Jeff, I am pretty new, too, and have already made some errors. I started with Flexcoat and thinned it, it took a long time to cure and I had to coat over it. Now, if I have a problem with epoxy not curing right, I just strip the guides and start again (that has happened twice, first from carelessness, second time I think I mixed 2 1/2 cc with 3 cc). I have wasted the time trying coat after coat,
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I built a fly rod with a IP840 blank. I measured the ERN at about 8.5. It casts an eight weight line just fine. Haven't caught a fish on it yet, though. Greg
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I hadn't thought of the icing up issue. It doesn't normally get that cold here, and as Harold points out when you're iced up you're iced up. When the finish cures I will check out the casting and see what I think before changing anything. I will see if I can find one the same size as the guides. Rogerio, What differences did you find? Greg
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The largest shooting head knot will pass through the guides, and aestheticaly it doesn't look right to have the tiptop larger than the guides. I'll probably end up changing it. Greg
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I just finished an eight weight fly rod. I put one of those oversized tiptops on it. The more I look at it, the more I dislike it. The tiptop is larger than any of the running guides. What is the purpose of the trend toward larger tip tops? It seems to me like it would not lend itself to accurate casts. What do you think? Greg
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This thread is so timely. I am starting to build a new fly rod and I plan to do some trim wraps with different thread colors on the guide wraps. I have done two turn metallic trim wraps on one rod and it was such a pain because I didn't know how to do it. Thanks to all of you on this forum for sharing your skill and experience. Greg
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You're right, Billy. I have to try it first. But it sure is fun brainstorming on the possibilities. I just do it as a hobby, so I am my own guinea pig. Another thing the surfboard builders do sometimes is sand out the finish coat which would leave a grippier matte surface when wet (california dude here).
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I have been thinking about this since receiving the latest issue, and Bill's reply prompted me to add this. Surfboard construction is roughly equal to what Tom is doing, the blank is shaped to a customer specific style and one or two layers of glass are laminated over the shape with clear resin. I am sure a fiberglass sleeve would be strong enough, the carbon is overkill strengthwise but great lo
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This happened to me recently (I take no responsibility for it, it just happened to me! Ha Ha) and I ended up just stripping it all off and starting over because I really didn't like the thought of all that uncured epoxy on a rod. Denatured alcohol took it right off, then I razor bladed the wraps over the guide feet to remove the thread. Careful: the alcohol may soften the painted finish of the bl
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Indeed, some very nice work is shown in the photos of this site. Thanks for pointing that out to me, Mike. Greg
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This is not leather, but it might have the effect you are looking for. See this thread on another board:
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I think one day in a warm corner of the garage where the workbench is will evaporate the alcohol. I believe the hardener separated out from the mix by either using 3cc of hardener to 2cc of epoxy or just not stirring enough, so there was a film of hardener on top. After letting it dry I will check the threads and how well the guides are adhered before finishing the wraps again. At some point it i
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I don't think using the alcohol ADDED to the problem. Adding more epoxy may have. I will let it dry out before finishing. Rewrapping will certainly take care of it if it need be.
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Thanks, Raymond. I was afraid to try wiping it off, but after your suggestion I went at it with a soft rag and denatured alcohol and it came off just fine. All the threads are clean on the surface. I will let it dry out tomorrow and coat it again. I have some new LS Supreme so I think I'll throw out the old stuff even though I am pretty sure it was operator error. The first rod I did, the
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Well, yesterday I put the first coat of LS Supreme on the RX8+ I had just wrapped. I went out for a few hours, returned and stuck my finger into the mixing cup to see how hard it was. Still wet! Noooooo! It had a layer of the orange tinted hardener on top of the gelled solution in the cup. I must have goofed up even though I used the syringes, went to the wrong graduations, or just didn't mix wel
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