Rayon is weaker and tends to be fuzzier. Rayon also has less sheen than either nylon or polyester. Mike Blomme
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All of the responses above are correct and true, but there is another reason I build custom rods. I remember many years ago listening to an interview with a man who had climbed Mt. Everest. He was asked why he climbed the mountain. His answer was simple. He said "Because I can". That is another reason I build rods: "Because I can." During my life, I have met many peo
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I'm not sure, but Winston may use varnish although that may be limited to their bamboo rods. Mike Blomme
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Woody, I have had quite the opposite action from them. I have been a customer for nearly ten years and they have been friendly and helpful. My orders are filled promptly and if something gets back ordered, they contact me and inform me of the delay. They often do favors for me to minimize my shipping costs and extra work. For example, I wanted to build a couple of reamers from a solid fiberg
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Thomas, back in the late 1970s I was teaching at St. Martin's College in Lacy Washington. The college tried tried to encourage adult students to the college by offering non credit courses. I offered a rod building course. I had five students and I contacted Shoff's, Fishing tackle Supply house. They offered my students a discount for the parts needed to build a fishing rod. I believe they are
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Hi Dave, That is a very very nice job. The rod is beautiful. Mike Blomme
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Modern color preservers are a suspension of solids in a solvent. Water based CPs use water as the solvent. When you dilute a CP, you are applying less of the solids and more water. The water will evaporate leaving less solids covering the thread. When I do a decorative wrap, I know the surface is going to be uneven. I apply the CP in the same manner as my inscription area. I begin at the en
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Tim, if this rod dates back to the 1970s, the finish on the wraps may have been varnish. When you remove all the guides, you might want to really clean the rod with a no scratch sponge pad. This might remove all of the oxidation/crud that is on the blank. Trying this will only set you back a short amount of time. If the gloss comes back, then you won't need re-coat the blank. Mike Blomme
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I am planning to build a fly rod for an old friend. I have narrowed the choices down to a Pac Bay Quickline, Batson Eternity 2, and Batson Revelation. I have built on the Pac Bay Quickline and really liked the feel of the rod. I recognize that the term feel is an ephemeral one but I know it when I cast the rod. I have looked up the specs (Butt diameters, Tip Top diameters, weight, and stated
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Kevin, Try Angler's Workshop. They sell Hypalon for rod grips. You can access them from the list at your left. Mike Blomme
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Cameron, You didn't mention where you are going to be fishing. If you are going to be fishing in saltwater environments, I would suggest using silicon carbide for the tip top or perhaps the new torzite rings. The reason is that saltwater contains more grit that is suspended in the water. I doubt there would be any large improvement if you use SiC over an alconite for the guides. For my surf
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Rex, Check with our sponsors on the left. They sell resets with a fighting butt. Often it is removable so you can use only when needed. Good luck with your project. Mike Blomme
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Unless your stripping guide is a single foot guide, there is no rationale for having the arrowhead shaped guide. If your stripping guide is a single foot guide, there is some rationale as Roger explained. When I prep my single foot guides, I try to eliminate the arrowhead shape as much as possible. I always use the Forhan locking wrap to eliminate any possibility of a guide coming undone. As
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Does anyone know the difference between the Pac Bay DL5 and DL3 skeleton fly reel seats? Please let me know since the specs seem to be the same. Thanks. Mike Blomme
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Spencer, I may have misinterpreted your post, but you don't need to have a power wrapper to wrap a fishing rod. A simple hand wrapper will do quite nicely. You can find one for sale by almost all of the sponsors on the left side of this web page. I started out using a cup to hold my spool of thread and a dictionary to apply tension. Today I have a power wrapper, but only use it for applying
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SilaFlex was a high end blank and rod manufacturer. They had a patent on the fiberglass and resin materials they used. I built an 8 ft spinning rod on one of their blanks. Their blanks were honey colored. Over time they darkened. They were purchased by Browning Arms who wanted to use their fiberglass patent to make other things such as Pole Vaulting poles and I remembered reading that they
