i'm about to start fly rod number 6 and i'm using a cheap hand wrapper i purchased off of @#$%& (it was a means to try one out and then figure out what details could be an improvement, then build my own at a later time). it's been working fine (except for some small details in design) and i find myself turning that blank pretty fast with my fingers. this is a hobby for me and i imagine a drastic
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i have a temple fork outfitters 9 foot 5 weight fly rod, the professional series. the hardware feels so light, it might be aluminum. it also feels so light, it feels cheap. the heft of nickle silver just adds to the value in my mind. and perceived sturdiness, which is probably debatable! ;-) i have noticed some notching and nicks from wear on my aluminum seat. would n/s do this? i'm kind of ha
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just curious... why ontario california for the western version of the show in 2006? personally, i love heading north for anything. the bay area, sacramento area, etc. in fact, now that i bring it up, fresno itself, located in central california between the sierra nevada and the pacific ocean, would be a GREAT location, helping meet the travel needs for thos in northern and central californ
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"wish more of you could have found a way to be here!" me too :-( eric fresno, ca.
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thanks john! actually, i've put it off for tomorrow, sunday, maybe. i am affixing this DC water slide alignment "diamond" to a forecast blank, so it's glossy, not matte or satin. from your personal experience is a base coat of finish still required? i read from myles' forwarded instructions that it's recommended, but they do not specify any difference between glossy or other blank
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just curious... any local media in charlotte covering the event? i should have thought of this before... but a simple press release sent out to local media could have churned up some local coverage for the sat evening news, pumping up attendence even more so for sunday. it's never too late to place a call to a couple of news desks at local tv stations.. people working sundays at my newspaper a
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i found a pair of scissors/snips, the kind which are used for sewing without loops for the fingers or thumbs for about $1.39 at my local harbor freight tools. cheap, somewhat primitive when it comes to the finish, but cuts thread cleanly and quickly. eric fresno, ca.
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thanks myles! i really appreciate you sending the instructions. eric fresno, ca.
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howdy all. of course i choose THIS weekend to apply my new decal connection alignment dots... can anybody offer the basic instructions posted by decal connection at their site as well as tips or advice you've developed? i'm using a mac computer and have tried three different web browsers and none allow me to view the rod builders area or what might be the decal instruction page. how clos
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i've got a 6rpm dryer.. and think it's too slow... ;-) next step up i've seen on established manufactured dryers are 11 and 18. any votes out there for either?? eric fresno, ca.
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i actually LIKE the look of this stripper, much more than the traditional fly stripper style and think i'll start using them more often. pac bay offers it and it's the Model N guide. greg's custom rods and utmost are two vendors which carry them if i recall correctly, should be more if you look around. eric fresno, ca.
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i'm picking up a feeling that there are those who would not welcome new rodbuilders into the community. particularly en masse. god help me if i'm wrong... ;-) .... but i think this goes back to an article tom had in his magazine where those who are serious about this craft will learn to differentiate themselves and their work from the majority. afraid of more people learning what you know?
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john mentioned expensive software programs. when i was a mac geek, before i became a flyfishing geek (and now fly rod assembly geek) it was generally regarded a cool aspect that peripherals like flat bed scanners came bundled with software for editing images. often times, i would weed out scanners with subpar software (for my needs) and concentrate on those which came bundled (for free) with ligh
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i think tom is referring to the blank companies themselves, not distributors of all types of components from a super emporium of different companies' products like mudhole. it WOULD be nice, from my point of view of course, if my pac bay, batson, lamiglas, diamondback, etc catalogs included such information. i think there is a sizeable population out there which orders the lamiglas (or any oth
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yup, U40 Rod Bond. i too, like clyde, use leftover plastic utensils, generally the knife form, sometimes spoon, or i break off the end of a fork, or those REALLY cool inventions, the spoon/fork hybrid thingie. i should use popsicle sticks i gues, more environmentally friendly, but at elast i'm reusing the plastic stuff, and how environmentally friendly can small amounts of rod bond be anyway?
