It's tough to beat the Batson Forecast Series 6'6", 4-piece, 2 weight especially considering its' very modest price. I've built several for customers who love them and one for myself. Dan Craft has several 3 piece models in the range you're looking for but I've never fished them.
Forum: rodboard

Try Riley Rods, one of the sponsors. They have a good supply of carbon grip making materials and ready-to-turn foam blocks.
Forum: rodboard

Hopefully you've found something that works for you. Thanks for sharing. I would be interested in knowing how they stand up to the finish you apply over them and how the colors withstand UV light.
Forum: rodboard

It's a good idea if you know what you're trying to accomplish and a bad practice if you don't. Trimming a blank changes more than the length. It also alters the rod's characteristics in terms of power and performance. You may have a blank that's close to what you want and by trimming it a little you could turn it into one that's precisely what you're looking for. The opposite is also true; witho
Forum: rodboard

Thomas Light colors over dark colors (like yellow over black) are always difficult whether you're talking about marbeling, light threads over dark blanks or light paint over darkers walls of a room. The darker color will bleed through and the contrasting lighter color loses its' sharpness. I have had some modest success allowing the light colored epoxy finish to set up to the point where it's
Forum: rodboard

A light grey (as in the Ohio State grey) will respond the same as white when finish is applied. The color of the a dark blank or underwrap will bleed through on all light colors: yellow, white, pale greens and blues, etc.
Forum: rodboard

A light grey (as in the ohio State grey) will respond the same as white when finish is applied. The color of the a dark blank or underwrap will bleed through on all light colors: yellow, white, pale greens and blues, etc.
Forum: rodboard

The dark color of the blank is going to bleed through all light thread colors as you've found out. The effect won't be as great with NCP but you won't be able to see the sheen and character of the individual threads either like you can with the regular thread. NCP thread will give you a solid or "painted-on" look. You can try painting the blank white where you intend to wrap your orange
Forum: rodboard

Has anyone experimented with combining different size threads to produce a variation in the "tiger" effect? In other words, once I've wrapped my base wrap of 2 sharply contrasting colors of "A" thread, what is the effect of using A & D on the top wrap and removing the D thread as the sacrifice thread? With the D thread increasing the distance between the turns of the A th
Forum: rodboard

I have a few partial spools of Gudebrod nylon in seldom-used colors that were produced when the thread was wound on wooden spools. Gudebrod changed to plastic or foam spool probably 20 years ago (give or take a year or two) but the thread is still good. My taste in color must not have changed much over time because I still don't like them so I use them occasionally under a marbled finish. I won
Forum: rodboard

I would recommend a coat of CP. The decal material may not react well to some brands of epoxy finishes. The CP will seal in the decal material and may give it a tad more visual depth. Allow plenty of time for the CP to dry before applying your finish.
Forum: rodboard

I've built a number of them in the 2-3-4-5 weight range. The RX6 represents one of the best values you can find in the lighter line sizes. I think the 6'6' 2 weight and 7'9" 3 weight might be the most popular models. Because they're standard graphite, the blanks designed for the heavier line weights don't seem to be as popular as some of the lighter weight graphites that are available.
Forum: rodboard

Don't forget either that many of the pros and televsion personalities are linked to major tackle manufacturers through sponsoship deals and paid endorsements - none of whom, to my knowledge, offer a spiral wrapped rod to the fishing public. If a fishing personality is being paid to promote his sponsor's product then he has an obligation to speak as positively as he can about their product and he
Forum: rodboard

Michael, I think what you're after is a Crafty's Cutter........go to www.dancraftent.com. Some of the sponsors may carry something similar. I've also used some of the small hole cutters that you can pick up at the hardware store. You'll usually find them among the drill bits. Sam Stoner
Forum: rodboard

Harold, You may also want to consider the PacBay A7 reel seat that is all aluminum in a black finish. The spacer (seat) portion is already fixed to the hoods; the seat and hoods are all one piece. All you need to do is epoxy it to the blank and then install the butt cap. The finish in a non-glossy flat black. Hook and Hackle (Item PBAA7CB) and Mud Hole are 2 sponsors that normally carry this
Forum: rodboard

I've used them to turn grips and they work just fine....but, like Mike pointed out in his reply, you're very limited. The larger mandrels give a much greater range of options.
Forum: rodboard

