Roger, Looks like I can get Simple Green here in Australia. I had never heard of it before but it sounds great as a really good cleaner/degreaser. I'll grab some and give it a whirl. Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, Thanks for your input. I do wash my hands before starting any wrapping, but not during. I haven't had any issues until now. Mind you I have thought of a few other things. I have bought razor blades from a different source. The ones I usually got previously were in a small pack from a paint shop and were normally dry. The ones i have now do have oil on them. That could be the
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G'day All, I have been doing some repairs lately and have been having issues with fisheyes. I have just been stripping broken guides, binding on new ones, 2 coats of CP then epoxy. As I don't know the history of the rods I also don't know what products the owner may have used on them i.e. lubricants on guides or waxes/sprays to preserve the look of the rod. What should I do to avoid this
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G'day Guys, Thanks fro your further input. Bill B, the grip is flocked cork and the ramps are shaped into the end of the cork, so unfortunately I am not able to do as you suggest. It may very well be an option for future grips though. Bill E, thanks for further confimation that this is the way to go. Cheers Jason
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G'day Tom, I reckon you're right. It will probably be easier to flock after. I will try some DNA and a cotton bud in order to finish this grip and see how it goes. I went with the thread bound ramps as I really like the look but obviously I didn't anticipate this issue. How did you finish off the front end of your grips? Just a winding check glued over the flock or did you leave a bare spot
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G'day Guys, I'm after a bit of help regarding the above. I have made a flocked cork foregrip for a standup rod I'm building and have a ramp either end of the flocking, the same as you would do on a leather grip. My issue occurs when I'm putting epoxy on the binding on the ramps. It doesn't seem to matter how careful I am applying the epoxy, I get some epoxy bleeding off the thread and into the
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G'day Dave, I have the PearLabel 360 and have the same issue to some extent. I have noticed that on black blanks the edges are more visible than on a pink rod I recently did. I am however not too fussed about it. This label printer gives me such great flexibility to print labels that I think that outweighs the slightly visible edges. I would not want to be tied to buying a whole sheet of de
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G'day Guys, Thanks for the further comments. I will take them on board. Bill, I will be in saltwater so any of the Mg framed reels are out I'm afraid. Carlos, thanks for the heads up on line diameter. I will keep that in mind when sorting out my rig. Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, Thankyou all for your contributions. I reckon from your responses that I can do what I need. I currently use a spinning rod but sometimes just prefer the baitcaster. I will probably only use 6-8lb braid line and I'm thinking about 7' for the rod. I tend to use 3/8 a fair bit for dropshotting so that should be fine and if I can manage a reasonable distance with a 1/4oz jighead and a
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G'day Guys, Whilst I own a couple of baitcasters, I've never really thought about or needed a setup that will cast really light weights. But I am thinking of setting one up with dropshotting in mind but I would also like to be able to cast a jighead if required. Assuming a good quality low profile baitcaster with a shallow spool and a a rod made to match, what do you reckon would be the lighte
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G'day Guys, Thanks for your input. Michael, I think you are right, on a reel with a fair bit of upsweep where the angle is steeper, it just doesn't seem to work to put another guide in there. I reckon it looks OK and the static test seems pretty good. The size 20 butt guide is right on 17 inches from the reel face. I think I might go back to the 16 (which I did test cast with initially)
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G'day All, Further to my post a little while back, I have now set up the rod with guides taped on. It seems to cast well. I am using a Daiwa Caldia 3000, 20lb braid and 20lb fluoro leader. Blank is a Matrix 8-14lb, 1/4-5/8 cast weight. Butt guide is a 20, then an 8 then the size 6 KB choker and size 6 guides to the tip. I can cast a 1/2 jig head about 45 metres (about 145 feet). From that poin
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G'day Guys, Thanks for your input. I think I'll get a copy of the Rodmaker issue and then go from there. Thanks for the tips on where to look. Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, I have been asked to build a rod with a leather foregrip and my client is asking for the leather to be brown. I have searched quite a few of the sponsors sites and there seems to be plenty of leather foregrip material in black, but none that I have found in brown. Do any of you know of a source of brown leather foregrip material? If not, do you reckon it is possible to make my o
