Tape your guide feet so that the tape ends about about 1/8" or so from the end of the foot. Make your wrap up onto the foot to the tape, then remove the tape and finish. (on large guides, you can wind up the foot, unwind the tape a bit, wind a little more, unwind the tape, wrap to the end and tie off.) When I wrap the guides with tape I start the tape from the back of the guide and wind
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It's not me that I'm most concerned about, it's the customer. You are building a custom rod and expectations are your overall product will look better than what they can get in a store. For example if you look at the cork on a factory St. Croix rod in Dick's or Bass Pro it looks very "clear" minimal pits or cracks. Chances are as Tom said give it a year and it will look a lot diff
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Thanks for all your inputs. Last night I bored the grip to size to fit the blank, then glued the rubberized butt cap on and turned it on the lathe as Mike suggested. It worked well and as the taper on the butt end is very slight I was able to slide the (rear split grip) grip on from the butt end.
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I have a new lathe and have been starting to make my own cork grips from gluing up the rings. I bought some (estimated) grade CG3 rings (about $.60 ea) and some CG2 grade (about $1.20 ea.) I started with the CG3 and turned my grip to size...wow, a lot of imperfections (pits, "lines", etc.) not real deep but doesn't look anywhere near as nice as finished grips I've bought for $6 -$8
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I'm making a rear grip for a split grip rod and want to use a 1/2" wide rubberized cork ring on the end as the butt cap. I don't want to have to put a hole in the rubberized cork to shape it to size (1 1/8" dia.). I'm turning the cork grip itself on my lathe (from rings) What is the best way to accomplish this? Glue the rubberized cork on after I fit the cork grip to the rod and
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Floro is stiffer than mono and to me would take longer to get under control. My comment would be that dropping from a size 25 guide right to a size 10 doens't allow the line time to straighten out (still has coiling effect) and is "hanging up" going thru the size 10. Personaaly I would increase that second guide to a 12 or 16 and see how it reacts. A picture was posted a while back of
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So then what is the advantage of the new formula? None of the catalogs really spell it out, they just say it stands up to UV light better ???
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Has anyone used the new flex coat formula "Ultra V" and if so what do you think of it. Has it been around long enough to know if it stays clear vs yellowing over time? Until now I have used standard high build FC on my freshwater rods with good results. Therefore I'm a bit relucant to change brands, just wondering if the new stuff is better in terms of staying clear. FC regular do
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DON'T USE YOUR FINGERS TO PEEL THE STICKER OFF THE BACKING, even on the edge. I use tweezers now to peel and apply and have had no more problems. It's a little harder to position this way but you won't get edge lift (on the edge you handled) I used to alway have the edge I handled lift after applying the flex coat. I applied it directly, no CP or other.
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I have a customer that wants a 7' bait casting rod for top water plugs, spinnerbaits and other trebble hook baits. He's going to use 20 lb. braid and he's looking to get good distance. (Right now planning on using #5 running guides.) Based on the specs. the MHX MB843 would do the job, (10-17 line, 3/16-3/4 oz.lures) the MB844 looks a bit too heavy (12-20, 3/16-1 oz.). A few weeks ago the 8
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Does anyone know when the Mudhole MHX (2) pc. blanks will be available? They are not yet in the on-line catalog. Can you call and place a special order for these?
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Has anyone tried taking a reel seat and either drilling holes or sanding "windows" on the sides? My though would be to glue a colored mylar type material to the foam arbor then insert into the reel seat so it shows thru the openings. Then maybe fill the opening with rod finsh so no water can get in. Thanks for any inputs, based on some of the work I've seen someone must have tried
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I'm building 6'6" spinning rods, med/fast using the NGC method. For my reduction guides it looks like I can either use the concept high frames sizes 25,16,10 (8,6,6,6) or normal height in sizes 30,20,12 (8,6,6,6) My spool diameter is 1.77" about 69.5 mm. Does it matter which I go with? I'm thinking use the high frame "concept guides". Is the size 25 big enough for that
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Bob here's my method. I have a simple homemade "V' groove wooden jig with a thread carriage. Tape your guide on with about 2" of 1/8" wide masking tape. Wrap around the middle of the foot leaving the front exposed so you can get a few wraps before coming to the tape. At the end of the tape fold it over itself a bit to make it easier to find the end. Start your wrap about 1/8&q
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Jim, I said 4 reduction guides based on the spacing in between. Seems like too much space in between with only 3. You go from about 5" between the choke and running guides to like 8 and 10" between the reduction guides using only 3.
