Thanks Lance. I've used Loctite products before and they are as advertised. And thanks Roger, but my issue thus far is contact allergic dermatitis, and yes, wearing protective gloves would have perhaps delayed or prevented the problem. As best the doctors and I can make it out, thinning finish epoxy with acetone (I had been making multiple rods with invisible wraps) pushed me over an edge.
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Thanks guys. I've used TiteBond III to glue up cork rings off the blank and it works very well for that purpose. Maybe Pliobond - I'll need to get its data sheet and check its chemical composition. Thought about the urethanes including Gorilla Glue. I'm not a fan but it might be preferable to not building rods anymore.
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Anyone using an adhesive other than an epoxy to bond grips and reel seats to blanks? I've developed an allergy to epoxy resin, I dare not use it again, but have no experience with anything else. The plan is to finish wraps with long oil, spar varnish. But I'm stumped as to what might be viable epoxy adhesive substitutes.
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Every TFO rod I've ever built (BVK, Finesse, Professional, Mangrove) has performed well. If you want to go more up scale take a look at the Epic 5 weight 9' carbon fiber kit which is a soup to nuts affair.
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If you've ever shot American trap you'll know there is a never ending debate as to whether #8 1/2, #8, or #7 1/2 shot size is best of 16 yard singles targets. I think a similar debate is on-going for guide sizes. I've built fly rods as Tom K suggests, I've used manufacturers' suggested sizes, I've used Tom Morgan's suggested sizes and others that do not come immediately to mind. While I now am
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Think on your question in terms of a worse case where there is a very large gap between two guides about a third of the way down from the tip. Then imagine what might happen when the rod is placed under stress fighting a fish. Might the stress tend to concentrate in the gap? Might the concentration of stress result in a rod failure in the gap under extreme pressure? There is an old admoni
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Close in this situation does not count. As Roger explained above, the seat alignment ought to be spot on correct. While you may build a rod as you wish, you ought not deviate from accepted, proven practices until you understand why those accepted and proven practices are used. Maybe I'm unlucky, but I do not remember ever having a blank and reel seat combination that did not require a bush
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Chuck I don't sell rods but do provide rod recipients a document titled Certificate of Origin, The Certificate contains three sections, the first of which is a description of the components (blank, reek seat, grip, guides, finish and adhesives, etc.) and ends with a picture of the rod. The second section describes any blank manufacturer's warranty that is applicable and makes clear I do not
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Snake Brand's Universal Lite Wire Snake Guides. End of conversation. Yep, they're that good.
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Don Thanks for the compliment. The thread is FishHawk 000 silk color #212. It IS NOT color #WHT. 100 weight YLI silk, also color #212?, natural, if you can find it, or Kimono color #374 will work. Those threads appear to be white BUT THEY ARE NOT WHITE - they are natural silk with no dye, not even white dye. The finish is ThreadMaster Lite where the first coat was 1 part resin, 1 part
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Chris I should have added you are not limited to a black inlaid turn. India ink pens are available with the fine, brush tip in .a variety of colors. Do allow the ink 15 seconds to dry before you wrap the colored section of thread.
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Chris I should have added you are not limited to a black inlaid turn. India ink pens are available with the fine, brush tip in .a variety of colors. Do allow the ink 15 seconds to dry before you wrap the colored section of thread.
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Chris Yes there is a technique to do exactly what you want to do and it can produce a dramatic result. What you do is use a very fine, felt tip pen with black India ink to color a single turn of thread with the black beginning and ending on the top of the guide foot. It takes just a little practice to perfect coloring exactly the correct length of thread but it can be done. Here is a
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Robby If you are referring to ATC's MicroWave Guides look at the packaging for a guide location recommendation for 7' 6" rods. Unless you intend to build a spiral / acid wrap, tape the guides in place as securely as your can with the guides up - guide rings on the 0 axis. Ideally the line ought not touch the rod during the load test, else you will need to add a running guide. A
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Mark Perhaps more important than Wells vs reversed half Wells is the grip diameter. Many factory rod grips are too small and tiring to fish all day. And too large is also uncomfortable. Just right for most folks is when the the rod is griped the middle finger does not quite come around to make contact with the hand. So, take Tom K's suggestion one step further and leave the grip just a lit
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David CitriStrip is my 'go to' varnish remover for bamboo rod refurbishing as it is a safer and easier to use product than the alternatives. For bamboo I brush on the Citri, wrap in plastic lawn bag so the product does not dry out, then use a plastic putty knife to remove the Citri and paint. Clean up with wet towels. It works very well to remove spar varnish. Unfortunately I've no experie
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What size thread are you using? Nylon size A under wrap with a coat of epoxy followed by nylon size D or C to secure the guide is probably the most common technique. Under wrap should be firm (not deathly tight) and packed without gaps. Over wrap / guide securing wrap tension ought not be too tight.
