1) Buy one of Mudhole's electric epoxy mixers - best $40 you ever spent. 2) Have the rod turning on a lathe or rod dryer so the epoxy dries evenly. 3) What Tom said.
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Petri Poly Gel - by far.
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Thanks guys, much appreciated!
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So I'm in the middle of several rods, including five for paying customers, and I made the dumb move of forgetting to clean my 2.5 oz. mixing cup that came with my electric epoxy mixer (which works great by the way) that I bought from Mudhole. I had forgotten to clean the other cup that came with the mixer a couple days before, so now I have no clear-plastic 2.5 oz. cup that came with the mixer.
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I would think it would really be frustrating to be trying to sell rods if one were purchasing the components retail and then trying to make a profit on top of that. Every wholesaler I'm aware of requires a copy of one's business license to open a wholesale account.
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My first rod sale was by chance, as I'm sure has happened with many builders on here. I happened to mention to a lake owner who was buying fish food from me (I have a struggling pond management business) that I build custom bluegill rods, and he's a bluegill nut, and he asked me to build him one. The next couple sales were fishermen that had posted on another forum I'm a member of asking opinio
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Thanks, Troy, the Sioux Falls place had a few cans. John, I ordered three but they still have a couple pints on hand - they're out of quarts and I don't know about the gallon.
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I read a review online of another brand, that may have been Behlen, and the review said that particular brand was much thinner than the Petri, which seems to me to defeat the purpose of a gel...I did try the Sioux place but either they're out of business, out of the product, or their website is malfunctioning because every time I got to the point of submitting the order it would give an error mes
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So I just discovered the Petri gel a few months ago and loved it - so much simpler to finish a piece of wood with it. I was about to begin finishing a reel seat insert today, and my present can of Petri had hardened. So a few minutes ago I got online to buy another can - and Klingspor's, the place I bought my last can from, no longer sells it, and I couldn't find any place online that had it in
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For several years all I used, or built if it was for myself, was true Tennessee handles (where the reel is attached directly to the cork with electrical tape). Then I got the idea in my head that I was compromising my aesthetics and looking bad to other fishermen, and I built several rods with slip-ring handles. I've never had a problem with the rings being uncomfortable, but it is a very regul
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Have you tried screwing it off? I had a section of birch bark glued onto a threaded rod recently, that I thought was stuck; it wouldn't budge when I tried sliding it off the rod; but then I tried unscrewing it, and it took some pressure at first to dislodge it enough to where it began moving along the threads but it worked with no damage to the bark section. Just took a few minutes longer. But
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You could also build on a fly rod blank. I build a lot of custom bluegill rods, and build most of them on fly rod blanks. Probably a 5-weight would be about right for what you're wanting to do.
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Okay, thanks, I'll get a flashlight on it and see what it looks like.
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I think you're probably right, Tom - they didn't look like cracks. It is indeed a glass blank, and the spots did look like fabric. So you think it's okay to build on? I assume I do need to glue back in the rubber ferrule plug?
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I just bought this blank, and upon taking it out of the shipping tube this evening I discovered that it has a bunch of lengthwise striations on the male part of the ferrule that look like probably they have something to do with the fabric of the blank; and, the rubber plug that goes in the end of the male ferrule fell out. Should I send the blank back to the manufacturer, or just glue the plug b
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Hey David, my e-mail is jesse.foreman@gmail.com. Give me a shout and we'll get you an awesome smallmouth rod built.
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David, I have built several, including one about a year and a half ago on an 8' 5-weight fiberglass Lamiglas blank. You don't want graphite for a Nightcrawler Secrets rod because the action will be too fast and will throw live bait off the hook when fished with no weight per the original technique. Fiberglass, especially a lighter-action fiberglass fly rod, has a softer action, which is why the
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So that's what the rubber bands that came with the dryer are for - good to know!
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Those are good suggestions, guys! Thanks for the help!
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I just recently bought a Pacbay quad rod dryer. Tomorrow I'll be re-wrapping the upper section of a 6'6" 2-weight blank, after the original upper section broke as the customer was lightly waving the rod to test its action. We sent the blank back to the manufacturer, and they confirmed that it was a faulty blank - "unusually thin walls," they said, and replaced it. They sent me a
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That makes sense. I've decided to play it safe and go with graphite slip rings. Thanks for the guidance!
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I'm new here, thought I had posted a question but must have done something wrong as I can't find my post. I'm making my first wood handle. Right now I have turned out end pieces (don't know if they would be called hosels or what) for either end of a grip for an ultralight spinning rod. The wood is stabilized violet box elder burl. The main part of the handle is cork, burnt cork, and light-mix
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