There are so few that really use this board. Tom has said before the majority of builders do not do things with message boards or online stuff.
Forum: rodboard

If you are trying to use 1 coat of finish, then I would say use CP for the bubbles. If you so 2 thin coats, you can easily take care of bubbles in the finish. My forst coat is just enough to fill in the tunnels and barely cover the threads. I rarely have bubble issues in metalics when I use a first thin coat.
Forum: rodboard

It could also be like these from Jann's
Forum: rodboard

One thing, if the angler is going to use his rod to gt back his lure, I don't care what tip you have on it. Yes some might last a bit longer, but it will not take long for any tip to be damaged or the blank itself with the angler poking away at his lure hung up in the roks or whatever else they might get hung up in.
Forum: rodboard

Splitting the 7.0 Acid Rod has would be easy enough and it owuld not take much at all to open it up to fit the blank.
Forum: rodboard

What you are seeing is where guys are making a nice transition form the reel seat to the blank, givining it a more finished look. It has nothing to do with adding any strength in the area.
Forum: rodboard

Just use a very thin first coat of finish. I let the finish soak into the thread and make sure all the tunnels are filled in. The I remove most of the finish, when it is dried, you can still see the bumps of the thread. If bubble appear, they are very easy to get rid of with it so thin. Also if they appear after I have let the rod sit overnight, they are easy to take care of. The bubble itse
Forum: rodboard

I just finished up refurbishing a few rods I made well over 10 years ago. I stripped basically everything off but the handles and that included guides and butt wrap. 2 of these rods are 7 foot medium heavy rods, one for jigs and the other is for a carolina rig. The guides that were on the rods were what was typically used back in the day for bass rods, or at least what I thouhgt I needed to us
Forum: rodboard

I am with Duane, 2 thin coats, never have a problem with epoxy in the rings.
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I can't say a specific amount, but a very little amount of the fine glitter goes a very long way.
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I would do them all on top and use all micros.
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Richard, How are you planning on using the rod, I mean slack line retrieve like when flipping and pitching or a tight line retrieve. From what the blank is, I am guessing it will be for flipping and pitching. I would suggest doing a spiral wrap instead of conventional. Mike
Forum: rodboard

My Tenn handles are made with the graphite tubing and using the plastic rings. What I have found that helps hold the rings in place real well, is using a small strip of flat rubbing inside the ring opposite the reel. I have not had the rings slip on me at all like this.
Forum: rodboard

What I like best is no realseat and use a Tenn handle setup.
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Make sure you pick a category and that the photo size is not too big. Size really only needs to be around 700-800 pixels, any bigger and it may not work.
Forum: rodboard

I would spiral as well. I like using #6 double foot guides for the spiral then the 3 or 4's out to the tip. I like the double foot guides mainly for durability for when the rod is lying on the deck of the boat. For a weight, you might want to take a look at the Baston system. The one piece stays on the rod and you can choose a few different weights to add if needed.
Forum: rodboard

Just watch yourself when reaming. The first one I did the seat ended up pointing up a bit and made it harder to get the reel in.
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When you are using the rod with the tip down you most likely are retreiving the lure on a tight line. So as you retreive, the line will only hit the guides so there is not a chance of the wet line hanging on the blank. WIth the tip up, the retreive is mostly with slack line, so with the rod spiral wrapped, again the line will be hitting only the guides during the retreive. Taking out one thing
Forum: rodboard

How I look at it, any time you have a tight line retreive, I build the rod conventional. The rod is usually pointed down at the water as you retreive the lure so the line is only touching the guides. If you are doing a slack line retreive, then the rod is built with a spiral wrap. Tip is up, line hangs down and again the line is only touching the guides.
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I think some use to say something about using it as a CP.
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In my setups with micros, the line may touch the blank but it will not go below the blank. I don't put on so many guides as to keep the line from hitting the blank, but I look at how the line goes into the guide itself. I try to keep the angle the line forms in and out of the guide as small as I can. If the angle is too much, then the line would be going below the blank. That's when I will ad
Forum: rodboard

One thing, you would not be putting even pressure on the blank with too few of guides. I have always tried to have the line make the smallest of angles coming in and out of the guide.
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What I do is load up about half the spool with mono, but that dependson the size of the spool, then fill the rest with braid. If you use only braid, is can slip on the spool. By using the mono it will not slip and also you don't need to fill the whole spool with the braided line.
Forum: rodboard

I think if you read the article here about repairs, the big thing is the material used for the repair can not be as stiff as the blank itself, that's why they say use fiberglass blank for the repair. If it is the same stiffness the blank will end up breaking again. I have seen a demo on one guys repairs, he uses thin carbon fiber strips I think he makes from a sheet of carbon fiber. He said he
Forum: rodboard

One thing, you don't need all those sizes of guides in the setup. For a crankbait rod I make, I am using all micro guides, 3's out to the tip. You could start with lets say the 8 and then use the 5.5's out to the tip. If you really want to get smaller, start with a 6 and then 3's out to the tip. I am just finishing up redoing several rods made years ago with what would have been standard guid
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WIth working with Bill Stevens and using that Castaway 8 foot 964 XP3 blank for a crankbait rod, the most guides I have had on rod was 11 plus the tip. That has become my go to crankbait blank.
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Thats right forgot it was that blank Bill.
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Swampland has a Castaway blank, BB1 that I think would be your best choice, it is a 7'6" rod. I would say go as long as you can for a rod for that technique. Spiral wrap would make for the most stable rod when fighting a fish in the slop and trying to pull them out of it.
Forum: rodboard

The Minima real seat for the threaded section will need a bushing added to it to fit to blank more than likely. Figure where the other section is going to go and size it to that. I tend to get a bit smaller and ream it out. You need to be careful with reaming it straight. The Minima guides compared to the others will have a bigger ID for the insert since it is so thin. I have heard many us
Forum: rodboard

You can judge that with taping the guides on and then doing a static load test and see how the line is reacting with the guides in those positions. When I do spirals, rarely is it always the same locations for the guides for any blank being used. You need to set it up and see how things work for the guides and blank being used at that time.
Forum: rodboard