Albert, I am surprised the bottle of System 20 did not offer suggested usage quantities. If it is anything like a similar product, “Smoothie”, a few drops per quart is all that is needed, in your case maybe just one drop. DO NOT FORGET, each and every coat of epoxy over a previous one containing the fish-eye additive will also require the additive!!!
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Many overlook the rotation direction of the common, one way AC motors installed on most power wrappers. These units will only wrap from behind and over the top toward you. Many are comfortable with that direction and so be it. However, I find wrapping from low, in front and over the top away from me MUCH more natural and easier when performing more intricate wraps involving frequently adding/drop
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James, Fuji still makes their Ti frame K series guides but now only available in Torsite or SiC rings. Alconite was dropped from the Ti guides about three years ago, much to the dismay of many, myself included. None the less, I am still a Fuji fan!
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Peter, I have not used a plate type reel seat, although I build numerous Tennessee handles. My understanding is the plate type seats are meant to only be taped in place, possibly temporarily wrapped (zip-tied?), to afford the luxury of repositioning the seat to whatever location a specific fishing situation may dictate. I am interested to learn what experienced others have to say. I hope this he
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Stan, You have just confirmed you are like everyone else; you make (forgetful) mistakes at times. I commend your honesty. The sign of a true craftsman is one who can not only cover-up a mistake, but make it better than originally planned. Ponder over it for a while before removing the stripper. David and Spencer have offered valid thoughts to consider. On the other hand, Jeff has offered a valid
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Jeremy, Herb has offered good advice through veteran experience. I agree that the rod has been compromised through extensive sanding. How much it has been compromised is anyone’s guess. You will gain no strength whatsoever with the addition of more epoxy! As you mentioned, and at this point I agree, glue the tip top back on and fish it! You have nothing to lose and can possibly gain a valuable
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Jack, I anticipate you receiving quite a few replies. In the grand scheme of things, one, two or multiple coats of thread finish is a personal preference; there is not a correct of wrong number of coats. Obviously, one coat requires the least amount of time. Beside personal preference, there are a number of factors which may dictate the need of additional coats. The most common is probably the s
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The metric system is emphatically easier than the U.S. jumble of odd measurements for weight, length and volume; 16oz = 1lb, 12in = 1ft, 3ft = 1yard, and my favorite, 5280ft = 1 mile; now there is a nice, round number!!! The metric system employs the simplicity of a “base-10” to all measurements whether weight, length or volume. In the U.S. we have different “bases” for weight, length and volume
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Mike, Apparently, U40 PermaGloss has become the go-to industry standard for blank finishing. After acquiring the proper technique, it applies easily, dries quickly, being humidity-catalyzed requires no mixing, and affords a fairly durable finish. I find it to be less durable than many make it out to be though. Also, due to its make-up including Zylene, it is very “hot” and one needs to be extrem
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Michael, Incorporating an incandescent light bulb for heat, and subsequent light as well, is inexpensive and one can simply change the wattage to achieve the desired heat in the cabinet. I used a small computer fan to gently circulate the air over the bulb and down the length of my cabinet; this does require employing an air return from the far end of the cabinet back to the fan but can be acco
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Carl, Similar to Roger, I perform the necessary operations first; fit and install the grips and reel seat, then position the reduction and running guides, wrap the guides and apply one light coat of epoxy finish. I prefer to wrap and finish the guides in the same day, if possible, to minimize contamination and the possibility of the threads going “boink”. Although rarely doing elaborate butt wra
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Phil, In my structural composite hay-day, there were a number of U.S. CF, FG and aramid weavers, some of which produced pre-preg as well. Hexcel was the dominate one in the U.S. and probably still is. Over the past 15 years or so, the Japanese company, Toray, has become a world-wide respected manufacturer of CF, possibly more dominate than Hexcel. Soller Composites used to be a weaver and Jon S
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Carl and Norman, Since this will be a permanent REPAIR of a broken rod rather than producing a spigot FERRULE to allow the rod sections to be separated, I would think the precision of the taper fit would be much less important as the epoxy will fill any void; obviously, the closer the better but not critical. Not everyone has a stash of sacrificial blanks/rods. What are your thoughts, Norman?
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Brandon, Pictures are indeed worth a thousand words. You have a very nice hidden hood reel seat and, as Roger, I like them a lot. I am still not a fan of filling cork and no filler is going to repair the chunk of cork missing on the edge of the hidden hood. There are ways of replacing individual cork rings within a grip but a good rod lathe is a must along with some experience which would be a b
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Matt, Without knowing your access to tools, fabrication skills, available time and expendable cash, consider looking at the heated cabinet I made for ideas. The three, 8ft sections nest inside one another when not in use. It did require quite a bit of time and fair amount of money but it has been worth every penny and day spent to fabricate.
