Tom, You can do all of the above with the right equipment. If using a conventional lathe, most folks will glue up handles on a mandrel - like a pen mandrel - then insert the mandrel into the lathe and turn it down. Following the turning of the handle the typical user will either use a tapered reamer to ream the inside of the handle to size, or use a reamer to ream each end of the handle to
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Bill, It would be really nice if you could get in blanks with your current actions, but in a longer length, like 36 or 48 inches. Then if a person didn't need the length, one could always trim the blanks. I have quite a few customers who fish outside that like blanks that are longer than the typical 22-26 inches. Thanks much Roger
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I agree with Bill. Any time that you use paint or other material from a can, close the can and turn it upside down. As long as you have the lid on securely, the lid will keep the contents inside. The fact that the material is all around the can closure the seal will be complete. This is also why it is a good idea with any CAN that contains a sort of paint and that has a groove in the can w
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Rick, I have built many many ice rods over the years, since I am here in the upper midwest. I have not built a hollow ice rods for many years. The main reason is two fold: 1. For a hollow graphite rod to be soft enough for ice rod use, considering the very short lengths of ice rods, the diameters have to be very fine. The result is a rod that is much to fragile for decent ice rod fishin
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Ken, Just find the straighest spine on the rod and align the guides on it. Roger
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Josh, I have to 2nd Scotts note about thorne brothers. The blanks are expensive, but they are about the best blanks on the market. They are also custom ground to really meet the needs of the fisherman. If you have any questions at all, just give Thorne Brothers a call about selecting a specific blank and they will get the right one for the intended fishing need. Roger
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Dave, I have done a lot of fishing like you are proposing and your blank selection is about right. With respect to a reel, I agree with you on the use of a larger spool to get more casting distance. Very simply put - a larger spool - will give you more casting distance. However, rather than going to a heavier reel, go to the small pass pro reel that uses the super sized spool. T
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Bob, That is fine, if you only have a singular bad spot in the handle. But, most of todays lower quality cork handles have bad spots all along the length of the handle . Roger
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Wayne, If the handle or guides are special, I might consider cutting the rod at the first guide. Then, obtain another glass blank, and trim it to the length so that the cut section of the handle end of the existing rod matches the new blank. Or you could even let the new blank be slightly larger so that the new blank simply slips over the existing rod by about 3 inches. Then, simply glue th
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Danny, If you don't want a hot pedal, use an electronic speed control, rather than a simple rheostat foot pedal control. The line master is one of the best on the market, very reliable and fairly inexpensive. Roger
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Alex has it right. The filler that Mudhole sells is the Elmers Wood Filler - Golden Oak and it works about as any filler on the market or any that you might make up yourself using cork dust and various kinds of glue. The thing to do when filling cork is to get the cork close to the finished shape and finish that you want. Then, use compressed air to really blow every thing out of the cork.
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Tom, I have been using "power poxy" for the last several years for rod building. It is a 30 minute cure, that is sold in 1 lb tubs of part A and part B. This makes the epoxy very cost effective and easy to use. I found a couple of large syringers that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and cut the tips off of the end. Then, I drilled out the ends of the syringes to about 3/16ths of an
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Lorenzo, With every spiral wrapped rod that I have used - when testing with a dozen different reels, I have found that I get line stacking on one side of the reel - unless I offset the first guide 5-10 degrees, depending on the rod. The line stacking doesn't happen on the cast, it only happens on the relatively limp line retreive. The easy way to check for it, is to simply put your reel
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Mike, Could you do me a favor and mail be a large picture of your wraps? hflier@comcast.net With a larger picture, I may be able to offer a couple of suggestions. Also, if you could send two or three pictures of the wrap as you are doing it would be helpful as well. Roger
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Vince, For a catfish rod, I think that stainless steel guides are a great choice. Tough enough for the use, no rings to break, often cat fish rods can get kicked around so the guides are pretty imune to damange and the best part is that the guides are very inexpensive, plus they are very light. Roger
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Walt, Just wrap the undersized section of gimbal with blue low tack masking tape before chucking it into your lathe. Also put a couple of wraps of blue low masking tape on the larger portion of the gimpal to give the lathe chuck something to bite into - then just be sure to have the butt of the gimbal built up enough to match the thicker part of the gimbal and you will be good to go. Roge