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I am building (3) spinning rods from different manufacturers all 6'6", 2 pc Med/Fast 6-12 line. Most likely they will all have the same shimano reels on them (same spool dia.) The 27X method puts the choker guide at 48" based on the spool dia. I'm anticipating guide sizes of 30, 20, 12, 8, 6 (x4) - obviously I have to verify using NGC method. But my question is...using the NGC s
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Why would you use elmers glue it is not waterproof and will disolve or breakdown even after it hardens. I just bought some of the wood filler and it is waterproof, color looks good also, easy to sand..
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I use them also. For a person that holds the rod with their right hand I put it on the left side, for left hand I put it on the right side. I use the small hump style and angle it at about 45' between the side and bottom. I find if you mount it directly on the bottom .(i.e. in-line with the guides) or at 90' out to the side they seem to get bent so I mount it in between.
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Any one using Rod Smith thread from Pac Bay? - comments
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I build a lot of spinning rods for myself, family and friends. Moslty 6'6" & 7' medium to med-light, fast action (6 - 12) line for bass. I used to always use size "A" thread for wrapping guides until the finish on the guide feet (single foot guides) started cracking at the end of the foot. This occurred mostly on the first and second guides up from the reel (#30, #25 or 20
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I have never used the Forhan wrao and have never had a guide pull out on any of my spinning rods.. But do you need it if using the new micro guides as the foot is so short?
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I have never used the Forhan locking wrap and have never had a guide pull out. But my question is...on the new micro guides do you need it for guiides sizes 5 and down? I've read reports of the finish creaping into the ring.
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Thanks for the input, I had read that the St. Croix 3C68MXF was highly recomended as an all around light casting rod for worm, jig and spinnerbait also. Is the 3S68MXF spinning version a bit less powerful?
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I've built on both th Fish Eagle II and IM7 blanks . (6 1/2 & 7 ft. lengths) The IM7's are very light but I had a few issues (breaks) with the spin rods, casting rods no problems. The Fish Eagle II's are IM6 and a bit heavier, no issues. The 6'6" M/F 2 pc. spin rod was a little stouter than I thought but it's good for Senkos. I use and like the FE II casting rods. I got mine a
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I'm looking to buy myself a couple blanks. 1) I want one as a spinning or casting rod for fishing Senkos on 10-12 lb. line and light soft plastics. 2) the other as a spinning rod to be used for shakey heads, drop shot, tubes and light jigs. on line 6-10 line. I've been looking at the Batson ISB802.75, the ISB822.5 and St. Croix 3S68MXF or 3C68MXF. The specs. on these are all pretty clos
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My vote would be a Shimano Symetre 1000 (front drag) $99 now (used to be $79),The Stradic would be a step up. They also have the Sedona $59 (have one 5 yrs. old on my 6' M/F rod, no problems still going strong) and they have a Sahara $79 (had one didn't like it) I use Symetre 2500's on all my bass spinning rods, except one has a Stradic 2000 about 3 yrs. old, They've performed well for me. (st
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Brad there are two examples of what I said on the board now "blank for Shakey head" and "Small-Medium Crankbait blank" where guys give recommendations on the rod blanks. I monitor the board quite a bit and maintain a list of these recopmmendations. So when someone asks me to build a rod I've got some good input of where to start So as I said if you wanted to get input on sa
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Brad go to the search feature above and search on (for example) spinnerbait blanks or crankbait blanks. You'll get a lot of recommendations and you'll also see trends in characteristics i.e. "power" and "actions" like Robert shows above. As everyone here has said provide some requirements, specific use, lurs, line sizes, etc. and you'll get some great info. you can also g
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Thanks everyone for the answers you provided.
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I just ordered and received my Sorby tools. Went with a 1/8" parting tool (13") long and 1/2" spindle gouge and 3/4" roughing gouge, both (18") long. The gouges seem awful big and long, are these correct for rod building or should I have ordered "mini" tools? The cheaper tools I saw at PSI were a lot shorter.
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