If you mix in small batches to keep the heat down, or mix and then spread thinly on a piece of aluminum to keep the heat down your pot life may be up to 10-15 minutes. If not, i.e. mix in large concentrated batches- i.e. small mixing cup - the pot life may be as short as two or three minutes. Roger
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If a person wants a split seat - so to speak - the use of either the Fuji or Pac Bay skeletal seats work very well. Although not technically a split seat, because you have the filler in the middle of the back and front sections, they can be very comforatble with the right filler, and if the skeletal seat is of the right size. If you use the hidden hood technique, where the front or non t
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Nick, I don't know what country that you are in. If you are in Canada, you can often save weeks of shipping time by specifying that shipments only be made via UPS. UPS has its own customs officials and generally has very little if any customs delays in its shipments. In contrast, I have had US mail shipments stay tied up in customs for over a month. Roger
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Chris, I woudl not worry about the fore grip. Just use a pair of pliars to chew off the butt section of cork grips. Then, use masking tape to build up the butt section so that it is uniform. Leave 1/8th inch spaces between the rows of 3/4 inch masking tape. Make the diameter of the butt - uniform from the butt of the rod to the reel seat. Then, just take an eva handle that is sized to fit
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Wayne, Also, a lot of us, spray only the tip with day glow orange paint for about 4-5 inches of tip. Then , just leave the rest of the blank alone. If you want color, do it with your thread wraps. Roger
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Rustoleum works fine. Just spray prime them white, and then spray on the color. I just finished a bunch last week and they work just fine. Roger
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Steve, For all around use, go to your local big box or hardware store to the paint department. Get the Alcohol from the paint department. Much better than getting the diluted alcohol from the drug store. If you buy the alchol by the gallon from the paint department, it is generally much less expensive than buying it from the drug store as well. Especially, if you have an ancohol lamp to
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Steve, Never Never Never put youself down. There is not such thing as a STUPID question. All that there is is a lack of knowledge about a specific topic. Everyone is glad to help increase knowledge. Take care Roger
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Aaron, If you want to order 500, I expect that you can go to a blank grinder with your specifications and have them custom grind some blanks for you. Roger p.s. I wouldn't mind some of these myself, but have never found any of these blanks anywhere.
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Andrel, I think that the minima reel seat is the most awful and uncomfortable trigger reel seat that I've ever seen in my entire life!! I couldn't agree more. Many many reel seats on the market that work much better and are much more comfortable. I think that the idea of "open" reel seats, reel seats with nothing to hold in your hand, reel seats that are too small - are no
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Bruce, No, I think that lettering the name would be much easier. Another thing to consider. If you are a person like me who doesn't have artistic lettering ability - get someone else to do the lettering on your rods. In my case, my wife is an artist who does all of my rod lettering. There are lots of very talented folks around. Roger
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Phil, I think that it is a mistake to make a rod that can only use a single reel. I have seen some builders attempt to save weight and shorten up the reel seat, or make the reel seat smaller than what really makes sense. Then, the customer comes in and the reel foot has to be modified to fit the rod. Then, when the reel breaks or when the wishes of the customer changes and he wants a diff
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Lorenzo, Don't worry about spining the blank if you don't want to, or can't. Rather, just sight down the blank, and build on the straighest axis. Align the two axis for the upper and lower 1/2 of the blanks and you will be good to go. Generally speaking you will typically find that the straightest axis will "tend" to align with the actual spine of the rod. This is generally true
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Craig, If you think that the thread is the problem using your finish and your finishing technique, use CP and you will solve the problem. The CP will seal the thread and you will not have any thread related bubble issues. Roger p.s. If you want to continue to use the thread and your finish - justk add a bit of heat to the coated guides to get rid of any bubbles that might pop up. Do
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Ronnie, You can use the identical guide placment for Micros as you would with conventional guides. But, for a top mounted casting rod, you might want to add a guide or several to keep the line off of the rod if you want the line to stay off or below the rod. Roger
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To keep the wraps from fading in the sun, don't put the wraps in the sun. Roger