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Which ProKote viscosity are you using? Are there under wraps? Are you using heat? Can you feel the thread ridges with a finger nail or are you only seeing the thread turns?
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Put the question to 6 fly rod builders and you'll get at least 5 different answers. Truly. I used to religiously roll, bend, sight, etc. to be certain I found the dominate spine and aligned guides opposite the spine - the inside of the curve. I now build on the straightest axis and say the heck with the spine. Frankly I could detect no difference if the guides were opposite the spine, on th
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Put the question to 6 fly rod builders and you'll get at least 5 different answers. Truly. I used to religiously roll, bend, sight, etc. to be certain I found the dominate spine and aligned guides opposite the spine - the inside of the curve. I now build on the straightest axis and say the heck with the spine. Frankly I could detect no difference if the guides were opposite the spine, on th
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Jimmy Rod building supplier shipping methods are all over the board. And "free" shipping is not truly free from multiple perspectives. Shop around. Personally I prefer those who ship USPS Priority to my PO Box. It is not free but it is reliable with no worries about porch pirates.
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Stop. Don't do it. Sewing threads contain silicone to make its use in a sewing machine easier. Unfortunately the silicone will not play nice with epoxy finish unless well sealed with CP and even then . . . Given the wide variety of made for rod wrapping thread materials (silk, nylon, & poly), sizes, and colors available it's hard to justify the use of sewing thread. It's not that
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Ken You want a reel seat with an ID just a wee bit larger than the rod's butt diameter, which value is probably published by Mudhole or you can measure it with calipers. Additionally, some reel seats are described as suitable for X or X to Y line weight rods. But it's the ID of the seat vs the OD of the rod butt that is critical. You can use a stint to use a reel seat with an ID less than
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Good luck finding smaller quantities of true, long oil, spar varnish these days. The spar varnish of long ago (pre EPA) was a quality product. I've a Granger rod for which the spar made it 75 + years before failure. These days what passes for spar varnish is actually urethane - not long oil. None of the big box or small hardware stores in my neck of the woods sell anything but urethane. For
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Phil Bad news - you get to live with it. I've found a sweet spot combination of rheostat value, foot pedal position, and just a wee touch of turn with my off hand that usually, but not always, works. When it does not work and the frustration threshold is reached I remove the belt and continue with a seriously overpriced, manual lathe.
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It would be helpful if you would post the picture of or link to what you've seen. I've made guide wraps using YLI Sparkle Silk that when finished without the use of CP look just a bit like carbon fiber - twisted. - over a very short distance.
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Two thoughts, the first of which is for a long time my company was dependent upon computers at client sites. The computers we sold to clients with no maintenance contracts incurred downtime / maintenance problems / failure rates over five (5) times LESS those associated with rental financing and free maintenance. Lesson: The more skin a person has in a thing the more it is valued and protected
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Epoxy finish purpose is to seal and protect thread wraps. If the thread wraps are sealed and you cannot feel any thread turns and you are happy with the appearance then you are done.
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John have not done what you are trying in a while, and not certain I get your problem. What I think you're trying to communicate is the "stair steps" don't end and begin exactly as they should as there is a bit of and overlap one way or the other. If so, the cause might be not so much you as it is the geometry where each of the 16 segmented rings' IDs and ODs are just a wee bit differ
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On the removable vs permanently affixed fighting butt, ask yourself how many times, if any, you would want to fish the rod without the fighting butt. If the fighting butt is removable, where will it be stored so it will not be lost?
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