Thanks Roger and Buzz. I have an assortment of Minima guides so I understand what you're saying. I can get a few sizes of recoil based on that. I appreciate the guidance. But now Buzz made me hungry for some Rippin Good Cookies. ;)
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Buzz, Are guide sizes different with recoil guides? I have 4 Thorne Bros panfish blanks and 5" cork handles laying around so I've been wondering the same thing Steve asked. Additionally, I'd like to try fabricating something like the St Croix adjustable spring bobber system. I'm thinking a ceramic guide + grommet on the top of the tip and single foot recoil on the bottom of the tip.
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I wanted a specific rod configuration fine-tuned for my method of vertical jigging for crappies, but no such rod exists. I was talking to a custom rod builder about my dilemma and he said "just make your own!" So that's what I did and the satisfaction is incredible. There are so many ways to customize a rod and I want to try something new on every rod I build. Obviously I'm early in
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Well, I started with these offsets as I mentioned above: 0 and 180 axis 0 offset 60 and 240 axis 4 offset 120 and 300 axis 8 offset and it looked really lopsided so I cut it all off. I think next I'll try offsets like this (assuming 12mm centers) to get more square boxes: 0, 120, 240 axis 0 offset 60, 180, 300 axis' 6 offset I think I need to look at more pictures. John S.
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Well, I started with these offsets as I mentioned above: 0 and 180 axis 0 offset 60 and 240 axis 4 offset 120 and 300 axis 8 offset and it looked really lopsided so I cut it all off. I think next I'll try offsets like this (assuming 12mm centers) to get more square boxes: 0, 120, 240 axis 0 offset 60, 180, 300 axis' 6 offset I think I need to look at more pictures. John S.
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Ah, I get it John. I'm going to do at least one practice wrap before I do it on the good rod, so I'll not do the TOS for the first test and see what it looks like. If I'm not happy I'll do a second test with TOS. I have lots of time to kill in winter. John
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John P, I chose the 3D chevron because I understand it's an open wrap so I wouldn't have to worry about taper offset stuff. I do understand your explanation though and like the tip of using different color tape to keep track of my axis'. I do intend to mark all 6 axis' on the underwrap since I am not proficient enough to make it look really nice without all the reference marks. John
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Hi folks, I want to try a 6-axis 3D chevron but I'm not sure how to offset the marks on each axis. I'm not sure even after reviewing books by Clemens, Kirkman, and Vivona. Let's assume my centers spacing is 12mm (just picked a random number to keep math simple) For a 4-axis, 90 and 270 axis marks are started at the beginning of the wrap while 0 and 180 axis marks are started 6mm from the star
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Got it Jim. Thanks for the followup.
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Made sense until the RV came along. Now on a (low profile bass) casting rod I shouldn't use a KW10 stripper with KT5 runners? What would it hurt?
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Chris and Phil, Thanks. I see now. AW looks like a good source.
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Thanks Gabe. I didn't find them at AW before when I was browsing the menus, but now did a search and found them there. At 8.95 per individual feather I see why there's so many fake versions out there. Not sure I want to spend that much. William I did check online @#$%& but those seemed to be imitations, and I don't know which imitations look realistic and which don't. I'll spend more time lo
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Hello folks, I'm a hobbyist and would like to experiment with feathers for my next rod. I say experiment because I always experiment on junk rods to perfect a new process before I do it on a real rod. I recall reading a Rodmaker article on an easy method for applying feathers so I need to look that up. Anyway, I saw some pics that used jungle cock eye feathers and I really like that look. In
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The first time I tried writing with Testors, I first did some experimentation to see what works best. I let the paint cure overnight (24 hrs generally since I work in the evening after my real job). Expoxy finish over the paint worked fine. I usually use regular nylon thread with color preserver, so now I just got into the habit of always applying a coat of CP over the paint (just to be safe)
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I fish many of the Wisconsin species - musky, pike, LM & SM bass, walleye, panfish. My favorite thing is to vertical jig crappie in deeper (15-20ft) water. I want a very specific rod setup for this which is why I got into rod building.
