Swampland has them completely unfinished, make a much nicer rod.
Forum: rodboard

I haven’t used a 10XD, but I have used a RF Elite 806 S-glass on Douglas to long line a Hot Lips. With 300yards of 8lb fluorocarbon I was able to get almost 35ft deep, the 806 had plenty of backbone to handle that so I am sure it would be OK for a 10XD.
Forum: rodboard

They have had a similar handle on their Rage series for a while now. It is pretty nice the urethane is pretty soft and grippy, but the rigid foam underneath gives a better feel than soft EVA foam in my opinion. It should be very durable
Forum: rodboard

You can take it a step further if you use a foam core carbon skinned handle. Make the part where the reel mounts about 6 inches long and cigar shaped and you will have the most comfortable spinning rod you have ever used. As a bonus with the black carbon grip the black tape blends in much better and looks natural on it, plus taping to the rigid carbon is way more effective than taping to c
Forum: rodboard

OK reading the patent now I see how it was granted so quickly, it is a US version of an existing Korean patent which is great for speeding up the process. I have to deal with IP all the time at work and our patents are taking more like 6 years to be granted these days.
Forum: rodboard

On these blanks you can use the 17 seat on a 7 foot rod with a little reaming and an 18 seat on an 8 foot rod with a lot of reaming. I have reamed 18 seats so much that epoxy oozed out of pinholes in the threaded area but once it is glued to the blank it is not a worry being so thin. Splitting the seats works well since the blanks are so large in diameter they are comfortable to hold onto and the
Forum: rodboard

On these blanks you can use the 17 seat on a 7 foot rod with a little reaming and an 18 seat on an 8 foot rod with a lot of reaming. I have reamed 18 seats so much that epoxy oozed out of pinholes in the threaded area but once it is glued to the blank it is not a worry being so thin. Splitting the seats works well since the blanks are so large in diameter they are comfortable to hold onto and the
Forum: rodboard

Unless they drastically changed my original design there is no welding in the Microwave frame, it is made from a single piece stamping. So Titanium should only be a problem of tweaking the tooling since different metals behave differently in the molds. BTW Titanium welds fantastically, it is just expensive to do it. Look up pictures of Ladybird motorcycle exhaust to see some real Titanium artw
Forum: rodboard

Like always it comes down to capital investment and institutional inertia. Back then someone who had a factory set up to braze wire into guides didn’t want to invest a fortune on progressive stamping machines. Today someone who has a huge investment in metal stamping machines doesn’t want to spend another fortune in injection molding machines. So it will come down to who has the capitol to ma
Forum: rodboard

I have some of the 1mm that I got from Todd at the show, I posted a picture of them on the photo page compared to a standard micro and a #6 guide. They are unbelievably small in person, I dropped one onto the carpet at the show and we didn’t even bother to look for it. I haven’t wrapped any yet but it will require lots of magnification and probably tweezers to manipulate. . You will probably
Forum: rodboard

What kind of reel seat are you looking at? If it is a blank exposed casting reel seat you would order a 12mm seat which would be based on a size 16 seat. Like the others have said if it is a spinning seat or non exposed casting seat either would work with bushings. Tips are traditionally measured in 64ths of an inch, but Alex has been listing the Kigan guides by the actual mm size of the tubin
Forum: rodboard

It’s Tennessee so I will be limited to 3 baits, but I could put 3 hot lips on and be completely legal. No way am I man enough to reel that in, I doubt anybody is…………….
Forum: rodboard

The reels I have won’t hold the full 300 yards, but last night I was setting one up and put a full 200 yard spool of line on and have some room left over. Tonight I will spool up another one and I think I can get 250 yards on it, I guess that will have to do.
Forum: rodboard

I have a tournament this weekend on Douglas, and I will have 2 806 s-glass rods with me making some of those 300 yard casts myself………. I was able to get my last one down to 5.5oz, not for bad a full 8 foot all fiberglass rod. I went all the way with a split 18 reel seat, carbon grips, and 3mm Kigan guides. To get the 18 reel seat on this blank it has to be reamed so much that epoxy seeps
Forum: rodboard

I am using System 2000, it dries unbelievably clear for epoxy.
Forum: rodboard

It is hard to find in less than about a pint container. The epoxy that I use is hard to find in less than gallon quantities, but I finally found a surf board shop that would sell it in smaller quantities.
Forum: rodboard

The best way is to scrape it off with a razor blade held perpendicular to the blank. The best tool I have found is the cheap utility knives that have long straight blades where you can break off the last quarter inch or so to get a new tip. You can buy one of these and a pack of replacement blades for about a dollar each.
Forum: rodboard

David Dosser Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I bought a pair also and really like them. I do > have a problem getting really close cuts with them > when using to cut tag ends. I'm thinking about > putting mine in my bass tackle to use as braid > scissors. They work great for that. I have several pairs and one pair I modified by drilling
Forum: rodboard

I have started leaving my carbon handles bare with no top coat finish at all. Once I sand them down smooth I finish with a fine scotchbrite pad and then once the rod is finished I wipe the entire blank and handle with spray wax.
Forum: rodboard

Cool, that’s a half hour closer for me.
Forum: rodboard

I for one applaud Alex for trying to wean builders off of the antiquated 64th system and listing the Kigan tips by the actual mm size of the tubing used. The tip manufacturers are buying tubing in .2mm increments so it would be nice if the blank manufacturers would go along and everybody could get on the same page.
Forum: rodboard

You can get a size 17 seat on one at 8 foot with enough work………….. Mine was reamed so thin that when I glued it on glue seeped out of the groove in the threads that prevents the hood from rotating. For some reason I left the hood on the reel seat when I glued it on, so if I hadn’t noticed the seepage I would have ended up with the hood permanently rod bonded on. On all of these la
Forum: rodboard

Yes, the high frame is the match or M series. They also work very well by themselves on light spinning rods.
Forum: rodboard

Guys I wasn’t trying to be a jerk and say what you were doing is stupid, I was just trying to offer a suggestion on how to make the test better and amplify the differences you are trying to test for, in this case the guide systems. Have fun!
Forum: rodboard

Yes it will be the same for everyone, but if the poor aerodynamics of the test weight make up too high of a percentage of all the factors that go into casting distance it will hide any differences you would see with a good, bad or indifferent guide system. What I expect you are going to find out is that every system casts about the same because any effect of different guide systems is so much sma
Forum: rodboard

Won’t the poor aerodynamics of a weighted tennis ball mask some of the differences? I would think you would want the smallest most aerodynamic projectile possible for the weight. That should help eliminate the influence of the projectile in the results.
Forum: rodboard

You bet, good technique and a T1 rod produce some startled looks from the partners I draw………………
Forum: rodboard

MHX L905. I just used one for a light A-rig rod and I was impressed at the power and light weight, if you don’t want a rod that long just cut it down, I cut the one I built down to 7 foot.
Forum: rodboard

Use a smaller mandrel, whatever matches the center core of the core you’re using, and then ream to fit. You want to keep the core as thick as possible, which makes it easier to work with. The way I turn the cores down to the same diameter they will go on the finished rod is to make arbors from masking tape at the end of the core and sand down to that diameter.
Forum: rodboard

I pretty much only use metallic thread, and I buy lots of Sulky metallic from a local sewing store. I agree about adding extra thread to your orders to build up a stock, but it is nice to be able to run to a store 10 min away when I need something right away.
Forum: rodboard