Hello Tom- Sounds great as usual. Any idea when we'll get the article on the 'oil slick' finish you teased us with last year? Thanks! Bill
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Brian- I'm sure all of the above work great. A trick I learned from Bob McKamey was to go to Harbor Freight and buy a small chop saw. I think I paid like $19.99 for mine. I have been using it for about 5 years to cut graphite tubing for Tennessee handles, Texalium tubing, foam arbors, wood blanks, mandrels, pvc tubes for shipping, etc. It really works well. The only limitations are that
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Hey All- I am having some trouble with fitting / finishing the ends of composite skinned grips that will butt up against / be inserted into a reel seat (typically an ECS or ACS casting seat). I have tried shaping them slightly undersized and using heat shrink tubing to finish the grips and bring them up to the right OD, but I get a real rounded shoulder and consequently a sloppy fit up into /
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Hey Rena- Just call them - their number is (931) 684-6164. They have literally everything in stock but the website is very out of date. You could also try to email them at customtackle@united.net but in my experience calling is better. Good luck! Bill
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Thanks, Stan. Meaning absolutely no offense to anyone anywhere, in my opinion this graphite stuff is actually superior to the pour foam or any other existing arbors out there in my opinion. The only two drawbacks I am aware of are: 1) Cost - they may work out to be slightly more than pouring your own urethane foam grips but are a lot less work and don't require the significant up front
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Hey All - I posted some quick (and dirty, sorry - not a photographer) pics of my first attempts at urethane foam cored composite skinned grips. I put up one fly grip and one casting split grip. This stuff is easy and a lot of fun. Thanks very much to Andy, Tom and RM for another priceless article on a technique I never would have been aware of or been able to execute if not for the magazine
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Steve- That can't possibly work. That makes entirely too much sense! Okay. I'll try it. What about reaming them - does the epoxied / layed up composite skin ream okay? I'm using both 100% carbon fiber sleeves and the hybrid carbon / fiberglass sleeves. Thanks! Bill
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Hey Gang- Fantastic articles in the most recent RM as usual. That issue alone is worth a three year subscription. I have a few questions before I get too deep into these composite skinned grips for those of you who have some experience with them. Specifically, Andy mentions in his article that he likes to twist the excess carbon fiber sleeve and push it into the bore of the grip with th
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Bob- I don't know about this whole situation. Pardon the pun, but this sounds a little fishy. If they live in Oklahoma and don't like to fish and hunt, there is a very good chance they were placed there in some type of Federal Witness Protection program. Beware. Bill
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Bob- I don't know where Hugo is exactly, but I am in Fort Smith, Arkansas which is on the eastern border of Oklahoma. I'm happy to help if I can. Let me know. Bill
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I am with Jerry. I have had consistently and by far the best luck using Gelly Roll pens by Sakura in the medium width. I pay $1.29 apiece for them at either my local Michael's or my local Hobby Lobby and use them in Gold, Silver and White. I do not even need to ScotchBrite a gloss finish blank and these git 'er done the first time every time. If you mess up, they immediately wipe clean off (h
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Hey Greg- I feel your pain. Loomis has driven me crazy with these blanks for several years now. I build a lot of topwater rods for use in the clear Ozark waters and there is a lot of demand for these blanks. A couple of things that I learned the hard way that you might want to keep in mind. In my experience and based on my CC measurements, etc most of the finished Loomis factory rods t
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Hello All - I am looking for a way to use the 4,800 yard bulk Gudebrod thread spools on my Renzetti lathe. Thanks to Throop / Colby and RM, I am using a LOT more thread this month than I have used in the last decade combined. Tons of fun but I am sick and tired of respooling these threads to old empty spools. Anyone figure this fix out yet? I have ordered the Rezetti Large Spool attach
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Jeff- It may be that your stripping guide is too big and/ or too low and therefore is not controlling the line as it comes off the reel. In my experience, the new concept guide set up (bringing the line down under control quickly) is as applicable to these surf rods as it is to ultralights. Unless you are using a bigger spinning reel than I have ever seen, a size 50 won't do anything to help
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I'm with Spencer - sounds like C600DHX or C601DHX is the ticket to me. Great blanks and durable as iron. They also tend to cover / handle a wider than average range of baits and line sizes...very versatile.
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Craig- In all honesty, here is what you need to do if you are serious. I'm not kidding. Buy a few blanks from each manufacturer and build them all. Try the Lamiglas blanks. Try the Loomis blanks. Try the Allstars and the Batsons and the CTSs and all of them. Keep the ones you like, sell or gift the rest. You will learn a TON about these rods by doing this. This is really the only one t
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Hey Craig- I think all of the above would work great. I have also been REALLY impressed with the Lamiglas XMG Popping Rods. These are very light in weight, are extremely sensitive and have very small diameters relative to the other popping rods I have built (Loomis, Shikari, etc.). They offer an LP903 and an LP904 either of which might do really well for you. And in my opinion the LP842 is
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That's actually pretty interesting. I would try anything new that Ralph came up with. Anything that would make some of the more precise application of the adhesive and help give you cleaner lines while doing detail work would be really helpful to me with flocking seats, etc. I have to confess that I am as interested in flocking for other outdoor applications as I am for rodbuilding. The p
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Hello All- Ralphie, it is great to hear from you. Andy...maybe not so much. In all seriousnes, it seems like a long time since we were playing with finish and turning wood inserts in my basement, eh? I miss you guys. If only I'd known how famous you guys were going to become I would have videotaped it or something. I could have released it via the internet like the Paris Hilton sex tape
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Hello All- Sorry to drain this topic so thoroughly but I have another question regarding sealing cork prior to flocking. In the RM article (same article posted in the library) it mentions that you can use acrylic CP to seal grips prior to flocking. My question is this: is Gudebrod 811 an acrylic CP? Has anyone used it to seal grips prior to flocking? I just want to be sure so that
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I sincerely appreciate the responses and I will try them all. l'll try CP vs. cork seal and I will try to seal the cork with multiple coats of adhesive. It's worth trying to figure out what I like best anyway. I would have done it from the beginning except these were not preformed grips...they were rings I assembled. I didn't think anything else would be necessary. But the thing that stil
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