After making my last post above, I was reading the MSDS sheet at the link given earlier, something stood out and that was the description of Liquid Glass as a 'Creamy Blue Substance". The Liquid Glass that's been around for years in the classic and show car arena has always been a beige liquid. I have never seen or used any that is blue. Upon further digging, and a trip out to the garage, I
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I am not sure weather I'd use Liquid Glass on a rod, for several reasons, if a repair is needed down the road, will you be able to remove it to recoat? Second, the way they describe the stuff, it may actually trap contaminants under the coating they describe. Third, from past experience, I am not sure that I trust the stuff. Back around 1985 when this stuff seemed to pop onto the market, a bud
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It may sound crazy, but I was just thinking that since it's white, how about one of those spot remover pens, or bleach pens? I've used them on nylon oppolstery before with good results. I don't think that they would hurt the wrap, but it may be worth a try? Of course it may just be as easy to rewrap too. A google search gave me this: I'd try a test on something unimportant to see how it wor
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If you have a tax ID number to show you are a legit business, there are many that will sell to you direct, but you often have to meet a buy-in quota or meet certain minimum purchase amounts. The problem I have is that I would never buy enough from one source to justify an open wholesale account with any one company and no one supplier has everything. You also have to watch shipping costs, many wi
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I had a guy bring me an earlier Lamiglas XC today, broke in 2 places, the first just beyond the tip, at about 1 3/8" long and the other at about 14" long. The blank looks to be a 15-25lb 7', custom built by another builder who's work looks excellent. I've seen two others broke the same way over the years, and all seem to break in about the same areas. I was told a while ago that gu
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I do lots of repairs and I have to say that I've seen both wrapped and unwrapped ferules split, but I suppose that most were owner caused and not done while fishing. I wrap all ferules, I feel it gives some added protection and adds to the overall appearance. It also gives something to grip while separating the pieces. I the length of the wrap depends on the type of rod for me, on a light fres
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I have used Plasticote and several others for color bands or backing under expanded wraps when trying to repair and duplicate the wraps on older rods. I have never had any problems using Flex Coat over any paint. I do however let the paint dry very throughly before applying anything over it, smoe enamel based paints in a spray can may take as long as 48 hours to completely finish hardening. The
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I agree with sealing the cork to make it stronger, but most customers who do want cork don't want anything on it that will darken it. They seem to like that almost white looking cork handle style. (The type that stains the first time it sees fish slime). I started to dislike EVA back when it first came out in the late 70's after a couple of my own rods back then had the grips get hard from dry
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I have always sort of wondered why most saltwater rods are built with EVA or Hypalon grips. Way back when I first got into building rods someone told me it had to do with the saltwater being hard on the cork? Nearly all the saltwater rods I have built for myself have been with cork grips simply because I prefer a cork grip, and most of the rods I build for others have been Hypalon or wrapped c
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I was looking at a bit larger machine. ( ) Harbour Freight has a 40" for $139, I have a good chuck, and would mount mine on a bench. They sell a basic 4 jaw chuck for around $25 and a stand as well. But all totalled it's less than either a Jet or Rikon mini lathe. I am currently using an antique belt driven lathe which can handle about 25". But I have on occasion needed to do large
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Tom replied, "A much larger, or much smaller reel can affect things, however, due to the size or height difference between the reel spool and the butt guide ring size. But again, a guy fishing a medium power bass rod shouldn't be putting a large surf spinning reel on the rod anyway". I had a guy bright and early this morning wanted an emergency fix; he's going on a fishing trip in t
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I've been reading in several recent posts about New Concept Guide Placement, as well as Tom's article in the Library here. I've done a few with this method, and many the old way, but I run into a few problems here. First is that most customers balk at the guide arangement of using several same size guides past the intersect point, most anglers seem to be convinced that all of the guides shoul
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The first rod I wrapped was done using two cardboard boxes with a v notch cut in the top and some cloth taped on to make it turn easier, an empty jar and a phone book for a line tensioner, some sewing thread from moms sewing box, and my two hands. Back then the only thread coating that I found was rod varnish that I got at the local tackle shop. The green thread I used turned spotty and dark si
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I have two older Panasonic disc cameras that work well, one is a PV-SD4090 and the other a PV-SD5000. I use the SD4090 for internet pics. The trick for me is to zoom in, and back away a bit, and to have lots of indirect lighting so there's no glare. I have better cameras, but the Panasonics were affordable and I they use a camcorder battery so they can go all day taking pics. They are large, yo
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Just an idea, but how about a pop up spout style cap from a small bottle of dish detergent or something? I have one from what I believe was a sample size bottle of Dawn dish liquid. I lost the cap one day to a bottle of CP and that happened to fit, maybe it's the same size as the Permagloss? There's also the same type of pop up cap on several of the Gudebrod coatings, I have an old bottle of Gu