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Ted, I'm curious for what type of fish and what size reel? My first builds are 5'8" or so jigging rods for crappie. I was chatting with a rod builder one day and grumbling about how I can't find one with the specific features I want. He encouraged me to just build exactly what I want and that got me started into this addictive hobby.
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Being in my 50's, I need help getting a close look at threads as I wrap to make sure they're packed tight with no gaps. The OptiVisor head magnifier is very helpful for that. Instead of razor blades, I get a pack of 100 scalpel blades with handle (really cheap online) as recommended by one of the more experienced wise men here. MUCH sharper than razor blades. John
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David, while I'm still somewhat of a novice, Roger's color description matches what I did on my first rod. Red with lots of gold trim. I prefer cork handles thus far since I am not able to turn wood. Feel free to see my "first rod" pics in the photos section. The Pac Bay woven graphite spinning seat is dressy. I thought after-the-fact that I could have added some feathers on the w
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bill boettcher Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it is also a good idea to after the guides are > placed to put the reel on and reel in a good > distance of line - with weight on - just to see > how the line goes on the reel Then you can adjust > if needed Yep, I saw that mentioned many times during my countless hours of researching previous
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Great point Roger. I wasn't thinking about needing to withstand a little banging or carelessness.
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I uploaded photos of my first rod build to the PHOTOS section. It's a light spinning rod specifically for vertical jigging crappies. It's a 6' blank with 3.5" trimmed off the tip to firm up the action and provide a better feel for light bites. The shorter length also allows me to jig under the trolling motor mounted transducer (like ice fishing). My favorite color is red so that's the pr
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Jim Ising Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > KWAG7 is a good start. I won't say whether a > double foot would be best on the turn (although it > makes sense to me), but I would definitely add a > couple of KBAG5.5's after the turn. If you choose > to use a single foot in the turn, again, make it a > KB...the foot is MUCH bigger and stronger t
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I do plan on playing with the placement of the stripper, at 0 and offset in either direction to see how it behaves. I also do plan a forhan lock wrap on all single foots. I was assuming the intermediates/bumper could be single foot since I would place them/it where the line dictates and would not have any side-pressure. Sounds like a double foot would be wise on the first 180. Thanks for
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Hi folks, I'm planning my first casting rod and will spiral the guides. Not sure whether it will be "simple + bumper" or "willie wrap" style but I'll decide that detail after I have the stripper and runners taped on and do some experimentation. Regardless, I'm wondering which guide type will be best for the bumper/transition and first 180 guide. If I use one KWAG7 for stripp
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Correct, just a lock wrap hump. No fuzzies. Epoxy comes out smooth and level. I will try less tension, but the metallic tends to slide out of the locking wrap easy.
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J.B., I don't understand. The metallic tag ends are covered with regular nylon thread, and create a hump in the nylon thread.
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David, I'm still a novice but one of the first things I did was practice wrapping lots of colors on scrap blanks, then cover half of each wrap with CP, then epoxy over them. This gives me a great reference to see what thread colors will look like on a finished product, both with and without CP. What I found interesting was that CP darkened the thread, but putting an epoxy finish on them bright
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Hello, I'm a novice at this art and have been practing a lot of guide wraps, diamond wraps, and various chevron wraps. I always like to include metallic thread for flare. The problem I have is when I wrap over the metallic tag end with nylon (regular prowrap size A so far) the tag leaves a noticeable bump. Burnishing doesn't seem to help. How do you experts flatten the metallic or hide it??
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I'm relatively new and have tried all the tricks I've learned from searching and reading the "perfect epoxy" article. No matter how careful I stir, I create bubbles. It's the little tiny ones that cause me troubles - larger ones go away quickly. I use the 1 oz solo cups from Mudhole which have smooth sides but the bottom is contoured. I actually get bubbles coming out of the syring
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Fred, let's say you're looking for a certain shade of pink. How do you find the duplicolor paint code? As I understand they don't have color charts or samples - you have to give them a vehicle color code.
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