Thank you all for your help with this,,,, As usual I find that it's not one specific thing I'm doing wrong but combination of things that add up to a disaster. I found that the "grooves" that were left after grinding the guide feet were way too deep and the thread was jumping into the grooves causing a very poor wrap. I went over the guides with a 1" medium grit disk in my Fored
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Thanks Donald ,,, I'll give that a try!
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Guides on a saltwater Cod Rod: I ground/sanded the double foot guides so they will lay flat on the rod and also ground/sanded the feet so the thread would climb up nicely but the wraps look terrible! I suspect that the feet have to be ground/sanded at a lesser angle because as I wrap up the feet the line "lags" behind the rest of the wrap but I don't want to weaken the guides by gri
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I'm trying to absorb everything but the old brain needs a lot of re-caps before it soaks things up lately! Most of what I've done(and that's very little) has been with NCP Pro Wrap but I have tried Fugi.Pac Bay and Makoi,,,all NCP thread. In trying to use the colors I want I've used Pro Wrap and Makoi together on the same wraps but haven't done any finish coats on them yet. I haven't tried
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Are there any pros and or cons with using different types (CP/NCP) and brands of thread? Thanks,,, Tom
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Being that I just got into rod building I don't have a "stash" of old rods to make reamers out of. Trying to match the exact taper is next to impossible at this point. Although I've read bad reviews on the reamer set that Mudhole sells I ordered a set to at least get my feet wet and I can move on to other options once I get the feel of the whole reaming thing. I think this will giv
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Thanks for the quick replies and info! I can see after reading the replies that my mistake was using to fine of an emery cloth and too much forcing the reamer into the handle. The fine emery did heat up quite a bit when using the reamer in the drill and the emery soon became clogged with fine cork dust. Also,I have read where some builders use round files as reamers but am a tad confused w
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My first attempt at reaming a cork handle resulted in a 1" split running lengthwise at mid point of the handle! I made a reamer using a 3/4" wide 100 grit strip that I epoxied to an old salt water rod. At first I teamed by hand for 1/2 hr and wasn't getting much done so I chimed the reamer in a cordless drill which is when the split occured! Is this common with cork handles? I got t
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Now I'm glad I asked cuz I'm getting an education here! Tom
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Thank you! I should have asked here first but it's an embarrassing question to have to ask! Thanks again,,, Tom
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I've done a lot of searching but can't find any info on the correct "orientation" of bigger double foot guides. Some double foot guides have a single "foot" and a double" foot.Double foot meaning laying 2 pieces of flat metal along side each other and single foot meaning a single piece of flat metal. Does the double foot go toward or away from the tip top? I hope I
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Thank you for the help and advise. I will buy Bills book. I find it difficult to shop on line at times when I can't actually see what I'm buying and to get help from people like you helps a LOT! There are so many self proclaimed experts out there it's sometimes hard to weed through everything to find someone who really knows what they are talking about!!! Thanks again,,, Tom
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I've done a few decorative wraps but would like to learn a bit more about it. Mudhole has a book by Billy Vivona for $40.00 Decorative Rod Wrapping #1 and #2 for $6.50 each I looked at Visual Wrap but it's a little pricey for a guy on a small pension! LOL I also have Tom Kirkman's Rod Building Guide which helped me a lot to get started in all of this,,,,,I don't know weather to than
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I finished the wrapper and tried it today. It needs a tweak here and there but being a total newbie to all of this I think it will be OK. If I could tweak myself as easy as the wrapper I would be in great shape! Thanks for all the input and help???? Tom
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Thanks for all the ideas and info! A lot to learn and a lot to do yet! Thanks again,,, Tom
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I ordered the RDS Dryer and the Dryer Clutch and it's supposed top arrive today. If I want to do only the tip end of a 2 piece rod is there some way to reduce the size of the chuck opening to accommodate the smaller size of the tip section? Tom
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Thank you Bill and Roger,,,, I'm going with the spring loaded spools and that wire "thingy" that looks like a wire for blowing bubbles. I'm not a patient man so I'm trying my best to use what I have here. I may have to try different ways and order a sewing machine tensioner to get the tension right but for now I'll use what I have here. From what I understand about tension,,,,if y
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Thanks Roger,,,, I have so many different ideas buzzing around in my head I think my brain is going to go into overload! lol My major concern right now is how tight is too tight and how loose is too loose! Somewhere in between is just right! Thanks again,,, Tom
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That's a pretty unique idea for a spring tensioner Chris! I think trying to explain how much tension is needed is pretty hard to do. On my first wraps I had the string so tight I could play a note on it when I plucked it,,,,like a guitar string! Are the springs on the spools actually used for tension or only to keep the spools from spinning? I have tons of all sorts of coil springs and I th
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I got out of making jewelry cuz I was getting very frustrated trying to see what I was doing. It's very close,tedious work and it was a hobby,not a business! I got into metal art which is much easier but still fun to do!
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Thanks Chris I started my wrapper yesterday but don't do well working with wood so it will take a while !
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Thanks Roger,,, I have a LOT to learn and a lot iof thinking to do as well! Tom
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Thanks Bill,,,, The little I've wrapped so far I've done from under but will try doing some wraps from over! Tom
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I build a hand thread wrapper and did 1 rod on it,,, rod in photo section under Tommy K. I've looked at most of the hand wrappers on the web along with several videos on thread wrapping. Tom Kirkman has a You Tube video called Easy Wrap Start and I noticed that he has a springy wire "guide" the thread goes through.It looks like a wand for blowing bubbles with the round part bent 90 de
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Thanks to all for the warm welcome! I don't know anything about building rods but I've done a lot of other things in lapidary,jewelry making(sterling silver) I had over 1 ton of semi precious rocks here and cut all my own cabs.Probably one of the most complete lapidary hobby shops inthe northeast. Did a LOT of copper and steel metal art and a whole bunch of other things I got into after retireme
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Thanks for the welcome Don,,, There was a man named Don Campbell who lived in Milford,CT and made trolling lures for Bluefish and Striped Bass! I can't tell you how many Blues I caught using his lures!
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I'm 72 years old ,will be married 50 years this September,have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. I am new to all of this and about a month or so ago I decided to try to restore and old,cheap fiberglass spinning rod that my dad had.The rod is nothing special other then it belonged to my dad. I started watching videos on YouTube and then bought Tom Kirkman's guide to rod building.Tom's little gu
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