for the link to your tutorial on tieing off decorative wraps. Gave it a shot last night and it worked like a champ. Gotta say I was a bit nervous cutting thu those first few threads, but everything held together fine and the tie offs came out great. Thanks again, Mark
Forum: rodboard

Dave Wylie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Mark, with my 7', 6 guides plus tip spinning rod > bent with the reel up, I see that the line touches > the rod between the tip & first guide & between > the 1st & 2nd guides. Would this be an indication > that I need to add another guide and re-position > the 1st through 4th? TIA
Forum: rodboard

Turn your spinning rod upside down (reel on top ) and tie the line off to a solid object to do a stress distribution test- similar to what you would do with a casting rod. lean back and put a decent bend in the rod. If the line is touching ( or crossing) the blank you may have too few of guides. I know this is not the position you fight fish with a spinning rod, but this is the way it is ben
Forum: rodboard

THe 1267 may well suit your purposes- I just finished building one but it is along the line of a light plugging rod, rated 2-6 oz, but more than 4 is a load for it. You didn't mention total length. The 1267 is 10' 6". If your looking for something a little longer you might check into the Daiwa Ballistic Surf models. THey are easy to travel with, as they are in 3 equal sections, and t
Forum: rodboard

THanks for the replies, Billy I'll try following your tutorial for my next tie off. For this one I guess I'm stuck sanding down the ugly bumps at the tie off locations. Shouldn't be that big a deal. I've basically been CP ing the entire wrap before cutting the ends, as I didn't want to chance the threads moving around . Time to learn a new trick or two. Thanks all. OH and Tom, - whi
Forum: rodboard

have only recently begun doing decorative crosswraps and the ends where I do the tie offs are a problem. After I cut the ends of the dec wrap and then make another wrap over the cut off ends and the original tie off the ends becomes somewhat large and bulbous. After adding a few coats of epoxy the problem continues to grow as the ends become larger and taller in diameter as compared to the main
Forum: rodboard

Tom, not sure where the data came from on finding out about the expo on the internet- (75 people?) I personally directed a number of people to both this site and the dedicated site for the show, talk about the show is done on many other forums, and the word gets spread. If not for the internet I would not have known about the show/ the magazine/ or this site. Most fishing forums also have
Forum: rodboard

If you have the visual wrap software, the easiest way to follow the sequence is to pull up a pattern and use the command to wrap one thread at a time. Each time you click you should see the next thread in the pattern wrapped. That was the only way I could follow along, and the sequence became clear after that. Hope that helps.
Forum: rodboard

Capt. Neil - how right you are- the same tax "specialist" that told me the IRS wasn' interested in "hobby" money had never heard of the excise tax. Needless to say , I vacated her office with less than a stellar opinion of her "expertise".
Forum: rodboard

I talked to one tax specialist who advised me that doing a few rods a year would likely be classified as a hobby, and that the IRS wasn't interested in collecting "hobby" money. Pure @#$%&. SInce I also work in acconting I took this advice as being on the "poor" side- and you should too. I went thru the licensing and paperwork myself just this year, it isn't a big
Forum: rodboard

I finally got around to turning my first handle (fore grip actually) out of cork rings (exotic burl) and now the enevitable question is should I apply finish or not ? If so, what type, urethane, tung oil, etc. I realize that the answer may be largely personal preference, but I don't have any experience to base the decision on. None of the cork handles on my bass equipment (freshwater rods)
Forum: rodboard

Although I have the jet 1040i on order, I was also considering picking up the flex coat set up for a drill to do my cork work outside. I watched the flex coat video (How we do it) and it appeared the device worked quite well, just using sandpaper to shape the cork and or EVA foam. I like the idea of being able to set it up outside on a picnic table and keep the mess there, but not sure how muc
Forum: rodboard

Glad I caught this post. I have been using metallic threads on the top layer to avoid the use of CP, but want to try the tiger wrap with some of my regular thread, which will definitely require CP, time to get out the practice blank I guess. Oh and thanks Tom , for the tidbit on not shaking the CP. I could of swore my bottle of CP said shake well before using, but I'll have to double check- I
Forum: rodboard