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i have yet to try out a batson rainshadow, but just built a pac bay rainforest 7'9" 2 piece for 3 weight and a rainforest 9' 4 piece for 4 weight. both are very pretty traditional greens. i don't think you could go wrong between a rainshadow or rainforest. and both are in the same ballpark price-wise, unlike the recent query comparing rainforest and tiger eyes. now THAT one was apples and or
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looking goooooood, john. eric fresno, ca.
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you guys need more friends, pass the rods out , live some of the fishing vicariously!!!!! there's always the quiet hours to wrap and build between 11pm and 4am.... who needs sleep? ;-) just kidding of course, this is only my first season wrapping and i hope to have about 6 fly rods completed by the official april opener, all but two are going out to friends and dad, but i too am feeling a
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i've seen such offerings on @#$%& (i think). check out these specific items if you don't find a better lead. got to @#$%&.com and in the search window, type in these item numbers one by one: 7136573543 7136577151 and finally 7136911880 . this last seller, nemo3516, offers quite a few interesting odds and ends from golden witch. eric fresno, ca.
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tim, you're right, rainforest is pacific bay, rainshadow is batson. gerry, i've made that mistake too many times. ;-) one difference. tiger eyes are made in china i believe. rainshadows are made in usa. interesting question. i'm looking forward to hearing replies. i would lean towards the pac bay blanks. i have one tiger eye, which i love the color. i have had two rainforests from pacba
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Hmmmmm. ok, besides the lone vote for, by david, most are in agreement that "spiraling" fly guides serves no practical purpose. i posed the question not as a possible means to increase shooting line ability or for rod stability as is usually the case for spiraling bigger rods. it just seems like with my left hand held outwards a bit, "holding line," it would make sense to
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if anyone wants the 6 inch version, i visited my local harbor freight tool emporium and the 6 inch version is listed for around $29 i think. on their web site, it's listed on sale for $15.99. the local shop said they'd honor the online deal if a printout of the page was brought in. looks like the same brand. eric fresno, ca.
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does minwax specifically "seal" cork, or is it the nature of any stain? just wondering. eric fresno, ca.
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i've seen photos of spiral wrapped rods on the photo pages and read a little about them during discussions here. i think i have a grasp for it's intended use. i'm wondering if anyone has mounted guides on a fly rod in a semi-spiral fashion, specifically, say the last 2-3 guides, closest to the grip. as an example, if someone held the rod in their right hand and loose line in their left, the l
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john... errr, which drawers are you referring to? uhhh, nevermind. ;-) eric fresno, ca.
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who has real good quality this WEEK for retail??? ;-) eric fresno, ca.
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don (and anyone else) i grabbed light cherry, golden pecan, traditional cherry and i think, traditional walnut. or maybe it was american walnut. the only one i tried was light cherry and at first i didn't like it. thought it was too red, or even pinkish. but i think it changed a bit after i rubbed it a bit with fine steel wool. most people say go for the golden pecan which i'll try next.
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just wanted to give a heads up to those thinking about experiments with staining cork grips. i went down to my local orchard supply hardware in search of minwax stain, as often recommended here, and found varathane permium wood stain sample packets for 29 cents each. it comes in many wood stain shades. one small packet easily could have done two 7 inch fly grips, one coat each. i used one pack
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ed, rod blanks for $1 a foot sounds great, i can easily see why someone would jump at something like that. but we're talking about blemished blanks of which i have zero experience. what kind of blemishes are usually encountered? a blank for under $20 guaranteed as top quality from that particular manufacturer (or the dealer) sounds great to me when it comes with a basic understanding tha
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shanon... i asked because i just bought a couple of nice fly blanks, first quality, one was $14. you can get blems for cheaper, but $14's already insanely cheap and believe me, i AM cheap ;-) good luck eric fresno, ca.
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