My father had two custom fibreglass rods built by a gentleman by the name of "Marino" - the owner of a Cross Bay Blvd tackle shop in Queens N.Y. (for anyone who comes from that area). The rods were built in 1953. As I remember, the wraps and coating were impecable and had, for that time, a complicated design. I gave them to my son 25yrs ago and they have been re-wrapped over the year
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Doug, I had to buy 100 cork rings and rubberized cork rings. They came with plugs. If you need a few I would be happy to mail you some. Email address. Herb L
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Thread - not tape - as shim. Unless you can use dry wall tape if gap too big for thread. Herb
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Burton, Go on shofftackle.com rod component site (grips) and you will see that if you purchase a Struble seat and preformed grip, they will cut the grip to accept the seat. All you have to do is trim both ends - carefully - and glue it all together. Herb
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Burton, I build my own grips on the blank like you describe. The cork ends are really much less prone to damage that way. But they weigh a little more. Yours is such a light rod that you may want to stay with all cork. But if you really want to do it with a pre-formed grip I would cut the front and back of the preformed grip by 1/4" and glue and clamp one 1/4" rubberized cork ring
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Justin, Once you try single foot REC Recoil guides as your running guides, AND their tip-top, you will never go back to ceramics. The "true" potential of the blank will come out. The tip-top is a very imporant part of the equation. Herb.
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Thabk you all for your input. Herb
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I have always tied one color thread. Now, on some rods I may sell, I would like to hi-light with metalic thread but the size A threads do not match in diameter. How do you mix regular and metalic in size. Both Gudebrod BTW. Also, if I decide to use regular thread for the main wind and NCP for the hi-lights - how would that look from a contrast point of view. Your answers would save me some t
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Bob, Thanks for the heads-up re grains. The reason I mentioned the 10wt Rio is that Rio lists the #10 outbound suitable for the ZAxis 12'9" 8wt and the #11 for the TCR #8 12'3". But I generally like more weight anyway. BTW , Rio's chart was right-on with the Loomis Stinger #7/8 with the #10 outbound. It might have ben O.K. with a #11 though. Any info re the CTS Affinity X. Are th
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Hi Bob, I was considering both - 2 different ends of the spectrum. I have not been able to "wiggle" these blanks. I assume the Z-Axis would flex further into the blank and be a fun rod to cast. I also figure the TCR is a more serious casting rod. I know you are familiar with the CTS blanks. They have a new Affinity X blank. Do you have any experiance with this blank or is it too
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Good evening, Please advise if you have built on above blanks. Interested in how they make-up for overhead fly casting. Herb L
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Hi, 1. I have been using REC hardware exclusively, except for cermic strippers. On my last order I purchased some new RSLL bushings and some new RSLS seats and bushings. They used to fit perfectly. Now there is .033' difference between the RSLL seat and the bushing and .031 between the smaller RSLS and its bushing. I found out about this the hard way - almost. I had epoxied the bushing to t
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Tom, Bill, Thanks a lot for all your input. Herb
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Bill, The ERN and AA were identical because I said the the two blanks deflected the same. The two finished rods also deflected the same when I adjusted the fulcrum point. They flexed as one. When I looked from the side I saw "one" blank - the two blanks were superimposed. Now everyone knows that you can affect the performance of a rod simply by moving your hand up or down the g
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I have built two rods built on Dan Craft FT 9', 7wt blanks. The CCS system showed that those two blanks were identical. Rod #1 was a "standard" build relative to the grip. i.e. 7 1/2" grip glued-up on the blank as indiv cork rings. The fighting butt is 1 1/2' long with the blank extending 1" beyond the reel seat. On rod #2 ,the grip was installed the same except that I
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1. Don't confuse the South and Central American Peacocks with what one catches in the Fl canals. 2. I don't see how you can beat a Dan Craft FT blank for durability. I also do not see the advantage of the less responsive fibreglass over graphite in this situation. These fish are scrappers but not monsters. Herb
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David, Any weight rod, 9 or under, would be fine. On a lighter rod the bass can be fought on the butt section. I would highly recommend that you consider the Dan Craft FT 4pc 7wt. At the distances that will be casted, short, a 9wt intermeidate line, or 10 wt floater, would be perfect. Herb
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Tim, Just curious - why does one need flex in the reel seat area. An aluminum reel seat itself has no flex. Herb
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Albert, I have used the West System for about 30 years. Mostly on boats to bond hardware and to build compression "sleves" between fiberglass skins on a balser filled deck. At home I used their epoxy to "pot" stainless fasteners into concrete slabs to hold hurricane shutters. For rod building I use it to bond reel seat bushings to blanks, the seat to the bushing and to bond
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Justin, There are a lot of rods like that. Theoretically you will feel the tap better with your finger on the blank. There are at least two Shimano rod series that have what you are looking for. The casting rods have the feature built into the reel seat. So that will be easy for you - if you can buy them. Some of the spinning rods have the cut-away foregrip. You do not state if it is spinn
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Rich, For saltwater I use #7 ceramics on 7 & 8 and a 7 tip-top - sometimes #3, but mostly, but #4 for wire for 7 & 8 with a REC # large tip-top. I do not use size 5 flyline. Herb
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I don't have an answer for your question - but what material was used on the wraps? Herb
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Dave, I used P.O. but it is a pain. I returned a fly reel to Terry Hayden - had to complete customs forms. Herb
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Tony, This isn't Tony but I have built my second of my four DC FT 9' 7wt. blanks My first is my favorite so far. I built it with a standard 1 1/2 fighting butt and 9 guides, first stripper 23" from rear of grip - no tamer. Fuji TiSiC strippers and REC recoil s/f running guides and a REC recoil tip-top. Epoxy was used for the wraps. It is perfect, and I mean perfect, with a 9wt Wulff
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Bill, If you are saying that U40 P/G cleaner wouldn't be compatable with colored finish, I wouldn't know about that. My wife won't let me play with pretty blue things. Seriously, I only use unfinished gray blanks to keep weight down. But it would be a good thing to know if the cleaner takes off colored finishes - is that a fact??? Herb
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Andy, U40's P/G cleaner. Herb
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Andrew, Even after 24hrs you can still saturate (almost) a strip of heavy cone shaped coffee filter and loop it around blank like you would do with a shoeshine cloth and take extra P/G off. Opinion??? Is the epoxy or P/G tunnel "filler" used to stabilize guide or just to seal tunnel so water does not get into foot area and cause corrosion - or both??? I only use Fuji Ti or REC
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Bill, Re filling tunnels with P/G: I also use a needle or a pic to apply droplets into tunnels but get no build-up even after 4-5 applications. They look as hollow as before. There is, however some build-up under the double foot guides. But then clean-up is a pain because the P/G wicks into the area between the double foot guides. The s/f guides have a forhan locks so I can't see those.
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I'd go with Mark - the glue sticks are made for the job. One second of heat too long on the epoxy and the tip is toast. for that matter, one second too long with any material is not good - but the heat glue is designed to melt - the epoxy is designed to hold. Also, not all 5 min epoxies are the same. What's the problem with using glue sticks? What's great about them is that you slice off thi
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Gavin, First thing, in my opinion anyway, you should use a free flowing (thin) epoxy i/s of thickened epoxy to glue rings together so you do not need so much pressure to expell excess epoxy. Secondly, ream the hole until the ring JUST seats with the previous one. You should not have to force the ring. If your rings are too snug you will have to apply much too much pressure to snug the middle
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