I've built the 7 wt. and 5 wt. Rainshadow switchers. Bought the seven from Karry Batson at last year's rod expo and he filled me in on the details of bringing these blanks to the market. So far only able to use them for stillwater fishing mostly overhead casting shooting heads and tossing indi rigs. They seem to be best described as medium fast. They cast great and I think they are an amazin
Forum: rodboard

The braided loops made from 30 or 50 lb. braided mono are are excellent especially when attached with a trap nail knot (use 8-10 lb. mono, 10 turns) at the end of the sleeve. See Dan Blanton's web page. Also for a nice loop at the end of fly lines you can double over the line and wrap two 10 turn nail knots with mono about 1/4" apart and coat with Loon knot sense or thinned Pliobond. Nee
Forum: rodboard

I've had very good results with a crow quill pen from the local craft store. Only cost a few bucks and has very fine tip. For ink I use calligraphy ink in gold and white and Windsor Newton silver. These inks can be thinned with water and you can wipe any writing off the blank with a wet paper towel (but do it before the ink dries). I don't prep the blank before writing and put finish righ
Forum: rodboard

I'm ready to wrap a Rainshadow 10'8" for 7 line switch blank and have a couple questions. It's a 4 piece and has what is described as an "exploded ferrule" type system (looks very similar to my older D. Craft Sig V blanks which had ferrules reinforce wrapped to full length of insertion). Does this rod require full length reinforcement or will the more typical 1 1/2 times diamete
Forum: rodboard

I'm having a problem I've never experienced with epoxy finish. I started to apply the finish above the grip where the inscription and trim wraps are applied. Immediately fish eyes appeared all over this area. I was very careful mixing the finish, used a new brush and thought all was well. All the finish was immediately wiped off, thread removed and did a good clean-up with denatured alcohol.
Forum: rodboard