I do the same, fighting but fixed to the end of the blank. I have only built 1 removable fighting butt and they lost it within a year.
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For some reason, using PFC pipe to display hand crafted rods seems wrong. I would use wood. I've seen a very simple design using vertical wood planks spaced about 3 feet apart with a series of dowels to hold the rods horizontally. Easy to make, reasonably cheap and more in line with displaying custom rods.
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One thing to remember is that most of the branding irons are made for flat surfaces. Since cork handles are round, it would have to be modified for the curved surface. Another problem is that all handles are not the same shape, so besides being round, they are not uniformly round (i.e. same diameter over their full length) so you actually end up with compound curves.
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I build a lot of inshore rods for specs and reds. My go to blanks are the P-843-2 MHX and the Batson XP843 (although this model is being replaced). Popping blanks have a nice soft tip for trout and enough backbone for reds.
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Read further in the articles and you will eventually get to Dynamic Characterization of Fly Rods, which addresses response rate and resonate frequency. It addresses the "dynamic action". The problem is, it is very difficult for the average builder to measure and there is no data base available on blanks.
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Ray: Actually, I was agreeing with you. I just wanted to point out that you shouldn't go overboard with the first blank. With a decent inexpensive blank, you are less likely to be upset with mistakes and you can still end up with a good rod, particularly in the 4wt class.
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Angler's Roost has a nice blank at $29.95. It reminds me of the old Tiger Eye blanks. Only issue I have with them is the Angler's Roost logo comes on the blank, so you don't have the option of putting in on or not. I agree with the comment about if you are going to put so much work into a rod, why not start with a good blank, however, starting with a decent lower priced blank does take some
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I built a bamboo rod from Angler's Roost and I bought components and reels from them. It's not top of the line stuff, but it is very good quality for the price. They have a little mid arbor reel for less than $50 that is one of the best deals on the planet.
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I build a lot of 8wts for salt. There is no need to go with a 20 stripping guide on an 8wt. I would stick with 16 then 12. I am rebuilding an 8wt right now using Amtak Titan Ringlock 16 and 12 stripping guides (titanium), then REC Recoil Single Foot running guides 6 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 (10 guides all together). The titanium stripping guides are lighter and hold up to salt better (which is why I am
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One trick I use is to paint the blank silver under the area of the wraps. This lets you get the translucent depth of the color with the silver giving it some pop, rather than the flat color of NCP thread.
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I used the PacBay Titanium spining guides for the first 3 starting at 25 then 16 then 10. The choke guide is a 7 fly guide with the next 6 guides are 4 fly guides progressively spaced. This is the way I did it but I tend to experiment with different setups, so it may not be the best.
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I just built a rod for fishing off the beach for pompano, macs and specs, but I went in a different direction. I used a Batson RX8 BAXST1085F which is a 9' salmon/steelhead rod that is rated up to 1 oz lure weight. I fish the Gulf coast so our pompano may be smaller, but I can't imagine throwing a 2 oz+ weight at them. The guide setup was basically 27X. I used Pac Bay titanium guides for we
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I haven't built on all of them, but the popping blanks in either the regular or HM line are the fastest I have used.
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Yes, just don't go down to the thread.
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Does Dunedin count. That is sort of west central.
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I have used fingernail decals for college sports teams. There are some NASCAR themed ones. You have to put them on a light background though. I also spray them with UV protectant prior to putting the epoxy coating over them.
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I don't worry much with the butt section. It is normally too stiff to make a difference and besides, a lot of it is covered by the grip anyway. I still spine my blanks unless there is a noticeable bend in the blank.
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Another issue when looking at different materials is recovery rate and the related resonate frequency of rods using different materials. That is the problem with using the terms "fast" and "slow" when using a static test, such as used to measure the "action" of a rod. All imply movement, but action of a rod is a static measurement, i.e. how the rod bends under load
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I use popping blanks for speckled trout. The softer tip works very well for their weak mouths. I typically build on either the MHX P843 or the Batson Rainshadow XP842 or IP842 blanks . They are all rated for 6-12 # lines and 1/4 to 1/2 oz lures, which I find are plenty for specs.
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I think Tiger Eye is history. Sad, they were one of my favorite blanks. I think Angler's Roost has some brown blanks.
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I use Speedball Acrylic Ink. It comes in a variety of colors plus silver and gold. Best part, it cleans up with water, so if you make a mistake you can wipe it off with a damp rag and start over. I use a variety of nibs by Speedball depending on the size line I want.
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Batson Rainshadow RX8 blanks are about the fastest fly rod blanks I build on. They would qualify as "at a reasonable price" particularly compared to the fast action Sage and St. Croix blanks.
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Does anyone have any experience with these Pac Bay titanium frame guides. I have used other titanium guides for my saltwater rods, but these seem to be considerably less expensive.
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Looks like Jarden Corp will have a monopoly on the technology, so I don't see how that is a good thing.
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Thread is cheap and you don't use that much of it on a build. I don't see any reason not to use rod building thead unless you are looking for a specific color that is not available.
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Here is a kink to one place I have found fingernail decals before. I would be concerned about how well the color will hold up over time. I would put a UV protection of some sort over them.
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If you are used to building bass rods, you can use pretty much the same setup for redfish, although you will have to make sure you are using saltwater tolerant components. Most of my redfish rods are spinning rods, though, I know a few people that used casting rods (but not many). If money is no object, I would use titanium frame guides, lite Amtac Titans or Fuji TYSG's.
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Are you talking about Microwave running guides? I can't figure out why you would use the Microwave butt guide on a spiral wrapped casting rod. Just curious.
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There have been a couple of posts about school colors lately. I do a number of rods with school themes, so I thought it might be interesting to tell how I do it. First of all, you can usually get the official colors from the school web site. For example, it you want South Carolina's official colors you can google "South Carolina Colors". This gets you to here: The colors ar
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The official colors for SC are garnet and black. Black is black. The official garnet color is PMS 202 on the Pantone scale. This equates to Prowrap Color Fast Burgundy 343 which is indicated to be an exact match to PMS202.
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