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Lorenzo, Another thing you could try. If you use this method, be sure to practice a bit on a piece of scrap EVA to get the method done before doing it on the final grip. Mount the piece of EVA grip on a manderal in a lathe. Then, just take a common serrated knife or the infamous Kinsu knives that have been sold around the world for about $3 each. This is just an inexpensive plastic ha
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Lorenzo, Just a couple of thoughts: 1. I am first concerned with the way that the line leaves the reel and goes through the guides. Is there any line slap anywhere, is the line shooting off the reel smoothly, with virtually no line contact on any of the guides. 2. Are you satisfied with the casting distance - compared to similar action blanks, with the same casting weight and the same leng
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Jeremy, Years ago, I was in a small town with a TV repair business. I know your feelings about the importance of a good reputation, and the damage that a single unhappy customer can cause. Primarily, because of the small town nature of that business many years ago, I would do virtually anything to keep a custoner happy and not bad mouthing my business. It even went so far as to give a
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Matt, Lots of folks use Citrus stripper with good results. Roger
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Jeremy, I agree with Billy on this one. After your discussion, I assume that in the e-mail that you sent to your customer, you had a total description of the agreed on rod? i..e. you stated in the rod, the following: The blank, The length The action The manufacturer The series The guides - total number as well as the tip. The type handle and its length - both back gr
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Wayne, You may be a bit too critical with respect to a twist in the ring. A slight amount of twist really hearts nothing. But, if you do decide to twist the guide, do not do any twisting of the guide by either putting something into the ring or anything like a pliars around the ring to twist the guide. You will very likely crack the ring if you do this. Rather, if you do have to twist th
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Andy, You can mount the reel seat how ever you want to mount the reel seat. If you want to install a butt cap on your rod, the only requirement is that you have a way to install and get the butt cap to stay on the rod. If this means having the end of the handle flush with the blank, do it like that. If it means having some space between the end of the blank and butt cap, do it like that.
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Alex, Of course if the handle of a hammer broke, you could easily put a new handle on the hammer. Really exactly the same thing that happend with this rod. Any that is made can be fixed. It is just a matter of degrees and to what effort a person want to go to to fix the item. If you want a rod that looks perfect with no faults, then of course get a new rod. But for lots of users and f
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Bill, This is very simple. Just take a piece of solid blank material - fiberglass or graphite. Cut off a piece that is a couple of inches long. Chuck the piece into a drill and while spinning the blank piece, hold it against a belt sander reducing the size of the blank until it is a nice fit into the end of the blank. Coat it with 5 minute epoxy, and insert the ground down blank into
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Bill, Virtually any rod can be repaired. You just have to make the decision as to whether it makes economis and artistic sense for you or your builder to repair it or have it repaired. The repair could mean that you cut 3 feet off of the rod, and put a new three foot tip section on the rod. It could mean that you cut off the blank at the handle and simply only use the handle section on a
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Mark, If you decide to go the spatula route to apply finish, I suggest that you do a bunch of testing and trying and learning on some old scrap blanks and tied up guides. I have gone the entire route from sable brushes to a dozen different spatulas of different types, shapes and materials. I have discarded all of them have gone back to the single use inexpensive throw away brush - simla
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Lorenzo, With a spiral wrapped rod, you really don't need to have any more guides on the rod, than if the rod were a conventional style spinning rod. i.e. after the transition guides, the line is on the underside of the rod and will never touch the rod, no matter the blank flex. You could actually get by with about 6 or 7 guides on this blank. With a fast action rod, you generally want to
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Charles, Don't worry about it, just fix it. It is a trivial task to repair such a break. Just use an outside repair sleeve of fiberglass and depending on the tip diamter, a fiberglass sleeve on the inside, or if the blank is too small use a piece of appropriate sized paino wire. Don't trim either end of the break. Just fit the break back together like an interlocking puzzle with the insi
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Wade, A couple of thoughts. 1. Do a really good job of cleaning your furnace, and have your air ducts cleaned as well. 2. Install a new furnace filter. 3. Open all of the windows in the room that you dry rods, and then put a box fan in each of the windows for a couple of hours to suck out all of the dust. 4. While you have the windows in the room open, use the outlet of a vacuum cleaner
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