That picture says a lot. Are there any concerns over weakening the guide foot with that much material stripped away? I can definitely see how I have been doing a poor job of it, and it looks like that would certainly not ony wrap much easier, but also have less "tunnel " space to be concerned with after wrapping. Very cool. Mark
Forum: rodboard

I tend to agree with Tom's statements on keeping the cast, sinker, lure ,line and rod- from tip to butt on a single plane will lead to the greatest accuracy- the straighter the stick (rod) the easier it makes the task of keeping everything on plane. I've been particiapting in long distance casting for a couple of years now, We use 13-14 foot heavy duty surt type rods and cast sinker weights fr
Forum: rodboard

Billy - I hear ya - there are givers and takers, and those that just want a free lunch. My only point was to say that we can all go about doing our own thing, keeping our secrets to ourselves, stumbling across new ideas by happenstance, or we can all learn and benefit faster by communicating with each other- the choice is a personal one. I prefer not to reinvent the wheel if it isn't necessary
Forum: rodboard

Those that won't share info. Just as a counterpoint to Steve's number one. I just got a copy of Dale Clemen's book on custom rod thread art. In the first chapter he expressed surprise at the number of builders he ran into that thought they had stumbled on to some magical way of doing things and were very tight lipped about it.. This works both ways, and Dale went on to comment that their d
Forum: rodboard

I'd be curious to know if anyone has considered that a blank with a notceable crook or hook in it is going to have an impact on the act of finding the so called "spine". I was just thinking that if you pull on a crooked stick , it is naturally going to twist so as not to be fighting the Crook or hook, or whatever you want to call it. Just a thought. Mark
Forum: rodboard

is the question two layers of thread- or two layers of finish ? As evident from the first two repsonses- the question is not quite clear.
Forum: rodboard

guide styles, for casting conventional gear, if your using fuji guides the bmnag or similar are what I like. The different style guides will sit higher or lower on the blank, and the higher they sit on a casting rod, the more work it is to keep the rod upright when playing a fish. You might be able to get by with one less guide with higher frames, but I typically only go to the higer frames for
Forum: rodboard

meant to add this, as a general rule the tip should be the same or possibly one size larger than the smallest running guide. If you want to see how 16's would work , you can lay one out on the tip and see if the width of the foot looks right for the width of the tip. I don't like using 16's if it means grinding down too much of the guide to fit the blank .
Forum: rodboard

A typical set up for a 1569 would be 3 or 4 12's out on the tip section and then progress up one size for each guide moving toward the butt. You would likely wind up with tip , 12,12,12,12,16,20,25 If you think you need one more guide the stripper guide would be a 30, but most of the 13' surf rods I do wind up with 7 guides. The vast majority of the 13' rods that have been built for me
Forum: rodboard

Scott, it was a pleasure meeting you and Karen. I enjoyed the seminars and hope to put the info to use soon. Tell Karen I said thanks for the help in picking out the madeira threads for my next project, and also looking forward to getting the new thread posts for the madeira thread. With the neat madeira box I picked up (at a great price) I can finally get all my madeira threads orga
Forum: rodboard

Wow. lots of good replies. Thanks for the info folks. John - I'll be sure to look for you at the show. Thanks for the help everyone. Regards, Mark
Forum: rodboard

Thanks guys, I'll definitely be stopping by the booth. Mark
Forum: rodboard

never mind to my previous post- just caught Andy's post on the new CP- hopefully I'll get a sample to try out at the show. Thanks, Mark
Forum: rodboard

I've been hearing the rumors about this new TM CP. Any schedules release date at this point ? I've been using the flexcoat CP for awhile with decent results, but am interested in trying the new stuff. I also use TM finishes, and so far like the product line.
Forum: rodboard

tried a search and came up blank, anyone have tips for taking photos of their work. Some of the pics I see are great. I usually wind up with glare from the overhead lights or the camera flash. Any help ?
Forum: rodboard

No micro sol, I'll try to clean it up, if that doesn;t work I'll start over. What's the recommended sanding medium if I go that route ?
Forum: rodboard

I hope it's ok, I'll be in big trouble if not, as I already asked my wife to come. Well, bring her along, if nothing else you can come find the "other" couple to socialize with. Regards, Mark
Forum: rodboard