I just finished my first tiger wrap per the instructions in RM. 2 words on this. "Whew" and "Wow". It is one spectacular effect. My problem is the pull out thread. I had to wrap and heat that thing 5 times before I was able to get a consistent gap. And then, it slid on me while I was applying finish. Even with these problems, it still looks pretty nice. I plan on redoi
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I'm gonna purchase a printer to attempt to make some "electric" labels. Mine is about shot anyway. Does anyone know how to tell which printers use the solvent based inks and which ones use the dye based inks? I don't really want to buy one that uses the solvents right now. Any suggestion on a printer or all-in- one is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Greg Marshall Trouble with bein
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Herb, I use a tack cloth that I get from Lowe's paint dept. Looks like a piece of cheesecloth and it's got some harmless stickem on it. You don't need to press it down or rub it or anything, just lay a corner of the tack cloth on the wrap and turn the rod. The weight of the cloth provides enough pressure. Usually does a good job of picking up dust and such and doesn't leave any residue. Sto
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If you want to preserve the color and not see what's underneath it you have to use color preserver on regular thread (unless it's black). Regular thread is transparent when you apply finish and some people, including myself, like the effect. I even like to see my guide foot underneath, sometimes. It all depends on what you want. By simply wetting a test wrap with water, you'll get a pretty f
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Jim, I don't know if maximum or even average distance is a very good predictor of rod performance. Consider this: at what distance can you effectively set the hook? Well, that depends on the type of line (mono or braid) and the type of terrain (open water or matted grass). My experience is that most all rods will cast well beyond the distance it takes to set the hook. Now, yes we need to be
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Sorry Matthew, What Jeff said. I guess I was typing mine in while he was typing his in and they've come out about the same. Oh well. I think you get the point.
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Try inserting your tie off loop earlier than usual. I usually insert mine about 10 turns before the end. Then, instead of pulling the thread all the way out with your tie off loop, just pull it up snug to the end of the wrap and maybe even under the last wind. Use your fingernail to hold down your last wind, snip it close and then continue pulling the tie off loop through while holding that la
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Is it normal practice to apply finish over the winding check? I normally cover the winding check with finish as I've seen them deteriorate over time and hope to protect them with the finish. I've been doing this for many years but have yet to get a transition that I feel like looks good. When I say transition, I mean the way the finish goes from the check to the cork. Cork has a tendency to s
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Yep, I'm referring to guide wraps. I never thought of trying St. John's Cross on the new micro guides near the tip but I guess it could be done (ha). Thanks guys for the opinions. Sean's wrap really is neat but it had to consume alot of his time. Where do you find time to fish?
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While surfing the photos pages, I noticed alot of really nice guide wraps. Some are very intricate and appear, at least to me, to be very time consuming. I also noticed that most of the guide wrap photos are of the stripping (butt) guide. I understand that this is the easiest guide to photograph and post but was wondering if you guys also do the rest of the guides the same way. Some look extr
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I want to do a feather inlay on a thread bed. I normally use CP to set the feathers but in this case, I'd like the threads to fade a little like when not using CP. I'm thinking that I'll cover the thread with a light coat of finish so the thread can go ahead and do its thing. Then I'll set the feather on top of the finish. My question, will the CP (U-40), adversely affect the underlying finis
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The state of Ms has recently established a highly regulated season on alligator here in south Ms. I've been approached by a couple of permit holders about building a rod for catching gators. I've mostly built rods for bass fishing and light saltwater fishing. Anybody got a suggestion of what type of rig to use for a gator pole. Need to know the whole setup. Ain't gotta clue on this one. Bes
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I normally make bass rods but I'm looking for suggestions on a fly rod blank for bream fishing. May occasionally get a small largemouth on the line. Am vaguely familiar with the technique of fly fishing as far as making the cast but i'm completely illiterate on weights and lengths. Recently found an old walmart fly rod in my shed, slapped on some pretty line and took it out to see how it worke
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Tim, I've got an old Abu that I use to do the test casting on my baitcasting rods. I recently built a rod that just didn't seem to do what I thought it should so I looked at the reel. I decided to tear it down and do some upgrades. I found that I could upgrade the bearings in ABEC standard, used a modern lubricant sparingly, upgraded the levelwind by adding some bearings and changed out the p
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Which way do you go on sizing the correct carbon fiber sleeves? I see they are sold in 1" dia and the next size is 1.5" dia. Do you buy the small ones and open them up to slide over the grip and then cinch em back down, or do you buy the large ones and stretch heck out of em to make em smaller? I know the article says to push the ends in to make the sleeve larger but are the sizes de