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Matt, Go with a blank matchin color for the main wraps. Do some test wraps and then brush on alcohol to see the final color. Use a white, or copper metallic or silver metallic for trim. A great color, so you have quite a few choices. With the copper - even a yellow - if left bright would be a nice contrasting trim. Also, with either brown or copper, green makes a very nice contrastin
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Maryann, Another possibility is, that if the area where the rod is drying is to put a space heater in the room and close the door. This is what I do for my drying rods. i.e. the drying room is a separate room with its own heat, so it can be turned up when drying and back down when not using it. For oven ideas, you can go to the photo section and do a search on rod drying ovens. The
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Maryann, I generally find that for the best results, I like to keep the area of the rods curing at 75 to 80 degrees. The higher temps will allow for a quicker cure with generally fewer problems. A very simple thing to do is to simply take some cardboard and make a box to fit over the rod as it dries. You can leave a couple of low wattage bulbs on the inside of the box - well away from
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John, The replies are right on. But just for your education =- When you use the word swelled butt with respect to rod building, a person is normally speaking of the increase in diamter of the rear grip as it gets close to the rear of the reel seat. The idea of a swelled butt, is that the larger diameter and shaped grip tends to fill the inside of a fishermans palm as he / she fishes. i.e. t
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Bryan, Chuck has it right, Just go to a hardware store and buy a 12 inch rod bit that is of the right size for the blank that you are going to use. Roger
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Eric, I couple of suggestions. I have built several hundred ice rods over the years and a couple of things from pat builds. 1. Rather than using any sort of tubular (or hollow) blanks - go with a solid blank. 2. For a blue gill rod, which needs to be quite light generally go with a fiberglass solid rod since it can have a very fine, very flexible tip without fear of breakaqe. There are so
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Any of the medium light spinning blanks will make an excellent finesse casting rods, built with a casting grip and guides. Take care Roger
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Todd, I tend to agree with you on the myth of sensitivity. I also agree with several of the other posters, that a "light" rod can allow the fisherman to catch more fish. I won't say that the light rod is more sensitive, I will suggest that it will allow the fisherman to catch more fish. This may be to less fatigue, a different weight to lever arm ratio, an ability to watch the lin
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Thomas, I think you have the perfect rod. The glass rods will be virtually unbreakable, which is a very good thing considering the fish you are attempting to catch as well as the method you are catching them. You will seldom have them in your hands, and when you catch a 40 lb fish, the light (comparatively) weight of the rod, compared to the fish will make the rod weight not important. Yo
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Garey, When I build casting rods for fishermen that use them for either a. jerk baits, or b. musky fishing I always build This style casting rods in a conventional style. The reason is simple. For both of these types of fishing, the line is often pulled from the top side of the rod. i.e. the tip is put down on a jerk bait and the rod is often used backward compared to conventional f
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Don, Good news, I just received a large order of minima rods from a sponsor on the left. Mixed in with my order was a large order of very small ring minima tips. These tips were size 3 and 4 - with 4, 4.5, and 5.0 tube sizes. I sent them back and Karen has them in stock at Bingham. I looked over the tips very carefully and they are an excellent matching guide for the minima 4 ch
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Sam, Blanks are extended all of the time. If you keep at least 1/2 of the grip covering the original blank, and use at least a 4 inch overlap on the blank over blank you will be in good shape. Just use epoxy - 5 minute or slow drying. Pick a section of another blank that will give a nice tight fit on the outside of the blank. Have a 4 inch over lap on the full length blank and you will be i
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Bruce, If you happen to have a bench mounted belt sander, you can use it to do excellent sharpening, using various grades of sandpaper. The advantage of this system over a wheel, is that you have a flat moving grinding surface that makes chisel and tool sharpening quite easy. For example: There is another advantatge to using a bench mounted belt sander. You never have to true up
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Bob, I am curious as to why you would NOT sand a blank with wet and dry sand paper? I have used wet and dry paper to refinish many many different blanks with great success. I am just curious as to why you don't like the use of such paper? Roger
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