I also use Dr. Ph. Martin's calligraphy ink. The stuff is great! Norm
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I use 15-30 # test braid with a floro leader (up to 25#) connected by an FG knot and have no problems with the 4.5 size guides. It's not so much the size of the braid but rather the size of the leader used. The heaver the leader the larger the knot. The FG knot gives you one of the slimmest if not the slimmest leader knot available. However, it needs to be tied properly. If you feel uncomfortabl
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Maybe the easiest option would be to fill in the areas where the cork has chipped out with a paste of cork dust and epoxy, or a filler of your choice.. Then sand the butt smooth and cover with rubber x-flock shrink tubing, or some other heavy duty shrink tube. A heat gun will shrink it nicely. This should give you a very functional chip resistant handle. Norm
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Handle length should be up to your father, but 12" to the reel handle stem is within a reasonable range for a rod of this length. The KR reduction train guides you have listed will work great. However, I would use a 5.5 M instead of the 6 L. From there I would use 2-3 size 4.5 KBs and then 4.5 KTs as the remaining runners. I should mention that both size 5 and size 4 runners will also work
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Well if you are planning to repaint the rod then go ahead and strip it down. Use a blade held perpendicular to the blank, scrape don't shave. if done properly and carefully the old paint will come off in curly-Qs without harming the graphite (or fiberglass fibers). This takes time but is much faster than what you doing now. After scraping wet sand with 1000 and 2000 grit wet/dry paper to smooth o
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Concerning size A vs D tread, 1 oz of A contains 950 yds of thread, and 1 oz of D contains 450 yds. Thus the weight of A for a given straight length is approximately half that of D. The diameter of A is .006 and the diameter of D is .010" . Thus to wrap a given length on a rod you will use approximately half the amount of D tread vs A. So in my book it is close to being a wash concernin
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Will we able to pick these up at the expo? Norm
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Was out crappie fishing with a friend and he was using a 2 piece telescoping 10' in-line fiberglass jig rod from B'n'M it was called the Cadillac combo. This made me think of your post. B'n'M sells replacement tips for these and they may work for what you want. In addition they are very inexpensive. B'n'M jig poles are very popular here on the south for pan fish, nothing fancy but functional and
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Have not tried the RX7 blanks you mention but have used both the MHX P843 and P844. They are both extra fast action and have soft tips with a lot of back bone. I have made up a number of these rods in both spinning and casting configurations and everyone I have made these for love them. I think the P843 (medium power) would be a good fit for what you described. Of course everyone has a different
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Sounds like you have it figured out, so go with it. The extra weight of the 40 is located in a part of the rod where is will have minimal effect on performance. Also since you are using mono on a large diameter reel the larger stripper guide is OK. If you were using braid you could use a smaller stripper and could also use a smaller and lighter reel like a 2500 or 3000. One of the reasons I lik
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Everyone is giving you some good advice for what you are working with. However I think that some of the problems you are having pertains to the frame style of your guides. For example, if you are using Pac Bay V style guides be aware that they are not as tall as fuji Y or KL-H guides, or Pac Bay M or ZV guides. The NGC , the 27x, and the KR guide placement systems are all based on using higher f
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Got my magazine and tickets today. Thanks Norm
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Will not look right. Go ahead and add another thin coat to the wraps that need it. It will look much better
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Hopefully it will arrive before I leave. Thanks for the info. Looking forward to the expo!
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I am planning on attending the expo for the first time, but did not get or see tickets for the reception in the last issue of the magazine. Will tickets for the magazine reception be available at the expo?
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You can usually get rid of epoxy specks by using low heat to soften the epoxy and scraping with you finger nail. You will be surprised how well this works. Norm
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The nice thing about the hot melt cement is that after wrapping you can still move the guide for final alignment. It does not take much to stick the guide foot down. Make sure you use locking wraps for pull out security. Norm
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If the overall finish on the rod is good and If you are going to put new guides right back where the old ones were, I would not do any sanding. Clean up the best you can using low heat, gentle scraping and denatured alcohol being careful not to scrape off the base finish coat of the rod. I would not take the chance of messing up the finish by sanding the guide areas smooth. Base finishes on most
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Boy those grips made from tree bark, rattan and banksia nut pods are really striking prices of art! Thank for sharing. Norm
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No do not coat Winn grips with anything, doing so will probably ruin the grip. The carbon fiber grips do not need to be coated, but many people making or using these grips like to coat them with perma gloss, lumiseal or epoxy. This will not harm the grip and gives them an added sheen/gloss that looks good. There is a u-tube video by Tom Kirkman demonstrating how to properly coat a carbon fiber g
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I agree with Roger. Tape the guides on your rod and go cast it to see how it performs in your hands. Set up with the size 12 stripper train and then the size 16 stripper train. Being a retired scientist I am a big proponent for experimenting to see how things work. You just need an extra guide or two but the cost is rather minimal compared to the information that you will gain. Also it never hur
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If you are planning on using mono greater than 8# test I would not use a size 12 stripper, rather go to a 16 or even a 20. A size 12 stripper will be OK with 6-10 # braid, but a size 16 will work better. I like a size 16 stripper with braid up to 15 # and a size 20 stripper with 20 # braid and up. My feelings on this is that the heavier (larger diameter) the line the larger the stripper. I do not
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In order to keep myself up to date with new stuff in the rod building market I have built a couple of fly rods each using Winn grips and carbon fiber grips. In my opinion they are both excellent but have distinctly different feels. The carbon fiber grips I used were the premade half wells CFX grip from mudhole; this saved me the time and effort of making my own. They were very firm/hard grips w
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I do not think that there is anyone who knows more about Eva than Billy V. Contact him at nerbs.
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I have good success with Dr. Ph. Martin's calligraphy ink. I use the copper gold guild. You can get any line size you want depending on the nib used. I use an extra fine to fine nib most of the time. Dries quickly, is permanent and can epoxy over it within a hour or so without any smearing. Can be found in most hobby shops like Micheals along with the nibs. Norm
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With minima 4 guides I prefer the M guides followed by F guides as runners. The M's give you a higher frame than the SV's. Have not tried the minima4 ZV frames yet but they also have a high frame. I recently built a 7'6" ML for the same purposes as you described for speckled trout and reds. I set it up as follows: 20M, 10M, 6M, followed by (7) 4F's and matching tip top. Guide placement was
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Tom ask the customer what will be the largest fly he intends on throwing rather than the size of the fish he expects to catch. Heavier, and larger more wind resistant flies will do better on a 6 wgt rod. A 5 wgt and a 6 wgt will both throw small and light flies equally well but a 6 wgt has the edge with larger heavier flies. The 5 wgt has the edge in being lighter and more fun with smaller fish
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I like the MHX cs722 for throwing weightless worms, it is a fast action M power rod. It is crisp and light feeling blank with a nice tip and plenty of back bone. A very very nice blank for this purpose, and it will not break the bank. Hard to beat for the money. Norm
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Back in the late 60's and 70's most bass rods were from 5' - 6' with the 'normal' rod being 5'6". So many of us older guys cut our teeth on short rods. Caught many bass on these rods. I now prefer rods from 6'6" to 7'6" but still use 6' rods for skipping, creek fishing and close in fishing. Norm
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Try the MHX shooter series (CS72 series). I have made several and they work well for skipping baits. They are all 6' fast action and range from ML to XH (1-6). Hope this helps. Norm
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