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I'm extending a blank from 6'6" to 7' (6 inches). The butt dia. of the blank is .42 per my caliper. I have some alum tubing that is .500 O.D. but it is .395 I.D. Really close but, still, it won't slip over. Customer wants an exposed blank real seat which limits the butt grip to 8" long. (6" exten. + 2.5" oversleeve -.5" reel seat base to opening). I've looked at cutt
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I built a St Croix 3C66MM for a friend of mine who wanted to throw a Bandit 200 series crankbait. It turned out great and he loved it. He showed it to some other fisherman and I now have orders for 4 more. It truly is sweet for this crankbait and that's all we throw down here in south MS. However, he's fishing a trail and on occasion he wants to throw a big DD22 (whatever that is) with a seve
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Marco, I keep my Permagloss inside of my air conditioned home at all times. After opening the bottle for the first time, I use the cellophane that the bottle is wrapped with to cover the bottle top before I screw the lid on. I only use a glass eye dropper to remove the Permagloss from the bottle and eject it into a thimble. Usually, one eye dropper full is enough to do one coat on all wraps o
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I've been using Tom's "nail knot" to do my trim bands. When I tie this knot on a 1" wood dowel with a piece of 1/4" rope, I don't see any winds laying on top of any others. However, when I do it with metallic thread, I always have one that's laying on top of all of them. I can't get that thing out for the life of me. If I chase it around the blank it just starts over. I c
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I agree on the fishability of the split grip. I don't like it either as far as function goes. I'd much rather have a full grip. But, as I'm learning, the split grip is one of those things that custom builders offer that commercial companies don't and it's these things that set our rods apart from the production rods. In selling custom rods it is important to be able to offer something differe
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Is Hardloy, Hialide, Hialoy, and Hard Alum. Oxide all the same thing just under different brand names and maybe different color? I assume these are an upgrade to those normally refered to as Aluminum Oxide, right?
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I recently built my first bumper spiral. St. Croix C66MM and used Fuji Alconite guides. I got out on the water last weekend and caught a bass or two but I really wanted to put it to the test. I found a ditch with some specks in it and tied on a D.O.A. to see if I could get something going. Caught a few small specks and then caught one of pretty good size. I noticed when reelin him in that i
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Straight up, I've never made money doin this in either repair or build. Lately, I've gotten an influx of repair requests. When I tell em it make take months, they say "That's okay, I ain't in no hurry." So, instead of tryin to run em off with delay tactics, I'm gonna try to start chargin em more by an average of the "goin rates" show in this month's issue of RodMaker. Give
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After digging a little more, I'm really confused. Check out Mudhole's site for the same blank. The CB756 and the CB756 (Blend) are listed one right after the other. You can see that they both have the same specs. Their site says that they both have a 1/4 to 1/2 lure range. They list the blend at $108 dollars and the non blend at $87. G. Loomis' site says MSRP on Blend is $87! What is goin
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A friend of mine fished with a G. Loomis Crankbait rod this passed weekend and liked it alot. He got on the internet to buy one and saw that it costs around $220. So, he asked how much I could build the rod for. He made note that he liked the 6'3" length so I figure it's a CB756. Now, searching the sponsors on the left, I find that AW carries a CB756BR with a lure weight range up to 1 3/
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I'm working on repairing a brand new Fenwick rod. I know Janns carries the Berkley SS304 guides as I've ordered them. However, this rod has a broken SS304 in a #7 . I don't see this size on their site. I've compared it to the #6 and the #8 SS304s that I have in stock to verify that it is definitely in between the two sizes. Also, there are some much smaller guides near the tip that are small
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Want to embed a penny in a rubberized cork disk (for butt cap). Can forstner a 3/4" hole to make the bed but should I cover the penny with LS or FC after I've Rod Bonded it in place? Will LS or FC affect the penny over time? Any suggestions on sealing this penny in place so it keeps its 2007 luster?
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Karry, Have used a few Rainshadow blanks. I've seen mention of your having components but have never really looked into what you carry. Would like to see a catalog. Thanks, Greg Marshall
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Does anyone know where I can find the preshaped EVA foregrip that will fit the Fuji Quiklok Foregrip? Should be 7/8 id to accept the Quiklok, bout ...oh, 3" long. I'm assuming the fore end is somewhat smaller than 7/8. AW informed me that Fuji is discontinuing the item and I have a customer insisiting on it on this repair job. If not, does anybody know how to make one? I've ordered some
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Ron, I use a Pac Bay Wrapper and the sureform file for the initial rough shape. I don't use the file holder and this let's me sort of bend the blade with my hands in a large arc to closer resemble the shape of the cork. Just "some" bend not much. It will gouge fairly deep quickly but not too much to sand if you stop early enough. I haven't had any problems with it chunking out. As
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