Deal locally if you can, but the major office supply stores offer online design and templates. You can import your own photos/art or use theirs. You can pick up in the store the next day or have them shipped to you. Yes, having business cards is a good idea. I hand mine out all the time, and I've had calls from 2nd and 3rd time handoffs. Terry
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You can get gold ink from speedball or other brands at the craft store or from Jann's on the left. It dries quickly and you can epoxy over it without any pre-coating. It even stands up to Permagloss. Terry
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If your guide spacing results in too large a distance from the stripping guide to the next one, you can readjust the spacing to cut that distance. Another solution is to add a line taming guide about 4" in front of the stripping guide and problem solved. If you use the "story pole" method of deflection and spacing, you can run into a large distance from stripper #1 to the next gu
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Hope you have a dust collector planned for your lathe station. I make a large mess with mine in the garage.. Nice layout and a bright clean look. Well done. Terry
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The stripping guide is more variable, depending on the angler. I usually hold the rod as I normally would for fishing, and reach forward to touch the blank. I'll locate the stripper at least 2 inches ahead of that mark. The idea is that you don't want the stripper to be too close so you run into it reaching for the line. This distance is around 30" for me. If I need to adjust spacing, I
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Mud Hole, Anglers Workshop and several others carry the composite blocks. Just go to the Cork 4U website and send Joaquim an email. He'll work it out for you. Pay via paypal, but shipping is expensive so order a lot. ;-) Terry
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These are really very good rods. You'll be happy with it matched with the right line. I've built a number for customers and myself. Terry
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Yes, I've made both reel seats and winding checks with this wood and i like the light grain with pink figuring. It's especially striking on dark blanks. Go forth and make chips. Terry
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Bill hit it pretty much spot on. I'll move up a size for running guides (2's instead of 1's) on the heavier rods but if they pass your line, you should be fine. Agate guides run $25-$30 Each but they are a very nice touch. I'll use a little bigger stripping guide at size 12. The traditional glass builds had smaller guides in general and a very small stripping guide. Many anglers today still
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You could trace the outline and remove the material with a dremel tool. Terry
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You can have them made to length at Harding and Sons. They have both reel on and reel off models. Terry
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Depends on the model. I build a lot of fly rods on RX7 blanks and like them immensely. No equivalent Revo's in fly models though. Terry
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Just for curiosity, I googled it up. Looks like Eddie is a rod builder in California, and has a connection on my life and maybe facebook. Go forth and contact him as required. :-) Terry
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Sulky metallics are finer than the A size threads from any of the major suppliers. You might also consider silk as an alternative. Available in finer weights than A size nylon or polyester, silk can make some very distinctive wraps. Terry
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Richard, Regular Rod Bond has a pretty long pot life. You can glue up your piece and then make adjustments for a couple hours after that under most conditions. Terry
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With a 7'6" rod length, I would tend to have a little longer rear grip, about 8" or so, 4 1/2" for the reel seat, and a small fore grip, about 2" at most, so roughly 14-15 " total from butt to the end of the fore grip. You should probably check the balance point with the reel taped on the rod which would also tell you the best spot for the reel seat from a balance perspe
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Well, I find it to be very convenient and it fits my process well. If you use too much and it globs on, then there might be some issue with finish not flowing into the areas that don't contact the blank. A thin application adheres where the guide contacts the blank until you wrap it on. I've found no issues with lack of stability in any of my builds. It's not meant to provide any guide sta
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wrap them first, then move to align as needed. The guide foot glue is only a temporary weak adhesive so you can easily move the guides after they are wrapped. Terry
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It was a fun day yesterday. Nice to connect with a number of old friends that I usually only communicate with electronically. Kudos to Lamiglas to opening their factory again and providing a venue for this free event to rod builders. Both of the rodbuilding 101 sessions were well attended and thanks for all the great questions and participation. Terry
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The event is from 8-5 on Saturday. Lot's of rodbuilders demoing skills in a number of areas, both functional and decorative. Many manufacturers will be there as well. Stop by this evening from 6-8 as well. Terry
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The doors open at 8:00am on Saturday. There is a get together this evening at 6:00 to 8:00 as well. Or whenever Chris shows up with coffee. :-) Terry
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Hello all, If you are in the Pacific Northwest this weekend, you should stop by the Lamiglas Factory in Woodland for our annual rod builder's weekend. Friday nite from 6-8 and all day on Saturday. Angler's workshop is right next door. We'll have seminars from rod building basics all the way to unique wraps, inlays and other great topics for rodbuilders. Several suppliers will be there sho
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Your gold leaf shouldn't be a problem, however your labels are definitely the issue. As previously stated a couple of times above, either the label glue is exposed around the edges, and there is some release agent on the label itself. Both of these will repel finish and it won't be consistent from label to label. If you want a consistent result you must seal the label prior to using any fi
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The rod dancer product is good stuff. I find that eyeballing the globs works fine, but I spend a good amount of time mixing on a flat piece of foil. I use a motion like spreading peanut butter on bread and go back and forth in both directions until thoroughly mixed. The roddancer 15 minute paste "kicks" more thoroughly at around the 15-20 minute mark, much like 5 minute epoxy. O
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You could spend a lot of time on this experiment with questionable results. There is so little contact between the line and the guides, would seem to make little difference. I used to build more fly rods with ceramic insert guides but could not find any noticeable difference in casting distance. I went back to snakes or SF wire guides depending on rod weight and am happy with those. Most cus
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It sounds like you are having the issue with bubbles appearing in a location that was bubble free at your first application. I have this problem on occasion, but it's always with wraps having no CP. There are locations usually on the ends of ferrule wraps or butt wraps where this can occur, and is the process of air working out of the wrap. If you are having this issue on wraps with CP app
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Angler's Workshop also has a 13'6" UL blank rated 2-6lb. You could probably take some off the butt section if that is too long for you. It's in the noodle rod category discussed above. SH136UL3 is the model number in their salmon/steelhead section. Terry
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Flex Coat has a nice summary picture with suggested dimensions of the most common single handed grips. John and Phil are right. Feel free to experiment what feels best to you. Terry
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I also find that a couple coats of Krylon workable fixative with a little focus on covering the edges helps hide them pretty well. CP does a pretty good job as well. Terry
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They are very good, and you actually want a slower blank for nymphing as you are often using weighted flies or split shot. Wider casting loops help prevent tangles with multiple flies. You might look at 4 wt and 5 wt switch blanks for nymphing. The Batson models are 10'8" and really nice rods for this method. I believe both MHX and Pac Bay Quickline have switch models in 4 or 5 wt as wel
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