So far vinegar soaking has delivered the best overall results with Abalone for me, but even then small hairline cracks are visible. Yesterday I tried something on a whim and it will be my Abalone method of choice from now on. I scanned a piece of Abalone and saved it to disc. Then I took some of the decal media from the Rodmaker article and just printed myself some Abalone. In photoshop I can
Forum: rodboard

What many propoents of the Cone of Flight System do not understand, is that the New Guide Concept IS the Cone of Flight System as far as the guides between the reel and the choker guide are concerned. The system just brings the line under control sooner instead of using the entire rod length to do it. The NGC is a proven system and has been for over a decade. Arguing over whether or not it works
Forum: rodboard

Bill Stevens, Forget it.....you either refuse to read my posts or I have failed to explain myself very well. You are not in any way talking about the same thing I am. These are two totally different topics.
Forum: rodboard

I can see that you fellows are either not readiing my posts or refusing to read them carefully enough to understand what I am talking about. You will not find a more vigorous supporter of using what you call “micro guides” but that term is going to doom them after a brief honeymoon. When they begin showing up on rods that should not have them, and they will, the fishermen who bu
Forum: rodboard

Bill Stevens- You are either not listening to what I am saying, or you do not understand what I am saying. We should revisit this topic in a year and then I think you will understand my comments better. Less than one in ten thousand fishermen read any of the M&M topics here on this board. You are fooling yourself if you think fishermen understand the mechanics of what you call "mic
Forum: rodboard

I never offer to use "micro guides." I always insist upon using whatever guides are the proper size for the specific rod. And yes.......we have decided what to call them. We call them "fishing rods."
Forum: rodboard

......and that is the exact danger and problem I am referring to. Because few fishermen and many rod builders do not understand the mechanics behind guide sizing, they will just pick up a rod termed "micro" and if it does not work they will forever believe that micro guides are no good and do not work. They will not say that the guides were too small for their application. They will sa
Forum: rodboard

That's my point! Rather than understanding that they used guides that were too small for those applications, they simply believe that "micro guides" do not work. If you are going to credit micro guides in general with making a rod cast great, then be prepared to fault them in general when the same "micro guides" fail in another application. Not every builder and few fishermen
Forum: rodboard

A fisherman I met at the coast two weeks ago had a plugging rod that a custom builder had made him with "micro" guides. The rod would not cast decently. The guides were too small for this particular application. That's one. Anopther fisherman/rod builder that bought a surf blank from me went home and installed micro guides on it. Without even testing it he finished it out and found t
Forum: rodboard

This might surprise you, but if you had built that rod with something other than micro guides it would still "Holy Cow"..... Go. I am all for reducing weight by the use of smaller guides when it is practical to do so, but the idea that putting micro guides on a rod somehow turns a bad casting experience into a good one is just not reality. We all have rods that do not have any micro gui
Forum: rodboard

Burkheimer. He'll love it. Fairly rated and easy to cast. Sweet.
Forum: rodboard

Link please. I would like to see one out of curiousity. I thought I kept up with all this stuff.
Forum: rodboard

I would think TFO would have or could get you a dealer list.
Forum: rodboard

Hated to see Fenwick go and now hate to see Loomis go. But as long as somebody demands blanks at that performance level and price point, a company somewhere will service ithat demand. More guys should look to St. Croix IMO. Their numbering and blank selection is a little hodge podge here and there, but I have successfully switched most of my high end customers over to their SCIV and SCV and not s
Forum: rodboard

There is no need to speculate what happens in these situations. Look at the parallel histories of the general fishing tackle business versus that of the fly fishing business in the last twenty years! The general fishing tackle business went to the highest bidder and lowest seller. Prices were slashed, discounts were offered. Mom and Pop shops closed by the thousands leaving most fishermen no c
Forum: rodboard

Mine arrived today. Just finished reading "Hot Dogs or Rod Blanks." Laughed myself silly. But it's all so very true!
Forum: rodboard

A rod blank that is 100% supported along its full length and one that is not supported at all will do exactly the same thing and have the same deadlift capacity. You can tie a line to the tip and load the totally unsupported blank to failure. Then if you could take the same blank and run the line up through the inside of the blank and out the tip, totally supporting it along the entire length, an
Forum: rodboard

I hope you didn't come here to pedal that lost stuff. There are too many truly experienced builders here for that. Take a look at really HD offshore trolling rods with roller guides. Guess what? The second guide doesn't load on them either until the flex is way back into the rod. Guides don't need to load. Get that out of your head. It is the rod blank that loads and the rod blank will load w
Forum: rodboard

It's not a tutorial..... it's both of the original articles. Look in the online library on this site an pay attention to the tips and tricks listed in the articles.
Forum: rodboard

You should use the URRS component of the CCS. It takes up where the CCS left off powerwise and added both tip power and power resevior readings. I don't use them but probably should look into it. The ERN scale isn't linear. But you can make it out about as far as any fishing rod would ever need. I won't put all the math here, for now just multiply your pennies by .09 and the result will be you
Forum: rodboard

I have extrapolated the weights out further than where I think Dr. Bill is right now. He was darn clever in how he did this but I think I figured it out. 192 pennies would indicate an ERN of about 17.2.
Forum: rodboard

No, a fly rod is designed to throw weight, period. Just like a casting and spinning rod. Weight comes in many forms from lines to sinkers to lures. But to the rods, it's all weight. Line weight as in pound test or line class information on non-fly rods was once put there to ensure the fisherman would stay within safe limits. Not anything having to do with actual weight. The manufacturer would
Forum: rodboard

Doesn't look like a recoil unless its more close up than I think it is. The wire is too heavy. Probaby a hard chrome plated Pac Bay Twister guide. I think AMTAC makes something similar.
Forum: rodboard

You cannot find a single rod blank that can tell you what type of rod blank it is. They are all made the same way with the same equipment. For crying out loud they are all just tapered shafts! When you try to turn them into more than that you get into trouble and lose sight of the forest for the trees. You can measure the length of any rod blank in inches and feet. The higher the number the lo
Forum: rodboard

Eights may be too large but they won't be too small in most cases. So they're a safe bet if you are not sure what line set up you plan to use. A 9wt is stout enough to carry eights without bothering much of anything.
Forum: rodboard

Bass rods are my main business. I use the CCS to dial right in on techique specific rods. It has never let me down nor do I expect it ever will. Over the years I have by trial and error come up with blank models that work well for different techniques. In the last few years I have been running the CCS numbers for them and listing them in my notebook under the different categories they fit into
Forum: rodboard

Tom has your answer. I do it all the time. Guys who fish the small creeks and streams of the smokies rarely get much more than ten to twenty feet of line out. I take blanks listed at 2 and 3 weights and label them as "4wt" and the customers string them up with #4 lines, fish them, love them, and think I'm the world's greatest rod builder. It is none of their business what blank I selec
Forum: rodboard

I build on the straightest axis and disregard the spine. I mark the sections and then add either feather quills or small inlaid threads for alignment marks.
Forum: rodboard

I was impressed with your wrapper at the Expo. If I was in the market for a hand wrapper I would buy yours in a heartbeat. It's the cream of the crop in hand wrappers right now.
Forum: rodboard

I doubt that any of the newer under $500 lathes will be the equal of your old one. They don't build them like that anymore. Not sure what model you have, but just like the old Craftsman lathes, some of the MG models are gems.
Forum: rodboard