No need to chop 'em anymore....you can order them in 2 pieces now. I've not heard one negative remark about the Castaway reel seats. Everyone that I've built for using Castaway has remarked how pleased the are with the product. I also can't tell you how often someone has picked up one of my rods and asked "where did you get that reel seat?" I've not used one of the PacBay seats - I'm su
Forum: rodboard

Eric At one time I purchased bundles of fly rod tips (5 to a bundle as I recall) from Angler's Workshop which produced some nice, inexpensive ultralight rods. You might want to contact them to see if they're still offered. Sam Stoner
Forum: rodboard

Scotty, I bought a mini lathe and it works fine but if I had it to do over again I would have spent more to get a larger model. The mini lathe is fine for turning pens, reel seats and other small objects but is very limiting in terms of what you can do with it for rodbuilding. I am hard pressed to turn out anything larger than a medium length fly grip. Standard (conventional) size grips for
Forum: rodboard

It's hard to find a blank that does not look good with garnet - with or without CP.
Forum: rodboard

If it's a tip-over-butt configuration then my guess is that you've got the right pieces if the sections otherwise seem to match up. The butt section will extend +/- a couple of inches or so into the tip section and the tip section will extend the same distance over the butt section = +/- 108 inches = 9 feet. When you assemble the 2 sections if you've got a nice snug, secure connection that hol
Forum: rodboard

Part of the desicion may depend on your work area set up. If it's your intent is to have the power wrapper double as your drying motor/stand then I wouldn't want to use it to turn cork. I don't want that amount of dust anywhere near where I'm applying finish. If you've got a separate area or equipment set up to apply finish then I think the power wrapper will suffice if all you're turning is cork
Forum: rodboard

I don't know if there's a preferred method but I do mine just the opposite. I apply the epoxy to the wraps and let the rod turn in the dryer first. My assummption is that at least some of the epoxy will bleed through the thread and into the tunnel during the turning/drying process. I also thought that if I filled the tunnel first that I would get bleed-through from the inside out and I would have
Forum: rodboard

Cody, Your email is hidden or I would have replied by PM. I thought of this post yesterday when I was in our local Academy Sports (large sporting goods retailer similar to Dick's Sporting Goods). Perhaps you have access to one. I noticed that they carry a small quantity of rod building materials. Among the products are Flexcoat color preserver and Flexcoat epoxyies (both the adhesive and finis
Forum: rodboard

A substitute is liquid floor wax such as Johnson's. It has the same milky white color as CP when it's in the liquid state but dries clear. You will not get as good a bond between the thread and the blank as the real thing but it will give you nearly the same visual effect as genuine color preserver. Note that I said nearly - the floor wax will leave your wraps about a shade darker than genuine CP
Forum: rodboard

Tony I hope I'm understanding your question correctly. When I was turning grips on a threaded rod my first step was to coat the threaded rod with parrafin(sp?) wax like that you would buy in the home canning section of the supermarket. Then I would glue up the cork rings and place them on the wax coated rod. I would place washers (smaller than the diameter of the finished grip) on both ends of
Forum: rodboard

I feel your pain. Sometimes when you get one these opened-ended: "Just make soemthing that looks nice" it can be difficult and that's why I press hard for something a little more difinitive. I frequently suggest marbelizing as the finish especially on bass rods. It's easy to do, it's unique and a bit visually edgey but not so much that it doesn't appeal to almost everyone if you use th
Forum: rodboard

That may be the case with the rod you're building but won't be the case all the time. I normally build fly rods and light to medium fresh water blanks. The tips on these lighter blanks are not hollow and there's no way that any air could pass through them. I read a tip on this website several years ago that I found helpful. I wish I could credit the writer but I don't remember who it was. When
Forum: rodboard

OOps...my error. Thanks for pointing that out, Ray. My earlier post described my experince with Diamondite; not Diamondite II.
Forum: rodboard

Scott I tried Threadmaster when it was first introduced and have been using it since. Last winter, I was working on a few "trial" rods and ordered the small containers of Diamondite II to try because of all the high praise it received here and a few other sites that I frequent. I applied it to several rods and was generally pleased with it except that it just didn't have the clairty
Forum: rodboard