As Tom said, don't worry about it. I've used a lot of combinations of finish with no problems. In theory, there are differences in the properties/modulus of finishes, in practice, I haven't seen them.
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Is there a difference between thinning with water vs alcohol? I don't know. Why are you thinning your CP in the first place? All thinning does to CP is reduce the effectiveness of CP. Put it on, let it soak in for a few minutes, and wick/pull off the extra "milky" CP. When dry, I may use another coat of CP if I'm using PITA colors like yellow, tan, white, etc. The reason for using tw
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Measure the rod at the tip. Convert that measurement to 64ths. That is the tube size. Measure the outside of the ceramic ring and convert to mm's. That's your guide size.
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Thanks guys. He definitely puts rods through their paces. His rods all take quite a beating so it's hard to say what happened. (I'm also repairing a loomis from his same trip that had the rod locker closed on it). I'm amazed that this one lasted more than 6 months. He was surprised when I showed it to him. No damage to the blank at all, not even markings. I've seen a lot of broken and bent
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Had a repair job recently from a local bass pro friend on a rod I built for him 4 years ago. He stepped on the rod and snapped a guide off. While looking at it, I noticed that another guide, 2 guides away from the broken one was off line. I'm terribly anal about alignment and knew that I didn't put it out this way. I grabbed it and found that the guide, along with its wrap, spun freely on the
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Hahahahha Billy... LOL
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Chuck, I average about 9 inches between the first and second guide. Some a little more, some a little less.
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I slide them onto a scribe. Holds them real nice with enough room to dress them up a bit with a file.
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Chuck, I normally use Fuji BLNAGs. They sit low, but I don't have much trouble with that. If I use a high flex blank and want a little more height, I like the VLG types.
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I often use a 6 on the first guide and sometimes I go smaller. One of my favorite spiral combos is a DF 6, SF 5 bumper and 180, then 4's out to and including the tip.
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For the money, these blanks are really tough to beat. Outstanding blanks all around. The customer service is terrific too. How can it not be, with guys like Bill and Lance? The only "downside" is that the cork work and the reel seats are good enough that they can be used straight out of the box, making me just an assembler. It's almost a disappointment to find that there is no sandi
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I get mine here Great people.
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Holoshimmer is for trim only. It is a mylar film with no strength at all. As far as metallics go, I haven't found a true metallic thread that is unsuitable for wrapping. As a rule, metallics have more stretch so they require more tension, and under high tension, some brands of metallics can separate between the mylar wrap and the core. It looks like a pale color compared to the spool, but if
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I once waited a couple of months on a single guide that wasn't available anywhere else. Backordered. It is annohying, but stuff happens sometimes. While you were ordering your stuff on the phone with a guy maybe writing stuff down on a pad for sake of timeliness, how many other people may have sent in a mail and/or internet order at the same time for the same stuff you wanted, that was process
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Also, try packing the thread on the opposite side of the guide. Often, the thread naturally wants to move down the guide foot ramp, almost packing itself so in a few quick turns, you can have gaps over the guide foot. The more tension you have on the thread, the faster this happens and the larger the gaps.Easy to fix, just pack it on the other side every few turns as you climb up the foot.
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Myles, LTNS, my friend! Give me a holler on email huh? Ted, I wrapped 3 sticks of blanks with several types of thread. Each stick was finished with no CP, flex coat CP, and Glass Coat CP, along with no finish, permagloss, flex coat high build, and low build, and LS Supreme high build and low build. I sent the blanks to Myles to put out in your down under sun. What was intended to be a CP t
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Ted, I've experimented with rayon threads, including Madeira, and while some of them work better than others (Madeira being better than Sulky, with is better than Gutterman, etc...) and initially look great, I've not had much luck with longevity. From what I've tried, the silks actually tend to retain color better than the rayons when it comes to the sun. I don't know if you have it over t
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I also use Scratch X. Really hard to beat for polishing.
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If I hadn't been there myself, this would be tragic. But since I have... Dude, I feel your pain but it is terribly funny. LOL I can relate to the burger in the grinder more than you know! I'm only ticked at the little skewer candidate because I'd love to see what you did.
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I've done similar tests as Henry and have come to many of the same conclusions. (Good on ya, Henry, experimenting can be expensive, but quite fun, even if nobody puts much stock into the results). I've BBQ'D many a wrap with decent results, but I have to say that I have concerns over the long term effects. I don't use flame on a customer's rod, only my own to see if there is a degradation. I'v
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A lot of tangents going on here. Ronald, what did you do? What exactly didn't "soak in", finish or CP? If CP, what CP? What finish? And how well did you pack the thread? Even with metallics, you do need to do some packing.
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I've always been much happier with my finishes when I hand turn. A motor comes in handy sometimes but my finish usually comes out better when I babysit it. Besides, sometimes it is nice to be forced to sit down for a couple hours.
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I use a cheap nylon brush or a spatula, depending on what is closer. Let the rod pull the finish from the tool, rather than using the tool to apply finish to the rod. Once you get the technique down, you can use just about anything with equally good results.
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I don't like tape as an arbor because tape is fluid. Tape with epoxy doesn't have a lot of shear strength. Tape moves. Epoxy doesn't penetrate tape, it only encapsulates it. (Drywall tape is different). Use a good solid arbor. You'll get a better result. As far as glue, I recommend Rod Bod. Gives you a lot more working room. I personally use Devcon or FlexCoat 5 minute adhesive only as a
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Now that's just plain brilliant, Mike. Never would have thought to try it!
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Jay, that is a really nice piece of work.
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Trevor, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a blank that flexes in the grip area enough that it would compromise a grip of almost any material.
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Chris, my guess is that you had your tension a bit looser than you would have liked and the seat has been shifted a hair, stretching everything, and cracking the finish/thread bond at the stress area.
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Billy, I did not mean to imply that you slack off on your guide prep. Poor wording on my part. "Pre-ground" guides are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. They are better than nothing, but not good enough. It is one of those marketing terms that I wish would go away as I think it is very misleading to new builders. Or it could be that I am just way too anal about my guide prep.
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