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Michael, Mixing slowly, especially with the high build formulas, will certainly reduce the number of bubbles in the mix. The main thing to be concerned with is THOROUGH MIXING, a minimum of 2 minutes. The slower one stirs, the longer time is required to THOROUGHLY MIX, and that can eat-up valuable time with the shorter pot life of the high builds. Consider using the regular or light varieties wh
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Michael, Excuse me and at the risk of sounding rude, this topic has been covered numerous times. In virtually all cases, it all really boils-down to personal preference and what works the best for each builder’s own style and requirements. All of the present thread finishes are very good and are basically variations on the same theme (with CTS Crystal Coat having a different mix ratio). When gro
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Michael, Thanks for the confidence boost, or at least the attempt. While I am also guilty of not taking defeat lightly, nothing ventured = nothing gained, don’t cry before being hit and other similar sayings prevail and I will probably attempt fooling around with feathers soon. Thank you also for the link, however they seem to have a limited stock. Are the fly-tying feathers available from Angle
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Brandon, Photos would be good. Without seeing them, my initial response is “KISS”, Keep It Simple Stupid, although I certainly do not think you are stupid. Use a very sharp, new razor blade to shave off the required amount of cork to allow the reel to be positioned. It is unfortunate the builder did not foresee the issue. You did not mention if this is the rear or fore grip. In either case, a re
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Since the first one seen on this site, I continue to be in awe of the absolutely gorgeous feather inlays produced by some of you. Lacking confidence in my artistic abilities, I have yet to incorporate feathers in my builds though. While playing and experimenting with thread to escape boredom while staying at home to comply with the present social-distancing, I discovered a thread wrap that immedi
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Tom and Jim, Thank you for answering my question = understood, accepted and agreed.
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Keith, Additionally, you will find many, if not most, on this site simply build on the straightest axis and do not bother with finding the spine/spline, including veterans who probably used to back when finding the spine was the norm. I agree that while fighting a fish, the placement of the guides will trump (as Tom would say) anything else including the spine or an inherent bend in the rod. How
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Phil Ew., Fuji has the resources to spend more time, effort and money on R&D than any other rod component manufacturer. Such R&D has afforded the fishing world in general, rod builders in particular with the KR Concept and K series guides amongst others. I trust Fuji and rarely stray away from the comfort and confidence their products afford. I firmly believe the KR Concept will cast fur
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Keith, You are certainly not stupid. Consider that you may be fortunate enough to have found the 1-in-a-100 perfect blank! Build on the straightest axis, do not fret over it, fish it and enjoy it.
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Touché, Roger! While all of us rod builders strive toward absolute perfection in performance and presentation as well, I think we all may be guilty of taking too far at times by shaving off every possible grain of weight, using overly expensive components and even adorning it all with extensively labor-intensive yet absolutely gorgeous thread art. The fish certainly knows no difference! Before st
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Phil Ew., While ring insert material “alloys” and frames stamped from a single piece of sheet metal rather than welded or soldered frames have produced superior present guides, the higher frames (utilizing smaller rings) is probably the biggest performance enhancer. Although higher frame “Match” guides have been around for quite a while, Fuji’s R&D has afforded us with the KR Concept which i
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Very well said Charles and, of course Mr. Fuji, Jim. One question for both of you; why can’t any guide with a 90* ring be reversed? I am here to learn.
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While I have read the article before, I am taking the time here to commend Tom on a well written and informative article that every rod builder should keep on file to be easily shown to a customer returning a broken rod. Allow me to offer an often overlooked cause of stress-riser inducing nicks to a rod’s surface; placing a bunch of rods in a rod tube to be “safely” transported to ones fishing de
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Keith, Both Roger and Norman are highly respected veterans and have built zillions of perfectly performing rods and I strongly suggest you consider all they have to say on any aspect of rod building. They are pretty much saying the same thing here about the reduction train. Roger =”tall #16, then a conventional size 12 and go to size 5.5 runners to the tip”. With “H” standing for “high”, Norman
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Greg, You are correct; I missed a zero. Maybe improvise a hula hoop for the stripper LOL. I have never experienced line slap with any of my builds or store-boughts either for that matter. I was simply repeating what I have read. In that case, I suppose the RVs could re-reversed!!! Maybe Fuji got it all wrong!!! The reason I reversed the first couple HBs and LCs was simply because I could and li
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