I apply finish to large areas turning the rod by hand, then turn the rod at 40 RPM to apply finish to the guides, then right onto one of several 4 RPM dryers for 3-4 hours as needed. I probably do this more because of the home made setup and space I have on hand than any really good technical reason. But, I'm used to it and it produces very good results. I have always used a brush to apply fin
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Black Dog tackle also accepts PayPal and ships international. Shipping restrcitions to Australia severely restrict the package size and favor multi piece rod blanks.
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I had the same worries about an alcohol torch I bought. As I understand it, the "denatured alcohol" comes with either an ethanol or methanol base. Since the ethanol can be used for drinking, it is closely controled. The methanol can not be used for drinking and is available in most denatured alcohol mixtures you find in stores. There is also a difference in actual temperature create
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I have actually had pretty good results with Krylon for plastics and a good urethane clear. Both come in spray cans and are pretty easy to use.
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We would like to thank everyone who spent time in our booth and expressed interest and well wishes for the RBI organization. We especially thank the new members who joined at the show and the old members who renewed their membership at the show. It was a good show for us and a great show for rod building. We also thank Calico Creek Rods for allowing us to help sponsor the Community Rod pro
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RBI and Black Dog Tackle are both run by me and I'm leaving shortly to begin the trip to High Point. I will be more or less out of touch until Friday evening, but will have email access at the show and in the hotel. Just to let you know I'm not ignoring anyone, simply en route and temporarily out of touch. See everyone at the show! Joe
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James, I do a lot of bamboo work and would be happy to answer questions for you. Just send me an email. I will be travelling the next few days but I will have email connections available. Thanks, Joe
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Sounds good to me. We have finally had four days of temperatures above 35 with a little sunshine and have melted our way down from five feet of snow to about three feet of snow. Anything below kneecap level will be a welcome sight.
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Mark, Bring two sets of the magnifiers. I've about worn out my first set.
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We have the hig frame guides as well.
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We still carry the shock ring guides in four color combinations. However, I don't recall any glowing from the storage shelves. I get a lot of inquiries from rod builders looking for these guides for repair work or simply because they like them and can't find them elsewhere.
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I have done both on spey rods. There are plenty of preformed handles out there and I have been able to get a good fit to the blank in most cases. It takes some slow going and some careful fitting. If you have a way to turn on the blank, I think you would get a better result building your own from rings. One thing I have found with the preformed spey grips is they are too thick and a littl
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Buzz, we have them in some larger sizes...typically 16, 18, 20....with chrome, black and gold hoods.
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Russ, I have some old Sunset thread in what I always thought of as pink and white in size 00. Under the lights it does look like it could be pink and silver? I can send you a spool if you want. Just give me an address. Joe
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Ditto....apply faster speeds, dry slower speeds. I have 3 & 4 rpm dryer motors and they work great.
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I have discovered that if I really try to obsess less on fine details, the end product is better the first time around. If I try to make it perfect, I will absolutely screw it up. My first attempt at this was with wrap epoxy. Apply it and let the epoxy do it's thing and don't be as obsessive about it and it always turns out well. Mess with it too much and you will have to remove it and sta
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I use silk every day and I also use nylon every day depending on the rod I'm working on at the time. Silk is easier to break as noted above and I have to adjust myself every time I switch from one to the other to keep form applying too much tension (tugging) on the tag ends. Otherwise, be careful and watch the wraps and it will go well. Most CP products will work fine with silk. Some may
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I have built several fly rods with antler reel seats. These work great and clients love the look. I have not tried an entire handle but assume it would work well and look great. Antler is heavier material so you want to choose the rod to use it on accordingly.
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Joe, I have a friend locally (yes I do have one or two friends...well, acquaintances anyway) who is a professional artist. His paintings sell quite well and his reputation is quite wide spread. His problem is that he has very serious allergic reactions to the paints and thinners he uses. Not good for an artist who paints for a living. But, he can't not paint. He has tried other occupation
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I will also give this a try later in the winter. I have used the graphite tubing quite a bit on a variety of different rods. I have not noticed, nor heard any complaints, about the tubing and slippery handling. I have heard from several people that the tubing is much colder on the hands during the winter steelhead fishing. Other than that, people like it, it's light weight and it looks good.
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Can't seem to get the conatct links to work on that site. I would like to know about booth space for the RBI organization. Thanks
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Black Dog Tackle and RBI are both back online now. The storm did a bit more damage to the satellite system than was originally thought but all seems to be repaired and functioning now. While we were at it we also installed a backup satellite system using the logic that the next big storm probably won't damge both at the same time. Hopefully, we will avoid this sort of outage in the future.
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The west coast storms have damaged our internet service. The satellite company is sending a new part. So, we'll be down until at the earliest Thursday. If you have ordered something or need to order some parts, please call until further notice. We'll let you know when our internet is back up. Phone number is 208.476.5708 - there is an answering machine. Thanks, Joe
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North central Idaho in the Rockies...most of the small bait and tackle shops around here sell inexpensive rods. I have spent time talking with tackle shop owners in the area and hear the same story from all of them. Two main reasons; 1) the regional economy is not good and the locals tend to do more meat fishing than sport fishing. They buy inexpensive rods because that is what they can a
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I saw Andy Snedden do a demo on feather inlays using Min-Wax water based clear varnish a couple of years ago. Just dip the feather in the can, squeegee off the excess and place it on the rod blank. Dries clear and looks good. Apply your epoxy finish over the top the next day and you're done. I've since tried it and I like the way it works.
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I use a lot of silk as well and agree with the comments above. I would like to emphasize the importance of Fred's comment about lapping threads (and implied packing of threads) by suggesting you be extra careful when wrapping and packing silk. It goes smoothly, but seems to be able to have the ocasional thread "escape". I use extra light and my magnifier every time when working wit
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Jim must have stolen my motto (ha!)....I've spent 44 years practicing "the customer is not always right, but the customer is always the customer". Education is the key. People usually make the right choices when they have all the facts. By doing him the favor of educating him a bit about the rod/reel combination you will probably improve the relationship rather than harm it.
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We have the wire guides up to size 75 in stock.
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Sage is very light and looks fantastic. Can be hard to find large enough pieces. We have used a wide variety of woods with success.
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The guys at Lamiglas do a very good job of painting blanks. That's where my wife gets all her red and pink and purple stuff.
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