I want to say thanks to the guys from Fishsticks4U for supporting the festival and local conservation efforts this past weekend in VA. Ray & Robert brought in some new items (since the Charlotte show) and made a great addition to the exhibitor tent since we have not had rod building component vendors in the past. The blank and component selection was great, especially those wooden grips. T
Forum: rodboard

I had one of my fishing buddies call me up today to check on a 9' 3 wt fly rod blank. He graduated from VA Tech and would like to build a custom rod with the school colors. Does anyone have a source for maroon blanks? I have looked through a couple of my catalogs and cannot find anything. As I recall, the color of the Pac Bay Traditions would probably be close but I am not sure if they did a
Forum: rodboard

I just saw that Hook and Hackle is offering a free dryer when you buy the PacBay Rodsmith. Just click on the "Special Offers and Sales" link. Some of the other vendors may have this same deal also.
Forum: rodboard

Michael, I ended up taking an old thread spool from the fly tying bench and epoxied a dowel into the hole. Then I shimmed the OD of the spool with masking tape to get a snug fit inside the chuck. My chuck ID was nearly the size of the spool so it only took a couple wraps of masking tape. I then tapered the dowel so it would fit the tip or mid sections of the blank. It was easy enough to do
Forum: rodboard

I want to try this on my next single foot rod and want to make sure I am reading the article in the library correctly. When you do the locking wrap, are you going 360 degrees around the guide and then around the blank, then around the guide again for 360 degrees, then around the blank...for a total of 3 times. My first impression was that you go 360 degrees aroung the guide 3 times, but after r
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I am fairly new to this phorum and I hope this is not a question that was recently asked. Is there a certain direction that the inscription should be written, or is it up to the builder? I have some old rods that show the inscription going left-to-right towards the cork grip. Some of the newer rods (Sage or Redington) go right-to-left away from the cork handle. I have several graphites
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I just bought a 3 RPM motor and a 30 RPM motor. Both for a total of $6 from www.allelectronics.com - I think the 3 RPM was $3.50 and the 30 RPM was $2.50. Shipping was a flat $6, so I went ahead and got a couple extras just in case. They have others listed that you can check out, but I wanted to spend as little as possible.
Forum: rodboard

Hello all, I normally build new graphite rods, but I ran across 2 old H-I fiberglass fly rods that are in very good shape. One of the rods has a snake guide wrap that needs to be repaired. I know they used fewer guides years ago - this one only has 1 guide on the butt section and 4 guides on the tip, plus the tiptop. I am wondering if I should only repair the one guide, or if I should atte
Forum: rodboard