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Thank you for your comments Lance. Mike Blomme
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Hi Dwayne, I started using this product about seven years ago when I saw a bowl turner at a crafts show use the turquoise tinted Inlace in a bowl. I made a few grips with the turquoise tinted Inlace and they turned out well. Since that time I have used colorless inlace tinted with powdered dyes. I also use the thickener just to make it easier to apply. The material is relative heavy and
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Hi Jim, I echo what Randolph mentioned. I would also suggest trying Western Juniper. This would is light and has an interesting texture of reddish and light cream wood with small knots as well. I have used it for inserts and fly rod grips. Good luck with your project. Mike Blomme
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Thanks Ryan, I thought I might get more responses from people who have built on the eternity 2 Blanks. I'm pretty sure that the eternity 2 will be the bank I buy. One concern I have is the color. I was looking for a dark blue Like the Forecast midnight blue rather than a lighter blue. I have only seen the eternity blank on my computer or in magazines. Neither are accurate in displaying col
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Hello Folks, The last time I built a fly rod for myself was 1986. I had attended a Fly Fishing Expo in Lansing Michigan and had stopped at an Orvis Booth where I cast a 9.5 foot 8 wt Fly rod in their inflated casting pool. My first cast was hideous. I realized that I was trying to force the rod when I should have let the rod show me what it could do. On all subsequent casts I let the rod tel
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I find this discussion interesting, but a bit bewildering. Like many of you I have been building rods for many years. When I first started building rods, we had a type of model airplane lacquer for CP and varnish for a finish. That CP was rather difficult to work with because the solvent in the lacquer evaporated so quickly. I was told that if you don't apply CP, your wraps will turn very dark
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Good Morning Skip, It depends on the orange. If it is a rust orange, I would try a teal color. If it is a bright orange I would go with either a green or a blue. Depending on your color tastes, you might try a a dark cobalt blue or a dark forest green. When choosing colors, the choice always depends on the individual. How you perceive colors varies from person to person. If you have suffi
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Hi Tom, As I recall back in the COF days, there were fold down guides that allowed small guide rings to be used. The guides could be spaced just as the larger rings so that there was straight line from butt guide to the tip top which functioned as the choke guide. I suspect (but don't really know) that these folding guides were never very popular. As a result we used very large rings in order
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Andrew, Gudebrod made both nylon and silk threads in a large variety of colors in sizes ranging from 2/0 (slightly smaller than A) to EE. As mentioned by others their threads were very smooth and almost glossy. They also made what is called Classic two color twist threads in which two different colored strands were twisted together. The colors of these included red/white, green/white, blue/wh
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If you have read the posts, you can see the common theme is: use whatever color you like. People who choose colors when designing clothes for the wealthy and famous may want to dither over just the right shade or color, but rod builders don't have to or need to. Have fun. Mike Blomme
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Fenwick began producing fiberglass rods in the early 1960s. At that time I was living in Santa Monica, California and a custom rod builder, Cliff Wyatt told me he thought that Fenwick blanks were quite excellent. He had been building all of his flyrods on Harnell blanks, but thought that Fenwick blanks were also excellent. Mike Blomme
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HI Tom, Are the varnishes like Rod Dancer made from urethanes? How do they differ from Perma Gloss? Thanks for your help. Mike Blomme
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Hi Randolph, I am sorry I never knew that. Thank you for clearing that up. Just before I sent that post, I wondered if Dale Clemens had actually developed that technique. In any event, I also thank you for developing that technique. I Have used it for many years. Mike Blomme
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John, Years ago I read a book on fiberglass rod building by Dale Clemens. In the section on wrapping he explained a method he had developed. He inserted the thread loop in the wrap about three or four threads earlier so the loop was covered by more thread. When he finished the wrap, he inserted the tag end of the thread through the loop. He then gently pulled the loop until it was just under
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