Tony, After the post, I did further research and learned about the Twilly tip. I can see where the twilly tip - with its abilty to avoid wire line tangles at the tip, and its ability to keep sharp bends from happenning to the wire really make sense to me to use on a wire rod. Thanks for the updates. Roger
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Will, Another option, which will cost about the same money - is to pick up one of the variable speed dc motors that are being used on many of todays new lathes. You may have to make a few changes, but you can then remove some of the pulleys and simply drive the head stock directly. Take care Roger
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Tom, If I was going to redo a wire rod - I would go with roller guides and tips all of the way. Tough to beat the rollers to reduce friction. Take care Roger
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Josh, I don't know of any supplier of the better quality graphite blanks other than Thorne Brothers. Wild River has very small diameter winding checks. Take care Roger
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Josh, 91% will work all right for cleaning. Not quite as good as 100% but all right. However, it is not a good idea to use 91% in lamps The 91% doesn't burn nearly as well as the 100% and it also burns with a smoky flame. Just go to your local big box store, and go to the paint department. Pick up 100% alcohol there for a good price. Take care Roger
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Rodney, No problem putting a rod blank in a "correct ' lathe. By correct, I mean a lathe that gives excellent support to the blank for the full length of the rod. I have built many many rods using gluing the cork up on the blank, then spinning the entire blank in my lathe to shape the handle. The key thing is support. It is also very important to place the steady rests at p
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Josh, If you want, simply make it a permenant grip. A typical handle length - back grip, reel seat and fore grip will be about 16 inches. If so, you can use a 16 inch piece of rod section, and plan to put all of the handle on the extension. Since you want to extend the grip 11 inches - size the extension so that you get a nice tight fit on the extension into the main blank at 5 inches.
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Tim, Tom is correct. If you do have the misadventure of receiving a tip that is too large, you can normally put one or two wraps of thread on the tip to fill in the clearance for a good grip for the tip. In particular when building very fine tipped ice rods, some tips simply don't come small enough. I have had some rods with 2.5 tips and the client requested tip came no smaller than
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I agree with Dick. The use of the 1/2 inch Jacobs chucks work very well for holding mandrals. I don't know what type chuck you are using, but perhaps you can use a different set of jaws in your chuck. Or, you might need to resurface the face of the current jaws in your chuck. Depending on the chuck, some jaws are pointed, some are flat, and some are curved in the jaw holding area.
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St croix has some new extra fast tipped rods out. I use the 7 foot rod and then extend the butt of the rod to get the added length. Take care Roger
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Nick, While prepping some guides the other day, I came up with the following very simple solution to holding the guides. I take a flat head machine screw 10/32 about 3 inches long. I take my grinder and grind off the head of the screw, so that there is only about 1/64th of an inch head left on the screw. I take a guide and slip the screw into the guide making sure that the guide foo
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Peter, Check the Diamondback blanks. Lots of the local builders here in the midwest use the Diamondback blanks with great success for Muskie blanks. Light and tough. Take care Roger
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Mark, A nice finish for a guide wrap is to use a locking wrap - which does make several wraps on the to side of the bare blank, just past the guide. This does help to both lock the guide in place as well as to help fill that void. Depending on the guide, rod, and use of the rod, this is optional. The best way to remove the small tag end, is to try to minimize the tag end by trimming very
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Ron, I agree with Russel's post. If you are building a rod for commercial use - i.e. to be used on charters, guide boats etc. where the rod is going to be used by "rookies" or folks that don't have a vested interest in the rods, it makes sense to use double footed guides for the durability factor. If the rod is going to be tossed around, jumbled up along with many others during
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I think that the color that you need is an olive color. I have a couple brands of olive green that seem to match these rods quite well. Take care Roger p.s. I use only the NON NCP thread. That way, when you put finish on the thread, it darkens and matches the blank. A good test is to just do a test wrap on the blank, and then wet the thread with alcohol. The look that you get
