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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Bill, You can easily match another tip to the rod. Go to a rod store, or check your own stock for the identical blank. Then, go into your blank stock and match the blank, cut it to length and splice it in with an inside and outside joint with an overwrap on the ends of the splice. Roger
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Andrew, Certainly you could leave off the butt cap. You could also leave off the reel seat and the handle. If you want to really save weight, tape the reel to the blank, tie on about 4 guides and call it good. It wouldn't be a very comfortable rod to fish with, but you would certainly save weight. -------------- Having said that, most folks find that the butt cap - with its smal
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Richard: One source: Roger p.s. Another thing to consider is the use of lead tape. Simple and easy to use. Simply wrap it around the butt of the rod, and put the bored out handle over it. Take care Roger
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Mike, Don't put weight on the inside of the rod blank for balancing. If you do that, you just end up moving the weight forward as you add necessary balancing weight. Rather, put the weight at the extreme end of the butt in the form of a butt balancing cap, or remove a couple of rings off of the back of the blank and wind lead tape around the last 1/2 inch of blank. then, you can hollow out
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John, Go ahead and take a picture of all of the wraps on the guides. That way, if you do have to rewrap, you know what you are trying to copy. Go ahead and recoat the old finish , after making sure that the finish is nice a clean. It wouldn't hurt to scrub them a bit with a scrub buffer to put a slight matt on the finish. Recoat, let dry and see how it works. Worst case is that some
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Joe, Often in a batch of cork rings, you find some rings that you would rather not use as a handle due to the lower quality and excess pits etc. So, it works to save these rings to use as arbors if you like. Sand them down to the size of the inside of the handle and ream out the inside. Roger
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Fred, You can also use the blue low tack masking tape. It works very well and leaves no residue behind. Roger
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Richard, With respect to the foot pedal, go to a thrift store and pick up an old sewing cabinet with the knee lever still in the cabinet. Take out the pedal and you will be good to go. Sometimes you can find these cabinets on Craigs list, or even pawn shops, good will or other sources. You can also call your local sewing machine shop and they likely have one laying in the back room for next t
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Russell, I agree with Tom. I don't think the presence or absence of a small or pronunced spine has much to do with the performance of a rod blank. Choose the blank, based on your needs, whether it is a particular action, blank weight or some other particular characteristics. If, as Tom pointed out - the blanks were really identical - except for a pronounced spine on one, and virtually
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Bill, Don't discount the idea of using preformed grips. Yes, it is great to make your own grips and get them to the exact shape that you want. But, one of the downsides - today - is the high cost of quality grip material. If you want to use cork to make your own grips, you will often spend as much as $3 or $4 per ring for really nice grips. Having said that, it is not too likely that
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Mike, Drop me an e-mail and I can give you some info. hflier@comcast.net Roger
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Billy, Tape residue is a zero issue. After removing the tape, simply take a paper towel that has been wetted with mineral spirits and give the rod a good wipe down. The mineral spirits (paint thinner) is a perfect material to completely dissolve and remove the tape adhesive without harming the finish on the rod. Then, simply take another towel that has been wetted with Alchol and rub
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Jim, don't complicate things. Just take 1/8th or 1/4 inch wide masking tape and tape on the guides. Take along a roll of tape when you go fishing. If one guide happens to loosen, retape it. Simple and easy. Roger
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Steve, Grainger always has a good supply of machine tools: Take care Roger
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I agree with Capt Neil on the guide layout. The upper 2/3rds of the guides are on the lower side of the rod and are no issue. The first and any transition guides are the only issue and are best laid out and tweaked with the reel and line to be used on the rod to do the final alignment. i.e. Align the butt and transition guides so that you get an effortless line out, and line in, wit
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Why do the folks that do apply epoxy to the underwraps - apply it? Roger
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Here is a link from the Delta Airlines site with respect to baggage requirements etc. for sporting goods including fishing rods. Roger
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John, Even with a 4 foot rod tube, I think you should be able to have it as a carry on. Simply have a hook on it so the case can be hanged in the hanging area of the plane. Check with your airlines. Roger
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As Mike has indicated a good cleaner really helps to take care of the problems. Alchol, as you indicated will take care of some of the issues. But to do a really good job, use something like prep sol, as Mike indicated, or use Xylene or Acetone. These solvents do a great job of removing any type of contaminant that keeps another finish from sticking. p.s. If you use one of the quick
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Vern, Very simple. Cut the wrap off of the guide and rewrap with no pencil mark on the thread. Take care Roger
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John, A better idea is to simply make a pvc case for the rod, to prevent breakage. Then, drill a couple of holes in the pipe to allow for a secure strapping system to your rucksack. Really simple to solve the problem. Take care Roger
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Lorenzo, Actually, this splice is pretty easy. 1. Remove the butt cap on the rod. 2. Obtain a section of rod blank that will be a nice tight fit on the inside of the rod so that you can insert the blank up the rod butt and have the tight fitting blank section protrude about 3-4 inche out of the broken butt section. 3. Obtain another section of rod blank that will be a nice tight fit on
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Bill, Thanks very much for the comment. As much as anything else, I was attempting to point out in my original post that techniques developed by Mr. Ford in Detroit building his model A applies to rod building, whether it is labeled custom or not. In addition, these same techniques apply to many many everyday tasks that we do as we go though and live our lives. As I said in my origi
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In the past there have been comments about the time required to do a particular job when building a rod. As is the case with many things in life and in particular when you are trying to make some money, there is no reason to not do any part of a rod building job as fast as you can - that is consistent with PERFECTION. i.e. In rod building, as with any other aspect of life, there is always
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p.s. One way to check for guide finish difference is to use a new v shaped exacto knife and blade. Gently insert the blade into the guide and slowly and gently sweep the new sharp blade around the perimeter of the interior of the guide. As the sharp knife blade sweeps around the interior of the guide it will catch on any imperfecton or draggy spots on the interior of the rig. You can selec
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Neil, Although I have used both as I stated above, there may be a difference in the guide finish but it is tough to feel for the average person using the rod. Roger
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