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G'day Shawn, I'm not a super experienced builder but I'll tell you what I do and some of it might help you out. 1/ Butt wraps. Double some masking tape back on itself to hold the end of the threads. When you get a few threads on the tape it starts to lose its stickiness. Put another layer of tape on and go again. 2/ Trim bands. I think the secret with doing the trim bands the way you des
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G'day Tom, I have explained to my customer that chair rods can't be used for anything other than in the chair. He is comfortable with that. He also has quite a few standup type rods, some of which I have built for him and I know he understands the difference and realises that trying to use a chair rod standup will achieve very little other than to cause him all sorts of pain! Thanks again f
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G'day Tom, Thanks for the input. I suspect that if, as you say, these rods end up around the 7" mark I reckon they will be fine. I had intended to use the Aftco or equivalent size 4 & 6 bent butt. Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, I have been asked to build a couple of chair rods, 1 at 80lb and one at 130lb. I have done a search here and gleaned some good information so far but probably need a little more help. I am assuming that for the 80 I will need an Aftco (or equivalent) size 4 unibutt and for the 130 a size 6. Is that correct? I am also assuming that I don't want the short versions of the unibut
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Jim, I noticed on another post you mention your catalogue has some grouping info in the back for KL-H guides. I'm in Australia but was wondering if the catalogue is available as a download? Regards Jason
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Thanks Jim, I appreciate your time and advice. Regards Jason
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G'day Guys, Thankyou all very much for your input. I know where I am headed now. Do you think it is necessary to use the KB guides at the choke point or can I just go straight to a KT? Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, I know I am a bit behind the times but I am trying to get my head around the KR concept. I think I am nearly there but I have a few questions. The KR Concept seems to use 4.5 guides as running guides. These may be a bit small for my purposes with regard to knot clearance (12lb braid and 20lb fluoro leader) so can I use a bigger running guide and how will that affect the choke zo
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G'day Tom, I tried again and tightened the reel seat properly and it does, as you suggested, hold the reel just fine as the slots do taper. I just didn't want to do this initially for fear of marking the reel feet. Thanks Jason
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G'day Guys, Have any of you built a rod specifically for the Accurate SR50 and if so what reel seat did you use? I am building a 37kg rod which will see use for bottom bashing but also for trolling for tuna. I was thinking of using an Aftco aluminium butt for this rod but the slots in the hoods for the reel feet are too wide for the Accurate and could see the reel slide around the seat. In
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G'day Russell, Thanks for your suggestion. I reckon they are getting close. As you suggest, the tip strength for trolling will be the thing I need to look at closely. Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, Thanks for your input. Bill, yes I am talking about 13lb line and I think you would be very lucky to land a tuna of 200lb on 6kg. The Australia record for Southern Bluefin on 6kg is 21.68kg for adults. Tom, I'll have a lok at hotshot/backbounce blanks. Thanks for your suggestion. Todd, I'm not sure an IGFA blank will work really well as a standup rod but I'll have a look a
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G'day Guys, I've been asked to investigate building a 6kg Tuna rod and having never built anything that light, I'm struggling with blank selection. The rod would be used with a Shimano Tiagra 12 to fish 6kg line class for possible records. Fishing method would be trolling lures and fighting would be done standup. I guess I'm looking at probably 6'6" rod length. None of the blank manufa
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G'day guys, Thanks for your responses. I will have a look into the dblue guides and also think about the virtus heavy. Cheers Jason
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G'day Guys, What guides do you like for overhead jig rods (butterfly jigs)? I'm thinking American Tackle in either Virtus Light or Heavy. The rod I am building will be 80lb. Is the Virtus Heavy necessary for this line weight or can I use the Virtus Light? Does anyone have any other suggestions for guides? Fuji MNSG maybe? Regards Jason
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Thanks for all your input Guys, Can anyone tell me the Volume number of the Rodmaker that has the article about adding the drying motor? I will try ans source it through Ian Miller if he still keeps Rodmaker here in Aus. Cheers Jason
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