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Tony, In addition to the other great posts, I might suggest the following: Since you have never built another rod before, it might be a good idea to pick up a complete - inexpensive rod building kit - from one of the sponsors on the left. Before you start spending added money for a more expensive blank and or handle set - it would be a good idea to practice, to get up to speed on the gl
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Robert, Just check the Loomis web site for this bronzeback or small mouth blank. It is likely that you won't be able to get one of these any more. So, just cross check the specs and purchase a blank of a different brand to meet the needs of your small mouth bass fisherman. Take care Roger
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Brandon, As is commonly said elsewhere; simply place a guide on the blank jut where the line needs to be supported. if the line doesn't need support to follow the countour of the loaded blank - don't put a guide there. As far as size, simply put a guide on the blank in that location, that is consistent with the need for line flow. If you need a larger hole - put on a larger guide. If th
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Andrew, Any good source of fairly high heat will work fine. The burner of a gas stove will do it. The burner of an alcohol burner or stove will do it. A cigarette lighter will do it - but the carbon in the yellow flame of the lighter will leave soot marks on the item. A propane torch will do it, but you have to be VERY careful, if you use the intense heat of a propane torch. Keep the
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Mike, You might check with Bingham. This cork sounds very much like the dark Laguna cork that Bingham carries. I have purchased some of it in the past, and it makes very nice trim pieces for the grips. Roger
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I was in the middle of a big build when I ran out of a particular specific rod guide. Karen from Bingham took the time to expedite a special order to the manufacturer to allow me to meet my build schedule. Thanks again Karen. Roger
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Eric, I have one of those small steam cleaners and I have found that it really doesn't work well for finish removal and the water and steam makes it quite messy. I suppose that if a person took time to create a tub to capture the water and run off, that one could try a few different techniques to see how it works. One of the biggest reasons that my steamer is sitting in the closet gathe
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Dick, After my father retired to Texas many years ago, he had an all concrete garage built. In the back portion of the garage, he built a work shop. On one end of the workshop, he built a bathroom. Since he was a big man, he wanted a king sized soaking bathtub. So, he had the masons make a block tub that was 8 feet long, three feet wide and 3 feet deep. He then had the bathroom, inclu
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Kirk, Maybe time to pull out the tub and surround and replace it with a cast iron sink. Take care Roger
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Marc, Here is an interesting article on epoxy - use, history as well as the slight health risk. Take care Roger
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Brandon, Just to keep all users happy, I generally make the back grip at least 6 inches long. The way that I look at is - how wide is the palm of your hand. Then, I like to add two inches for insurance and comfort. In addition, rather, than tapering the rear grip down, as you progress toward the butt of the rod, I like to place a hollow in the grip to allow a nice friendly location for
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Andrew, As several of the other posts suggest, I think that line slap on a slack line is a don't care condition. What difference does it make to anything to have line slap when the line is slack. When ever I get into this situation, such that the line has a lot of billow due to wind, drift or some other condition, I just routinely, grab the line in front of the reel, while holding the bla
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p.s. On occasion, I will have a need to use some rather toxic chemicals such as acetone or xylene. Both of these chemicals are extremely toxic and need to be used with the very best of ventilation. Typically, whenever I have to use these chemicals for some purpose, I open windows on both sides of the shop to get good cross ventilation - even in the middle of the winter. Often, I will us
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Marc, With all of the chemicals, glues and finishes that we use, there is a certain degree of toxicity. It is to all of our better health to insure that we have frequent air exchange in our shops. Whether it is a heat exchange, a vent fan, or some other means. Excellent ventilation will lead to better overall health, as well as feeling better all of the time. For example, a very simple t
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Rick, Finein theory- but what happens if you happen to drop the rod butt into a mud hole and plug the hole. I like the idea of the rear mounted hook keepers. That is one nice thing about using a split grip. You can easily place a hook keeper right in front of the back butt end of the rod. p.s. I have actually done a similar type things for things other than rods. To replicate th
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