are you going to strip it down to bare blank ? as for the trim bands carefully etch them with a sharp point and lift the finish along with what ever threads that pull up and grab them with a tweezers or hemostat and pull in the direction they are under the finish and it should lift the finish and make removal easier.
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100 % correct there (Yes, i know Champions would have more snake guides if made today, but it casts so well as to invoke the if it ain't broke don't fix it rule.) as for the grip you can do it that way or chip it away, sand it down it might have been glued with hide or the old guidbrod rod cement clean it up with Da or any of the solvents like acetone do it out side though and add your new
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as long there is no weight on the rod and it is horizontal it won't affect the spine up or down
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you don't want them to take a set then the best way is to have them horizontal and no line through the guides Heat will make a set happen faster
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950 yds. size A 450 yds. size D both are nylon
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temp does play when applying if it is below 70 the epoxy doesn't flow as easily and the wetting out process is compromised along the guide tunnels that is why I stated I do those first because the epoxy is thinnest at the start pot life what ever you call it and it flows better in to them if you coat the wrap and then do the tunnel there is the possibility of bubbles as the epoxy is curing as
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Gave up on brushes long time ago back in the 70's I use a spatula that I make out of vinyl plastic top from a food container NO it doesn't have any silicone on it or in it as it is food grade and nothing that would contaminate the epoxy it is stiff enough to apply and flexible when it is needed cut out different lengths and widths with a scissors and they fit in one of the barrels for an exac
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most builders want the best and that comes with a price as floor grade cork becomes less available that is the cork with very few small or pinhead inclusions/pits and look like wood grain swirls in the rings and is generally light in color light beige to caramel color don't be fooled by bleached cork that is near white with allot of little pits
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been a couple years since I used it but I did 4-5 coats with great results after the learning curve with it you need to make positive that you get the wrap ends saturated so there won't be any bleed other than that it is good stuff for silk
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a bit of info on the lenses and color I ware glasses so when I get a new pair of sunglasses I have them add polarization to the lenses and I get at least 2 pair 1 gray/black the other amber/brown
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simply some dish washing soap in a spray bottle a soft tooth brush for the guides and a soft brush for the grips and rinse it off after and let it dry and then in the sock or snake skin cover and store in tube for fly rod or rack for other rods
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might be epoxied on that will require a bit more to remove it take a nail and put in the vice and run a piece of cord between the frame and ring of the tip top and warm it gently pulling at the same time careful not to much heat or you will destroy the integrity of the blanks tip
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most certainly
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you can go to the tree nursery or the home improvement store and see if you can get one of the fiberglass support poles for sapling trees and fit it to the size you need epoxy it up good and let it cure and your good to go
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You have these 2 choices for seats from mudhole and then you buy this part then remove the hood that comes with the hood on the seat and screw on the part above and add the your cork or eva grip piece and you should be good to assemble the seat the way you want it
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what we have been saying is MUDHOLE has the parts the numbers are in Norm's post
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before you do any thing do a test cast with both lines and then you have a better idea if it works well just as it is or if it need be re done
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you can build it with a combination of parts starting with the seat I posted and then get this part and you will end up with a down locking reel seat the threads on the reel seats is pretty much the same tpi you just have to want to experiment
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you might want to look at the traditions blanks this one PBT2F904 is in you weight range and easy on the budget Have built several for customers doing trout here but they all wanted 6-8 wt rods as the trout are upwards of 3-10 lb from the great lakes. good luck on the build
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Is your preference to use 1 foot guides or snake style guides do you want a ceramic for the stripper ? with that it will make giving you better information
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probably pulled the link because it mentioned the co that wasn't a site sponsor sorry about that if you want E mail me
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looks to be one of these
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the 9 ft light and the 10'6 work great for noodle rods on this page the crappie guys love them and reasonable price
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PBASP873 7'3" Fast Light 1 6-15 lbs. 1/4-5/8 oz. 4 0.39 1.52 49.75
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If you don't use a rod holder a split is good on either spinning or casting tube type of holders work well with either Jmo
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from a sponsor on the left they are running a 20% off sale right now on cork you can call them and they will give you the advice you want and the product you want very good people to deal with
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not a good idea to use that much as stated by the others to extend the pot life of your finish and I will bet that it will ruin the painted finish on any blank as for the bubble issues you might want to do your under wraps and apply a thin coat of finish let it cure and then do the over wrap and then apply a finish coat of finish. as for the issues with bubbles it could be several issues the te
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