Mike .... do you want a pic of the cut on the thumb? LOL Mini Rod pics are in the photo section. Thanks so much for your help and encouragement. Many of you on this forum are a part of every rod I do!
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Oops! Not the best spelling error to make with my name.... I cut my thumb with a scalpel last evening too. I need to get more sleep!
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Built a mini fly rod for a friends baby boy. Big Montana State fans. The rod is a 5'6'' hybred from a St Croix and a Sage, Reel was so small that I had to build my own reel seat out of Andy burl, cut it flat and shapped a plastic plate on it. Then wrapped it tightly with Trimar blue and silver metallic. Marbled the split inbetween the grips and marbled the reel seat. (Thanks putter and Bark
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I build a few here in Clive. Will be going to the big show in Highpoint. Learned a lot there last year. Good to know there are some other builders around. Keep me posted David.
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Chuck, I have brushed them on. But the last two times it has been a very straight / drip type brush. I spatula all my epoxy finish work. I will try it again here with a spatula and just drip it on. This is very puzzling to me and that usually means there is a very simple solution. lol I could have wrapped an entire fly rod in the amount of time I've spent on this. Thanks
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Have any of you had Sulky Metallic trim wraps expand / come loose as you apply 811 CP to them? I had a double trim wrap of a Sulky Cooper come loose from the application of 811. Cut the whole thing out and rewrapped at a little higher tension. The trim is going on with a Gudebrod Garnet thread base.. Same thing happened. Cut the whole thing out and re-did it with a 'nail-knot' trim. Same th
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Randy & Family have had a tough fall with a couple of his in laws passing. I touched emails with him a couple weeks ago. He sounded busy but sad. I have kept them in our prayers and wish him the best.
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Bronze color would be just fine . I am not looking for actual copper. Just need some single foot wire guides and a tip top for a 5 wt rod I am re-doing for friend. Thanks
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I am in need of set of single foot wire copper colored fly guides. Have checked several sites but can't get a lock on "Copper color". Will call a few places tomorrow but thought I'd check here too. Thanks
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What have some of you found to be especially effecient / good for sharpening your wood lathe tools? How much can you do with a belt sander? Precautions, suggestions very welcome! Thanks Steve
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East & West rod builders?!? I am truly a "Tweener". I have been building for just a few years and learned so much from the friendly folks on this forum and I live in Iowa, the middle of the country. Three pertinent things happened to me this last year related in part to this particular post. I am semi retired but I do do some inservice work that takes me all over the nation. I
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I often trace aruond a standard cork ring to get a perfect cicle on foam trim handle material. I then cut them into as perfect a circle I can create .How do some of you then find the exact center point of the cut out trim ring and how do you punch it out? Thanks Stever
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Mike.... did find two sheets of Maroon ( Hobby Lobby) in a multi pack for $ 4. It will be more than enough to do the rods. Thanks all!
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I have three rods to build this winter for high school seniors .Their school colors are Maroon / Gold. I want to put some thin foam trim rings in the burl and cork handle I will do. I have checked all my usual souces( Joan's, Walmart, Craft stores) for foam sheets and have not found any Maroon or Burgandy. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
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Tell Tina to keep a couple of the prettier ones for inlays; get the jade plants some place safe and put the pups outside.
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I like the Tenn handles for my lighter, more sensitive fresh water spinning rods. I often cut out and flatten the reel seat area just big enough to fit the actual reel I will be using. It is also good to put a couple of stronger type rings in the actual reel seat area to absorb the smash-in pressure of the metal reel foot. Hard burl, plastic poker chips, thin wood rings can suffice for this a
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Brant, I just posted a photo of a redwood end piece for a fly rod where I inlaid a small fly and also some Metallic Gold thread into the wood. I want to second what Mick said about color preserver if you plan to maintain the original colors of the fly. Might be wise to practice your inlay a few times an an old blank. Good luck and post a few shots when you get-er-done.
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I got it Ray. Nice job...thanks!
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Tim You didn't say what size fly rod it is going to be. If it is a larger weight fly rod and will have a fighting butt anyway, you might want to consider making the end ring of the butt piece out of some beautiful hardwood and then inlay your charm into the wood. You can also inlay some matching metallic thread into the wood surrounding the charm. The handle could still be fancied up with
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The owner of a small local hardware store where I get a lot of my general rod building items loves to see the finished rods. Recently he gave me a couple of old steel rods and the butt section (35") of an old bamboo fly rod. There is no writing on it. The reel seat and full wells cork handle are 10 ". The reel seat looks to be gold color aluminum and is down locking. The one stripp
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Phillip for what it's worth, I have tried a lot of pens in the last few years. This is what I have currently found to be the best in the Silver and Gold. I buy the Pilot Silver marker in Gold and in Silver (extra fine point). I shake them up well and then dab the point onto an old photo until I get a small pool of paint. I then use a very fine point "quill" pen from an art s
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Ray did I see that blank in the early stages of wrapping / finishing? I may have even been at that fishing hole too. The Muskie is supposed to be the 'Fish of a 1000' casts. Glad one of those many casts was rewarded with a nice Salmon during this slow fall run . I have never built on Baston but I plan to try one this winter. Thanks!
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I was fly fishing last year in a light mist and the grip seemed a little slick. I had some Tourney Grip in a bag in the car from a tennis match I had played earlier. I wrapped it over the handle. But my casting stroke fell apart. For some reason I kept casting from low to high and the fly was landing with a lot of topspin on it. So I took it off and went back to what I was used to.
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What have some of you found to be 'easy to locate' material to make 1 1/4" and 1/4" punches for birch bark rings? Thanks
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Ronnie I have a 6' Med Light SCv rod. I have titanium single foot guides and put a cork Tennessee handle on it as Ray suggested. I fish a Shimano Spirex 1000 on it. I do not use slide rings to lock the reel down. I use a couple of 1/2 inch strips of waterproof adhesive tape. This rod is super light and extremely sensitive. Since you are going to use very light line, I would also sugges
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I used Gudebrod Metallic Black as my main base thread for a light spin rod. On the very edge of a few wraps my finish epoxy will not build up and take. I have done two coats with 24 hours between them. Is the Metallic just not suitable as a main wrap. I had read where a few builders have used it with nice success. I had Gold Metallic an bright orange nylon for for single trim wraps. Looks
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Someone told me or I read it somewhere that it is best to mix your finish epoxy in a particular order. I can't remember if it is resin first or hardener first? Any thoughts? Thanks!
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"What goes around, comes around" You have helped so many of us. Enjoy the reel seat and the rod. I hope to see it sometime. Also, where do you get your liguid leaf?
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Thanks for all the feedback. I feel a lot better about still being very slow. The better I get the more I can tell when I'm doing a poor job and I just do that part over. I tell friends that if they want something in a hurry I will put together a rod that they can buy cheaper at Wally Woirld. If they want the fancy stuff it will be done in a steady, slow manner. Usually takes a couple of wee
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I'm curious! Approx. how much time are some of you more experienced builders putting in to your higher quality builds? I know you guys doing the fancy weaves have multiple hours in just the weaving alone but if you take weaving out of the equation, how much time are you putting into a nice build..... guides, wraps, handles, inlays, finish?!? Thanks
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