A question for you guys that have been using power wrappers for decorative wraps. I have a Renzetti lathe. I bought some months back. I am now used to power wrapping my guides and have come to like having my left hand free. However, when doing a decorative wrap it works going one way but not the other. Is there a device or way to reverse the direction of the shaft for this purpose or am I jus
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I have been building fly rods for quite some time and my wife is dumbfounded when she sees my lineup in the rod room, To date I have been able to convice her I have to have a large used selection to show customers. It's a lie, I'm a rod addict. I fish a RX8+ in a 5 wt. for trout. It is fast, responsive, and fast to recover. I LOVE IT. I have Sage, Winston, T&T etc. for the money the Rai
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I would certainly agree with the above advice. I load/static test my rods and as Tom said you ultimatly have to deal with your preferance. I have been building with micro guieds a little more lately and have found the commercial rods have a lot more guides then I find-or think you need, through my testing on a blank. I still use the length of rod +1 on most builds with standard guides. The ch
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Scott you may allready have all the info you need. I sent you a message in response to your message in the photo section. Just to share with all: I use eva as an accent quite a bit and all of the info above is spot on. You can't go better then Billy V on grips. What I want to share is my procedure for glueing up. I'm have no doubt others must do something similar, just have'nt seen it. I fo
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Hope this helps: Is it a guide or butt wrap? Sometimes it's eaier to carefully cut off a guide and do it over. Be carefull and patient when cutting off the guide. I heat it up and work on top of the guide foot to stay away from the blank. Be espicially carefull after you leave the guide foot and go only to the thread and you can usually peal that off to the point where the epoxy is past the thr
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If I get them at a pet store I better do the microwaave when my wife is not looking!! As all of you home shop builders know we have enough anoying tricks of the trade and space we invade in the home.
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Thanks Tom, I never even thought of the couple of fly shops here, I don't tie flys. Well, I did tie flys for Reds when I lived in Alaska, but that's not fly tieing. I'm obviously trying to come up with the texture and colors to make Trout. Thanks again.
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I have been messing around with some Pheasant feathers (my Lab and I got) working on Trout designs on old blank sections. I'm getting satisfied with the shape of the trout but now need to find different types of feathers to work witrh as I am ready to try it on a rod. I build a lot of fly rods and I think that medum looks really nice through others work I have viewed. I appriciate any help any
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Just like instructed above, just a note: if you use a Dremel with a cut off wheel, go slow and don't go all the way through. You don't want to hit the blank. Once you have a cut the length of the grip you can use pliers or a screwdriver to split it open and peel it off. Just be patienat. Have fun.
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If you have a lathe I strongly recommend Reelseatblanks.com, a sponsor on the left, they have a superior quality selection of reel seat blanks in stabilized woods. many of which are dyed and really bring out the character of the wood. I turn my inserts and one of the things I really like is that you are looking at the piece you will be buying not just a representation of that product. I have be
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The only problem I ever had with Flex Coat was a couple of months ago after many years of good use. While talking to my 20 yr old daughter I mixed part A twice. within a couple of hours of being turned I saw it was not setting up. What a lot of fun cleaning that up!!!!!!! Old men should not be or allow themselves to be distracted while preparing a layout or mixing epoxy's or maybe I should hav
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I have been using EVA foam for thin bands and mixed with cork for checkers in grips. When using EVA for making checker patterns I use metal circle clamps and don't tighten them too much as the EVA will crush and bulge out. I have had good success with EVA and like the multitude of colors available. Just an idea for you.
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Every one above has nailed this one.
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PS. Greg, If you have any questions you can email me, my email is on this site.
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I build mainly fly rods and have a garage decorated with them (if you ask my wife). I built myself a Batson RX8+ 5wt. I have fished it for this summer. I love it!!! it is not cheap but it compares well to any of the other top makers which are more expensive. Just one for you to consider. It is always in the hand of the beholder, What I love others can dislike!!!!
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I have been turning reel seats and handles and I use mostly Stabilized blanks, so no sealing needed. However, I have been buying some natural wood blanks so this thread caught my attention. May I ask those who know would PermaGloss or LumaSeal be a good finish and sealant on natural wood components??? Thanks for any input.
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Ken, my email address is on this site. I work three weeks on three weeks off. I'm in Wyoming until Oct. 24 then I return home to Dillon. My phone # is 406-380-0986, Hope to here from you sometime. I might be in the Bozeman area while home, I'll let you know.
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Ken, I live in Dillon Montana. Maybe we could connect some time as we are about 1 1/2 hours apart. Would be nice to meet another builder in Montana. Welcome to the site and your years of building are welcome.
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Unless there is more for others to say on this topic I would like to thank those with more business dealings than I have, in terms of volume, for their input. It has got me thinking and hopefully learning as I go along. I am always willing to look at something from another angle and do it better if I can. This is good information for me as I am on an exit plan from my second career/job and wou
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Hello All, I will take this space to make a final comment and observation on this topic: I almost wish I was not the first one to answer Jim's question. However, please let me clarify my position/circumstance on this topic. I only build a few rods a month and will continue in this manner until I end this second career, which I hope to do soon. So, with the limited number of rods I build compl
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Is there a way to attach a form like this here??? I could just do that and anyone who likes it can use it. It's pretty basic but it has worked well for me.
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Jim, your email is hidden otherwise I would attach and send you what I use. I is a Customer Order form I made up and lists all components and customer and builder notes. I keep all this info for future reference.
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Joe, I will not be of any help on this but am very interested myself on any info on this topic. I have built for a long time and have yet to be satisfied with my work on filling voids. I buy the best cork I can and have pretty much excepted that this is how cork looks and it is just the way it is. I only fill voids that are significant. It will be interesting to see what you hear. I have fou
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Thanks for your responses; Talk to you again
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I have about every book I could find through the years. I got the Visual Wrap but I have a lot of trouble with it (I have no doubt operator error). I've been building for about 18 years now and sell about 4 to 6 rods a month. Those are mainly to people I have built for before and others that have been refereed to me from customers. I'm on an exit plan from my day job. I retired in 03 but go
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Thanks, David, I think I did it. I clicked the box to let viewers see my email. I'm getting old a little harassment will do me good
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I'll have to figure out how to do that. where do I go in here to accomplish this. I don't see a tab like my profile etc.?
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Thank you, Somehow I thought a spider wrap would be to large. However yours looks great. One of my greater fatal flaws was my reclusive nature for so many years!!! I would encourage any rod builder new or experienced to be on this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now realize the restrictions I placed on myself. I read the posts every day and learn a lot. My next step is to start going to
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Thanks, Yea it is small diameter. I don't have it with me but it would be near 9mm. I'm limited on the wraps I can do on fly rods because of the small diameter. . . I miss my days of building in Alaska where I built a lot of Halibut and shark rods. The larger diameter blanks allow for unlimited types of wraps!!! You guys who build them get to have all the fun. LOL!!!
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I build mainly fly rods in Montana. I really like the 3-D box wrap and am wondering if I can do it small enough to fit a fly rod? Does it have to be on 8 axis or will it work on 4 axis? Thanks for any help I may get. PS. I work out of state three weeks at at a time and have two weeks before I get home to my shop. I was planing on trying it on some doweling close to the blank diameter which
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