What do the short strands of Madeira in the finish mix do?
Forum: rodboard

A friend of mine recently had a high end maker fly rod grip come loose from the blank. I wonder if they prepared the blank surface, or was it simply insufficient epoxy?
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Roger, never change a winning game.
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I expect the rod holder applied the forces in a concentrated couple of spots instead of having grips/seats to spread the loading. Or it simply could have been defective. But I think it's worth a try to fix it.
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U 40 quick cure epoxy works fine, too. Lightly clamped as Roger does. Never had a problem of any sort with any kind of cork.
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Since as usual I couldn't find my rig for preparing the bore of reel seats for gluing, I noticed my (about 1/2 in diameter at the big end) Dream Reamer still on the drill/driver. With a 4 inch length of ScotchBright wrapped around the reamer it can be fed into the bore, the drill turned on, and it stays stuck to the reamer as the reamer rotates. Therefore quickly roughing up the bore in a few
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Agree that it can be fixed, and it won't be that hard. I do believe that a cork grip will work, and suggest burl since it is much stronger than regular cork. A easy way to get a little more reinforcement in the repair would be to wrap the area with structural epoxy-wetted glass cloth or carbon fiber, and size the grip to go over that. I have a very expensive rod that I stupidly damaged at a
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Randy, go to the Fuji catalog and use the guide group recommendations for your reduction guides. Set your choke point at 27 times the spool dia (you won't have many running guides) and work the group back from there. Since Fuji gives you all the guide heights you can do this layout on paper before even ordering guides. If it looks reasonable, try it out. If not, go with your old layouts that
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Alps gives weight data. All guides are said to be by their manufacturers to be about 30% lighter than something. :-)
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My experience with most every hook keeper I've tried except the REC is that their corrosion resistance is very poor. For just a little more you can assure that it will never corrode. In fresh or salt. You can also use their single foot fly guides for a keeper.
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The ProWrap metallic black looks really black with or without CP, gives a little different look. Of course it doesn't need CP, but if adjacent threads need it, some may get on the black.
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X 2
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Most builders don't consider line touching the blank to be a problem. If you want to build it as a spiral, consider the simple spiral. You may save a guide or two. the tiptop should be removable with care, but when replacing it, consider using hot melt ferrule cement so that subsequent removals will be easier. I would check with your customer before going spiral-some simply don't like looki
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I disagree. It did not mention line, for a long time.
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There has been a formula, which was promoted without regard for line characteristics, for years. It was only fairly recently that recognition of the freedom that braid afforded occurred. NIH?
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I agree with Phil that it's mostly about the line. It was mostly about the line when no one seemed to be paying attention to braid, and were basing everything on one magic formula. But finally more sophistication came into the equation, and people started to realize that if you were going to limit yourself to braid you had a lot more freedom. Fuji was the first, I believe, to put it in writi
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Russell, nice to hear from you , has been a while. I always enjoy your insight.
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It depends what the fish want. The old traditional jerkbait rod was glass, some with weight added to slow them down, but those most likely will not catch a single fish (smallmouth) on Lake St Clair in the fall. Those fish want a fast twitch, and will not hit anything other than that. Times have changed, and most fishermen are going with graphite, which is faster and easier to get a faster je
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It has been my experience that St Croix blanks are very consistent and their ratings are very "predictable," meaning that once you get the St Croix descriptions understood, all their blanks will fit into those descriptions consistently. That is not always the case with some others. It also has been my experience that when St Croix says a blank is "medium" power, it is most
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It works very well with reels up to Shimano Stradic 4000 based on my experience. (2 inch dia spool, if I remember right) I believe that it's very much about the line used. Braid is very forgiving of rod design differences, and the lower the pound test, the more forgiving it is. I think with 6 pound braid you could probably do pretty well with casting guides on the spin rod. No I have not tri
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Many like them because they are built in the US. I like them because they are predictably good blanks. I've never had a disappointment with any grade of St. Croix blank. From what I've heard, their customer service is about as good as it gets. There are, of course, many other good blanks available. We are very fortunate to have the almost unbelievable selection of rod-building components
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You can download a Pac Bay catalog. I'm sticking with Fuji. I know the quality, I know the proper design, the price is OK, lot of info on their site and catalog. Not changing.
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Anyone considering selling rods they build should consider carefully how they will handle warranty returns and the excise tax. If planning to just build "casually" and sell a few, it may not be worth changing a wonderful hobby into a marginal business.
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I would order a 5.5 mm tube size, or 2.2 if that is the listing. If too tight you can loosen it a bit by inserting a tapered bodkin into it. But, a 2.4 will not be grossly large. So if concerned about a 2.2, order the 2.4. Based on my experience, manufacturers are very careful about tiptop bore dimensions and blank tip diameters, and if the blank says 5.5, a 5.5 tube will work.
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I've never had one fail, and they perform great. Go to the Fuji catalog at Anglers Resource link in the left margin and find the section on the recommended groups for KLH. They may not fit into some boat rod tubes or travel tubes, so if that is important, check it out in advance.
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Prokote is no different in this regard than any other wrap epoxy. In addition to the posted advice, I would add that you want to be sure you have no contaminants on the surface, don't add any heat after applying the epoxy, use longitudinal strokes to apply the epoxy to minimize any lumps due to uneven application. If your decorative wraps are done with thread designed for embroidery it may have
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The biggest differences between the glass and graphite in the actions you mention are that the glass will most likely be heavier and recovery will be slower. Both should work fine. At least that is my opinion.
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I think the problem with EVA is that it is so soft that the surface will cave in. What you want to do will work fine with burl cork as the substrate, although it will be heavier than EVA and regular cork. I believe even regular, high quality, filled cork will be strong enough for what you want to do. I assume you top the marbling with wrap epoxy, right? I've had wrap epoxy on a regular cork
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Go to the video near the bottom, the one on "KR Concept from Anglers Resource", and go to the 5:00 minute part of the video where the casting setup is discussed. Bottom line for me is to locate an RV reverse guide at about 20 inches from the reel, then a couple KB's (big foot), then KT's to the end. KB's and KT's are all the same size, and spaced per a stress test. Move the RV u
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I just don't see spending many hours on a rod then taking a chance on some unknown finish for the wraps. Could end up doing the whole thing over.
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