When filling mono or fluorocarbon onto a spinning reel, I run the line through the guides tie it to the spool, and lay the filler spool flat on the floor. I make a few turn onto the reel and then I open the bail and pull some line off the reel. If I see line twists, I flip the filler spool upside down and continue to fill the reel spool. This effectively reduces line twists on the reel when load
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A heat gun can ruin a blank if you are not careful. I have caused the tip section on a couple of blanks to fold over because I over heated with a heat gun. So if using a heat gun be very careful even when on the low setting. A hair dryer does work quite well, and unlike a heat gun it won’t set your hair on fire nor cause a tip to fold over. Norm
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Hitena also sells silk thread. Norm
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With a decorative butt wrap, over size the hole in the fore grip, and put a few turns of drywall tape on the blank where the grip will go to give snug fit. This would allow for the grip to pass over the butt wrap.
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In many cases you don’t have to remove all the guides, just the last few on the butt section. You can usually slide the new handle over the running guides in the tip section. You can also leave any under wrap and/or trim wrap in place and just remove the thread that directly holds the guide on the blank. This helps to prevent redoing any complex guide wrap. Norm
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Ron, good tip! Norm
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Might work, but need to get a good fit to make it look good and not pieced together. If I were doing it, I would remove the old fore grip, and guides. Clean up the blank install a new fore grip and rewrap the guides back in the same place. Another option is to remove the old fore grip and not replace it, just clean up the blank do an epoxy and thread ramp and maybe a small wrap to give it a finis
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Like Spencer noted, I refurbished a couple of old bamboo rods that were older than me that used a brown/black tiger wrap thread. I’m sure it was silk. So that type of variegated thread has been around for a very long time. It is not a recent addition to rod building. Norm
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If you can’t find what you are looking for, how about the Fuji TVS 17 graphite spinning reel seat. It is 14.5 mm (5.07”) long with an OD of 19.5 mm. The threads can be cut back to adjust the length to fit almost any reel, and you can use a standard size 17 movable hood, and a locking nut if you wish. You can also use an insert of your choice to give it some pizzazz. I once used a size 16 seat on
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If you notice a difference in sensitivity, you are a better man than I. Norm
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I’m pretty sure it was around before I first started to build rods in 1969. So it’s been around for quite awhile. Gudebrod had it in multiple different color schemes. Norm
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I agree with Bert. A drill, sand paper, and some sort of mandrel such as a threaded rod, will work just fine. If the grip is a little loose on the mandrel just ad a layer or two of masking tape. I think you will be surprised how easy it is. Norm
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No problem, you can put a coat of epoxy over the Permagloss, have done it many times before. Just make sure it’s cured overnight. Norm
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I agree with Tom, Permagloss is the best for what. you want to do. More durable, won’t yellow, peel or craze and doesn’t get an amine blush when wet. Norm
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Try Soller Composites. Norm
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Buy the cheapest cork full Wells grip you can find. Fill in the pits sand smooth and give it a try. Quality cork is not an issue for what you want to do. Might work just fine. The only problem would be is wrapping over the ends of the grip, unless you don’t mind the cork showing at the ends. Let us know how it turns out, Norm
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Both are both excellent blanks, both are high end but feel differently in hand. I own both the Xrays and the PBs, and prefer the PBs. Just my personal opinion, others may disagree. Norm
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It is an Abu Garcia unique reel seat, it is not sold by retailers. The threaded barrel is Aluminum and uses a metal cage type hood, and threads do not fit other types of movable reel seat hoods. In your case i would leave the reel seat in place. Clean up the butt section of the rod to accept a new EVA rear grip and fighting butt which will be installed from the rear. Basically, ream the new grip
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The fourth guide is always the choke guide and I assume, in your case, it is a KB5. On your rod the choke will be about 23” in front of the stripper, with the stripper about 20” in front of the reel spool. I would add one additional runner, for a guide train of 9 guides total (I.e. KL20H, KL10H, KL5.5M, (2) KB5 and (4) KT5). I would place the first runner about 4” (10 cm) from the tip top and pr
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If you are leaning toward doing it down locking then you don’t need the locking nut. In my opinion, down locking reel seats don’t loosen during use but up locking seats do. Use the TVSK/ASH hidden thread hood. Could also use the KSKSS hood, or even the KDPS hood. They all fit and don’t use or need a locking nut. You will need to trim the threads back on the seat body. Just screw the hidden thread
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I have built on all of the blanks you have listed and they are all very nice, and will work extremely well. My favorite is the Point Blank, but that is personal preference and thus just my opinion. Different people have different likes and dislikes. The PB701MF is more powerful than the other two, and is also lighter, Whether or not this justifies the higher cost is debatable. As with everything
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In my experience, for a given manufacturer’s line and series of blanks with the same model number except for length, the longer rod tends to have a slightly higher IP number. In contrast, between a given manufacturer’s different lines and also the between different series within a given line (ie.Eternity line vs, Immortal line, vs Revelation line, and MB series, vs P series etc), blanks having
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As I have mentioned before, I personally like the Point Blanks. The have very fast actions with plenty of power in the biutt section. Any of these blanks in the ML to M power would work great for what you want. One of my favorite inshore rods is built on the PB731MXF. It is more powerful and faster than the St Croix MF. Norm
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I always build mine down locking, but you can mount it either way, down or up locking. Although I dislike up locking reel seats, because they tend to loosen on me, I actually think the TVS seat feels better when mounted up locking because of its contour. With the back stop lock nut, loosening shouldn’t be an issue.The Fuji insert is the CSTVS17 (decorative insert) or SCSTVS17 (standard insert), y
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I caught a 35” redfish on my PB691MLXF using an unweighted soft plastic top water jerk bait. The rod has also caught a fair number of 4 to 5 pound large mouths. Never felt under gunned. Norm
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I think Brian is talking about the telescoping rods which are sold in the Japanese domestic market, such as Shimano’s telescoping models. I have not seen such telescoping rod blanks sold in the US. Might be able to find them in Europe, and obviously in Asia. Norm
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The PB69MXF has an AA = 76 degrees, IP = 580 gm, and wgt = 1.81 gm The PB691MLXF has an AA = 77 degrees, IP = 513 gm, and wgt = 1.58 gm Both are great blanks, and both will easily throw over a 1/2 oz. Norm
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I should have also mentioned that it is a spinning or casting rod which throws the lure/weight. In contrast, a fly rod throws the line and the fly is merely along for the ride. Norm
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I agree with Lynn, try the PointBlank PB661MLF. It is both faster (AA 76 vs AA 74) and more powerful (IP 505 gm vs 402 gm) than the NFC MB663 HM. It also weighs less (1.41 oz vs 1.80 oz). Great hook setting power. Norm
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A rod throws a lure/weight and the line follows behind as it is pulled from the reel. Norm
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