut it in half widthwise, and start wrapping it around the blank, using a butterknife to spread rod bond into the weave of the tape. Every few turns, I spread it, and apply more if necessary to be sure the rod bond is running continuously through the layers. I usually wrap a bit larger than I need, and then trim it back
Forum: rodboard

Many types of wood can produce undesireable effects when breathed as dust. It's always a good idea to do what you're doing when turning wood. Always use a good quality dust mask, and minimize airborne dust.
Forum: rodboard

Any negative feeback on the Sulky metallics? I'm about to use the silver as trim on a surf rod instead of the Gudebrod HT.
Forum: rodboard

It's mentioned so matter of factly, make some casting tests to locate the ideal location for guides before wrapping. What exactly do you do to tweak your guide locations once you have a starting point? Is it the first guide or two nearest the reel that require the most tweaking? Do the guides nearest the tip have to do more with static loading than casting performance? How do you know when it
Forum: rodboard

Anthony and David, You may want to try calling Tony at Rod Builders Warehouse. No promises, but he's got all kinds of blanks, including some old timers, and he's a super guy to deal with, always going out of his way to help. I'd give him a call. He's listed in the sponsors on the left side of this website.
Forum: rodboard

Rich, I don't know of any pink blanks, but I know of someone that made a custom pink Lamiglas rod for a gal out in California. If you visit www.stripersonline.com, click on "surf talk" and go to the main forum, you can find a post entitled "Tamiglas recap". I checked today, and right now it's on page 6, but will continue to move back as more topics are posted. You might wa
Forum: rodboard

There's nothing like the voice of experience. Thanks Putter and John for your responses. I'll Permagloss first. Rich
Forum: rodboard

I'm about to build a Rainshadow SW1387 blank, which has a matte finish. I want to Permagloss it, and was curious about whether to do that before any assembly, or afterwards. I reasoned that if I do it before, it should make it easier to slide the eva grips down the blank, but I want to be sure the cleanup of the Rod Bond wouldn't affect the Permagloss finish. I would also feel more comfortable
Forum: rodboard

I find that sometimes when you refresh the window on your browser, those missing sponsors will often show up, but I've experienced it as well.
Forum: rodboard

Bill, I don't know if this will help, but I just got the total frame heights (to the top of the ring) on the Amtak GCSF series single foot guides. Hope this helps in your quest. GCSF-30 46.5mm GCSF-25 41.0mm GCSF-20 32.0mm GCSF-16 26.0mm GCSF-12 20.5mm GCSF-10 18.0mm GCSF-8 14.0mm GCSF-7 12.7mm GCSF-6 11.0mm
Forum: rodboard

Thanks for your answers, Tom and Todd. As it is a Rainshadow blank, I just spoke to Kerry at Batson, and like you said, Tom, they add a flag to the ferrule area to support it internally, Kerry said that technically, you don't even need to wrap it, but it's a good idea to do it just to protect the female side from getting banged up when the rod is in the disassembled state. I feel an awful lot
Forum: rodboard

I've heard of various suggestions about wrapping the ferrule, on being that the wrap should be as long as twice the inside diameter. Someone else told me he wraps the entire length of the female side plus one inch, and then over wraps the ferrule end. On a two piece 11'6" surf rod, what will be secure without being overkill? I never heard of wrapping the entire ferrule. If I use a color
Forum: rodboard

Bill, I'm not a great fan of drill powered lathes, as the average drill lacks the rpm's and power to do a first class job. I do, however, own the Grizzly variable speed mini wood lathe, model G9247, and have use it to turn small bowls, and fishing plugs for the last couple of years. As long as you don't need to turn anything over 12" long, or more than 5 15/16" in diameter, it does a
Forum: rodboard

I'm toying with the idea of building a rainshadow blank, which has a matte grey finish. What I'd like to do is spray a light mist of metallic paint onto the blank with my air brush. Createx makes some gorgeous pearlescent metallic colors in their acrylic line of paints. If I cover it over with a coat of Permagloss, will the paint compromise the adhesion of the permagloss to the blank? I'm not
Forum: rodboard

I just built my first surf rod, a spinner for striper fishing. I used single foot guides, which are not as easy to tape and then wrap as with two footed guides, where you can tape one foot and wrap the other. I found Flex Coat guide foot adhesive to be tremendously helpful. It held the guide in place, and if I had to make an adjustment after wrapping, I was able to do it. Fortunately, I didn'
Forum: rodboard

LS is great stuff. The first time I used it, I applied it with a brush, but quickly switched over to a narrow butter knife. No heat is necessary. The most important thing I've learned is to get it on the wraps and leave it alone. It self levels and releases bubbles pretty nicely. The more you touch it, the less likely you are to end up with a level finish.
Forum: rodboard

Thanks, gentlemen.
Forum: rodboard

When you buy a two piece blank, assuming you have no scrap from previous rods, what do you use or where do you get the necessary material to make a ferrule? I'm assuming that all 2 piece blanks come with bare ends.
Forum: rodboard

Grizzly has a small air brush compressor for around $50, but what makes far more sense, because it gives you more utility, is their 2.5 oil cooled compressor with 4 gallon tank. It's on sale for $119.95 plus freight. It has a regulator, so you can adjust your air pressure accordingly, and because of the tank, it's not running constantly. I use mine for air brushing, but also with a pneumatic n
Forum: rodboard

When you use heat to soften up the epoxy on a guide wrap, what precautions do you need to take to protect the integrity of the blank? I thought about covering the blank on both sides of the wrap with multiple layers of paper topped by aluminum foil, so that the heat would only reach the wrap. Can a blank safely take 15 seconds or so from a heat gun?
Forum: rodboard

I believe Donart has some.
Forum: rodboard

I sent an e-mail to them last week and got a reply within 24-48 hrs.
Forum: rodboard

Thanks. At least I caught it in time so that it won't put off my intended first outing!
Forum: rodboard

I finished a surf rod last week with LS Supreme. Everything got 2 coats and it looked pretty good. Yesterday, after 5 days of curing, I had it outside, and in the bright sunshine, I saw a couple of small defects in the finish on one guide wrap and the butt wrap. I roughed it up with a grey pad, and applied another coat of LS Supreme to the areas in question. Is it still necessary to wait 5 da
Forum: rodboard

Just finished my first rod. Used single foot guides, and the Flexcoat guide foot adhesive was great. I'll never do it any other way. Strong enough to stay in place while I ran a line through the guides to double check alignment and wrap, but a snap to remove and reposition if needed.
Forum: rodboard

Thanks, guys. I'd go to size A in a second, but I'm already committed. I'm doing Forhan locking wraps around single foot guides, doing the main wrap in NCP purple, then tying off and pulling a tag end of black, then doing the locking and security wraps in that color, and finally pulling a tag end of gold for the final four wraps. I'm having an okay time of it on that side. The difficulty seem
Forum: rodboard

I'm doing 4 wraps of Gudebrod HT gold in size D to finish off my guide wraps at either end. On the side opposite the guide, I'm starting my thread butted against the guide wrap, and put a loop in right away. I just can't get the metallic wrap to stay tight when I pull the end underneath. I've even tried anchoring the initial wind with a touch of krazy glue, but when I go to trim the end I've p
Forum: rodboard