I had one manufacturer tell me trimming the blank voids the warranty. Straight from the horse's mouth. What's everybody's experience with this aspect?
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Think about it this way. If you're holding the rod with the tip up while fishing, how does the perceived imbalance have any effect? The only time you will notice this "imbalance" is if you hold the rod parallel with the water. How often do you do that when fishing a jig or worm? Do as Mr La Mar suggested, and fish it for a while. You may well discover your unbalanced rod fishes just
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I've done that on my power wrapper with no problems. Just put some painters tape on the blank where the wheels are, and you'll be fine.
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I've been bitten by the cloud, so I let it set longer. First coat goes on, gets warmed up by an infrared heat lamp until the white is gone. Second coat goes on an hour later, gets the heat lamp treatment then sets overnight. If I put the second coat on at noon, epoxy does not get applied until noon the next day. Following this time frame, I've not had the cloud come back to haunt me.
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I like "em. I could see using some of those. I'd hazard a guess they're not for everybody, but I'd also bet a few people would really like them. There is a certain set of custom rod customers that are seriously into "bling", and these are definitely bling.
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I found out the hard way that the first guide needs to be rotated a little bit to the side opposite the transition when using the rod for moving baits. Using the rod for senkos will likely not require this.
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I have one of those rods, not the model you have though. I'm at home and it's not. I'll take a look at it tomorrow and see if I can figure it out.
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This is a bit confusing in one aspect. I've been using DNA for a couple of years to clean up epoxy from around seats and grips, and to clean brushes, and it works nicely. Not trying to start an argument. I'm going to believe the chemist on this one. I'm about out of DNA, so isopropyl will be my next alcohol purchase. Unless my wife sends out on a wine run that is.
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Thanks, Bill. I forgot to mention I use the same piece of line for guide alignment. Works good for my old eyes.
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Phil, I'm in the same boat with you. I've only been at this a short time, so take this with a handful of salt. I cut off about 12' from the back end of an old fly line; the running section. It's bright yellow, making it easy to see. I never flex the rod past 90 degrees. but do go that far. Start out by flexing just a little bit. Just far enough to place the first guide or two down from the tip
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I have that blank almost finished. Just need to apply a final finish coat to the long wraps, and apply some Tru Oil to the cork. I'll be fishing it next week on the White River, so I can tell you what it's like on the water. It is a very nice blank for the price. Clean, nicely smooth, very straight, and very light in weight. Feels very crisp in hand. My only complaint, and this is truly pic
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I bought a Fenwick rod a couple of year ago, on sale for about half price. It didn't work well for what I thought it would, but it turned out to be very nice for tossing a micro jig under a small float for trout. I still use it for that. I let a buddy use it one trip to Taneycomo. When he first held it he said, "hey, this is a walleye rod". I told him look closely. It says walley on the
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I use U40 cork seal for regular cork, and Tru Oil for burl. I really like what Tru Oil does for the tiger trout burl that Custom Fly Grips sells. Very nice!
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One of the pleasures of this craft is working out for yourself what works and what doesn't. That is, what produces acceptable results, and what does not. And, we can all define for ourselves just what is acceptable. I look at this like the old car ad; the relentless pursuit of perfection. That does not mean I have achieved perfection. Far from it, but I do improve from one build to the next. AT t
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Being a novice, I haven't used all the brands of thread. Fuji, Prowrap and Fishhawk are what I have used. I like them all. They do behave somewhat differently when finished with and without CP. I experiment, usually in the area where the reel seat goes, to get what I want for an end result. Using alcohol to wet the wrap will give you an idea what it will look like, but doesn't seem to me to be al
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Recoils are lightest I've ever used.
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A Magic Eraser works nicely.
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I use one of these to do initial shaping.
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I have a few small stepper motors, and had been thinking of building an automated dryer to sequence the turn by hand leveling process. A stepper can be made to rotate a precise amount by the number of "pulses" sent to it, so 180 degree rotations can be done easily and accurately. A 12V DC power supply, and a fairly simple four transistor drive circuit, are what's required to make the mo
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I've used fuji's KDPS on an Aero seat. The HPS and KDPS fit the same Fuji seat, so.....
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I'm a novice rod builder, but not a novice fisherman. You really have a simple choice here. Which is more important to you: longer casts or more accuracy? Everything else being the same, longer rod equals longer casts,; shorter rod equals more accurate casts. You're building a very nice finesse bass rod, on which I assume you'll be using light line. A lower power rod, with lighter line, make
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roger wilson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Scott - > X10 on the comment about the total price of doing > rod turning. I suspect that I have about double > the price of the lathe in accessories by the time > that it is all figured out. > > However, the accessories make jobs possible that > are not possible without the appropri
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I use an infrared heat lamp. No blower, so no dust blown around. I regard an alcohol lamp as a disaster that has found a place to happen. Before mixing the finish, I turn on the lamp. By the time the epoxy is mixed and the guide wraps are all coated; about five minutes; the lamp is not quite at full heat, but hot enough. With the rod turning on the dryer motor, I place the lamp directly below
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Tom Kirkman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Epoxy does not give off "fumes." It is a solid and does not evaporate any solvent. About "fumes" then; I use Flex Coat Lite and Threadmaster Lite. I get slightly better results overall with Threadmaster, and would use it exclusively except for one issue. TM smells a lot more than FC. I scarc
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I have an Alps wrapper with the upgrade chuck, and it has been a fine piece of gear for me. Get the slide stands, not the spring type. The spring type stand will not work except in the first position or two up from the chuck. They will not grip the blank at smaller diameters. When you get within 30" or so from the tip, the upper roller does not even touch the blank. It's also fairly easy to
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I wish I could do it it with just one coat, but I can't. I've given up even trying to do so. Tom Kirkman has a very good article about finish, in which he states that the key is to find a procedure which produces results satisfactory to you. This is what I have done. My procedure is a combination of tips and tricks for several sources. I use both Flec Coat Lite and Threadmaster Lite. With e
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I've been measuring my mix by weight for several months. Before I retired, I took two brands of epoxy to the chem lab on campus and asked the professor to measure specific gravity of each part. Got the results and compared them to my calculations based on weight of new 4oz bottles. Came up with the same numbers. Here are the numbers when measured in grains. Flex Coat lite takes 7 grains of har
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no problem for me just now
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Tom, you've convinced me to use epoxy. I'm not so sure I can turn a very thin channel in cork. Hardwood, no problem. Soft cork, may be difficult.
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