I have both Minima 3s & 4s on a few of my own rods that are at least 5 yrs old & they have resisted the best efforts of my son to break plus they're nearly always fished in salt water ,occasionally in the creek that runs at the back of my house which depending on the tide is either fresh or saltwater
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x2 on what Randolph said or a photo would help to understand you problem
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G'Day Raymond Your site is a wealth of information for new builders it was a great help to me when I got back into rod building after my retirement after 20 years of work .It allowed me to catch up on everything & the facility certainly is worth hanging onto between your site & Tom's forum & I guess Billy's FB page newcomers have never had it so good .To me it was worth it'
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I would second Neil's advice I used them almost excursively until MicroWave came along. I have a few rods of my own that were made years ago & despite my son's best efforts none of them have failed
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G'day Ed welcome to the addiction that is "Rod Building" there is no known cure for it as Donald said "there are no dumb questions the only dumb one's are the ones you don't ask".You will receive a lot of different replies to all your questions & everyone will be correct .All you have to do is pick the one that works for you .As for the cost of the equipment that
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G'Day Bill I use a laser & have done so for a number of years . I use it for 2 things 1 is to set the blank centre line parallel to the wrapper. No2 is to make sure the guides are centred on the blank . As the floor in my workshop is flat & the bench is parallel to the floor & the wrapper base is parallel to the bench .To check my guides I rotate the blank 90 degrees (I have a too
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G'Day Rick I had one like that a few years ago & how I overcame the problem was to put a slit in the grip on the underside where it wouldn't be noticed & then with a syringe I injected some 5 min epoxy thinned slightly I think with Acetone .As soon as I finished with the epoxy I wrapped some masking tape around the slit & pulled it tight & then over wrapped that with twine & w
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G' Day Adam the problem I believe lies in the carrier not Mudhole because I can & do track the passage of my goods .Occasionally the flight spend a couple of days in Hawaii & that has delayed delivery by a day or so .I don't know who Mudhole use for their domestic deliveries & if its USPS it could take forever .I have used other suppliers who use USPS & that has taken up to 3 wee
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I found that using the syringes was faster than weighing .The syringes stay in the bottle all the time .(no cleaning & avoid the problem of putting the wrong syringe in the bottle ) & all I do is tip the bottle upside down & draw down on the syringe until the level sits on the line for the amount I use (usually 3 ml from each bottle.When finished they go back onto the holder that I ma
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If my order is placed on a Monday evening with Mudhole it usually arrives the following week on a wednesday & that is to Australia .I find that more than satisfactory as it normally takes around 4 days for normal mail carried by Australia Post .If the parcel is from Mudhole it comes by Fedex Other being on the expensive side but I realize that I have to pay for service .
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I usually make my wrap 3mm each end longer than the guide & maintain that through the guide train .
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I cast my own from casting epoxy ,That means I can have any colour or variation of colours that I want.The epoxy that I use is different from the "rodbuilding epoxy" that we use as it sets a lot harder .Ihave been using this method for around for around 8-10 years & to my eye they look OK .
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I use embroidery threat all the time & have done for a number of years .What Chris said about Silicone is correct but I don't use anything like Permagloss or a Urethane .All I use is ChromaSeal to seal the wrap & have had no problems what so ever .There is a method that some use & that is "put some thread into the mix" the theory being that it will balance out the surface te
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Yes I use them occasionally when the customer won't pay top price .I guess that I would have built around 12 rods using them over a number of years .So far never a problem with them & all saltwater rods .
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G'Day Rick I only had one success in removing grips & seat to put on another rod & I managed to do this using hot water from the tap .With a lot of time & twisting things the glue started to loose their grip .The overall time was around the 2 hour mark .But once things started to move the time from then on was probably only around 15 min. I made sure that I had thick rubber gloves t
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Trey The one thing that hasn't been said is the addiction .Rod building is more addictive than heroin or ice & there is no known way to get you free of it .You will be continually trying to improve you skills ,when your wife asks "do you really need that many rods " you will always look at the ground & shuffle your feet while trying to think up an answer that will satisfy the q
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G'Day Ben check in the sewing stores in your area if you can't find any just google it & try to get hold of the Maderia thread chart with all their colours .There are something 300 + colours & shades you will almost find the exact colour you are looking for .Guderbrod was the yard stick all threads were measured against & I'm not sure that come up to that mark. A word of warning when
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G'Day Jimmy for what it's worth I have my thread tension to 101.5 grams that around 4oz I think . I find that if I go any heavier then the guides are too hard to shift to align them prior to cp .In the 7-8 years that I have never had & failure .That would be 350-400 rods .I should also mention that I use Maderia or Mettler thread about 90% of the time also with no failure's
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Beau If you want something that is still relative new have a look at the G'Urishi that some builders .Just do a search on the photo page type in G'Urishi select all dates & click find .Also you can just click through the pages & have a look at all the outstanding work that is done by a lot of builders on this forum .Good luck finding what looking for .If it's not on here it hasn't been do
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I use the same lamp as Gary except I've modified mine to slide along the wrapper & found it to be one of the best investments I've made for rod building .Before I purchased the lamp I used a digital microscope & laptop.With the picture blown up to X 200 where the A thread looked like rope .I now don't have to use this for the wrap. However I still use it for packing the threads any gaps
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I use a laser to align my guides however it is not a mudhole one it is one built into a spirit level with a tripod .I don't use it to set my guides up I only use it to get the final alignment prior to epoxy. To set it up I turn the blank 90 degrees with the tops facing me (I have one of the chuck jaws marked with paint & a centre line scribed ) With the centre line in line with the laser line
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Although it doesn't get as cold in Sydney Australia in winter 55f late at night. I put mine under a lamp with an incandescent globe for about 3 mins with the globe about 12" above the bottles.That will make both run like water .
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Have a look on U Tube Doc Ski ha a tutorial on there about setting up a weave ..Also Owen Dare has some on there on setting up @#$%&
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Thanks Barry Roger has been in touch & I have received details of his drum dryer
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Thanks Tom I have already done that & have copies of the ones that interested me .
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Thanks Biil
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G'Day all I would like to build myself a drum dryer & would like to find a set of plans .I've tried the library here .Rodbuilding tutorials. & you tube without any success .If anyone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated or if they could email me a copy.
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G'Day Jason all I use is metho on a chux cloth give it a good wipe over followed by another wipe over under a running tap .Let it dry & I'm good to go .I have to say that I don't do a lot of repairs but those that I do I've never had a problem with fisheyes after cleaning. After I have finished the repairs I clean & polish the (EVA) grips still using the metho .With the rod still mounted
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I've just had another thought Scott .If you haven't already you could try Frogleys they are the distributors for Fuji in OZ & they have held that for as long as I can remember .They may have some old stock stuck in a box somewhere .
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G'Day Scott I think you will have a bit of trouble finding these .Possibly the only place is if someone has some very old stock . I had a Butterworth blank with the same setup about 35 - 40 years ago that should give you an idea of your chances of finding some .My suggestion is to use a modern guide train & probably the reels seat could also be a bit difficult also .Using the modern parts wil
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