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Thanks, that's all I wanted to know, its a decent feeling rod for an older rod. I think it would make a good rod for fishing bait. Its super light and has good action. I think I'll rewap it with modern guides just for myself to use. I run braided line on all my reels, so I'll have to give some thought to which guides, but I'm a bit limited due to the sizes available. I like the feel of it
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While I do mostly repair work here, and at that it's not for retail customers, but I do a few custom rods every so often. I enjoy building fancier rods, but most people simply don't want to spend any extra on it. Most will opt for better compenents before paying extra for any fance threadwork. I normally just do a short wrap to terminate the handle, if they want anything fancier, I charge accordi
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I was given a few older St Croix surf poles today, two are really old looking 9' 2pc rods which have an oval logo, and a 11'6" spinning pole that looks more like a broom stick and is a very heavy action rod, feels like maybe a 6lb casting rating or so if they ever make one back then, The 11'6" rod has a gold foil label and the ST Croix logo is sort of a bowtie shape. It's wrapped in o
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That makes sense I guess, but I would have never figured that out since all of my boats are too old to have ever had modern lockers. My freshwater boat is a 1968 Duracraft 16'. With nothing but a livewell , three 3' boxes, some foward and under floor stowage, and a few rod holders to fish off of. Anyhow, you learn something new everyday. I fish mostly rivers and back bays, I don't do much f
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What I should have said is that I don't think any off them make a Musky blank with a collapsable butt, but when I read his description I was thinking more along the lines of a musky/striper type of blank, one piece, super stout, fast action and usually 6' to 7'6" long. The two rods I have here are red, and look sort of clear. The blank is about 15mm where is enters the grip, it's most like
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The acetone trick might work, but I often only need to do one guide. Besides, it's not worth all that work to save a blank of unknown origins. Keep in mind that these are usually customers repairs, it's better for me in most cases to simply say it's not worth it. The sad part is that these guys spent real money for these rods. I tried the wire wheel trick on a junk blank here, what ever this s
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Zylon is a relative of Kevlar, Nylon and Spectra fibers, its main claim is its strength and heat resistance. I doubt if any of the concerns with the vests would apply to its use as a supplement in a graphite rod blank. It's rated to be stronger than steel and carbon fiber. ( ) Is the blank your talking about red or burgundy in color? I have both a Basspro-Bassmaster here in a 7' version and
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A plate seat may be your only option, the largest inside diameter machined aluminum reel seat that I've seen measures 26mm I.D., or about 1.03". You may be able to machine one out slightly but I don't know whether or not you could find one that could go to 1.25". I have a Pac Bay AH26M machined aluminum seat in hand here and the O.D. measurement at the rear is only 1.24". I have t
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If none of the sponsors to the left have it, try calling them direct, they should be able to tell you where to find it. National Thread Company Inc. 636 Peebles Road Palatine, IL 60067 Tel: (847) 520-2344 Fax: (847) 359-1766
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I was thinking of making an arbor that rotated on a shaft, and them come up with a way to use drag washers or something similar to tension the spool more evenly. I sort of figured that I'd make a universal type of thread carrage, allowing me to use which ever works at the time. I do prefer the spool tension set up, and maybe a simple long shaft and an assortment of spacers may be the simplest a
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What got me thinking about building one was just that I have most everything here to build one, and maybe make it better than what I can buy. There's no sense in buying one, the one I use now looks like the current Rodsmith wrapper. The only problems I've had with that have been a few cracked roller wheels, and all of them will most likely need to be replaced soon, they've turned yellow and one
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I have been knocking around the idea of building a new powered rod wrapper. I have a few ideas that I was wondering if anyone has maybe already tried, or maybe might see a problem with. I came across several sets of high end inline skate wheels that are about 1/2" wide and made of a clear urethane type compound. They have dual preloaded precision sealed bearings. Are there any disadvan
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I've had good luck cleaning up old blanks that have lost their gloss with motorcycle windshield polish, it's a super fine polish that does a great job of bringing back the luster in an old blank, if your going to polish and rewrap afterward, you have to wipe down with alcohol first since there's a bit of wax in most polishes. I've been using it for years with no ill effects to clean up scratches
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I never gave it much thought until reading this, but my old rod lathe which used cloth padded V blocks and wood instead of rollers on plastic, would often build up enough of a static charge on the blank to give a good loud spark when you touched the blank. It didn't do it all the time, but it was enough to really surprise you. The blank would often hold the charge for a while too. I haven't had i
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I wouldn't think that .5 mm would be a problem, the worst thing that would happen is that a nonlevelwind reel will tend to load on side of the spool slightly more other than that, it's up to you how much simply knowing that it's off will bother you. I don't think I've ever actually measured one after it was done. As far as clamping, If I am using either solid cork or a amy solid rear grip, I will
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