Larry, I am only a beginner myself, but I have found too that when starting the wrap, it really helps to stick the tag end onto the blank with masking tape, a couple of inches along from where you want to start the wrap. Then you can easily rotate the rod using both hands, to cross over the thread and make it secure. I have found that the online video clips on the Mudhole site - "rodbu
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Hi all, Has anyone tried to re-use a cork handle from a broken rod, by drilling out the remaining section of blank? The handle is from an old (broken) Abu Garcia ultra light spinning rod, that is called a "blank-thru graphite handle" - whereby the graphite reel seat is embedded into both the fore and rear grips, and the fore grip screws down to secure the reel. It is a very com
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Thanks very much for all your replies and especially for the link to the 4pc blanks from Anglers Workshop.
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I've just built my first two spinning rods and it turned out that one was uplocking and the other down locking. The first was a 6'0" spinning rod, with a 4 inch rear grip and intended for a 1500 size reel. Without thinking too much about it, I built it with the reel seat as uplocking. It feels good and its proven to be a good choice The second rod was 6'6" with a 7 inch rear grip
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Hi all, I would like to build a 4 piece spinning rod around 8'6" - 9'0" for lure weights of (say) 15-20 grams (1/2oz - 2/3oz), for casting chrome lures for light saltwater fishing. I think there are very few, if any, normal 'spinning' blanks in this configuration, so the obvious solution is to use a 9ft 4pc fly blank. My main question is how do you go about converting a fly bla
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Even if you use identical blanks, guides and thread colours, you can add some trim wraps to one rod and not the other. (a trim wrap is a narrow band of thread, say 3-4 wraps wide, in a contrasting colour that sits next to your normal guide wraps etc, and gives a really classy look) Metallic silver thread looks great as a trim wrap, with virtually all blank and thread colours. You could for
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I would like to make a suggestion to Batson Enterprises, that perhaps they would like to consider adding a range of rod tubes. For example the 'Landmark' brand aluminium tubes or the 'Clear Creek' cordura nylon covered PVC tubes. Perhaps Batson could even have them embroided / printed with their own logo. I have so far purchased 3 Batson blanks + components from Utmost Enterprises. I have
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Thanks Billy. Roger - Thanks. Its an open ended blank, a Batson SB781-3, and its a very fast tapered blank. I think now that this difference in taper between the blank and the reamer is is possibly the main source of this suction effect.
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I've just fixed the rear cork grip into position on a spinning rod (only the 3rd rod I've built so far) After applying the Epoxy (Quik Bond) to the blank and sliding the grip down into position, I found the grip did not want to stay in the right position. It seemed to sort of "suck back" about 3-4mm back up the blank. After about 5 minutes and some sliding up and down and twisting, t
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Jay, I like the double foot guide as the butt guide for durability really. On previous rods I've owned, the single foot butt guides can get bent and twisted over time, from walking through the forest, bumping into trees, occassionally slipping over and knocking the rod on rocks etc. I guess this is also because that guide is the biggest and sticks out the furthest, making it the most vulnera
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Hi all, I've only started rod building within the last year. The first rod I built was a 5wt Batson RX7 fly rod. The second was a 4pc Batson RX6 spinning rod - SB720-4, 6'0", 4-8lb. I have built this rod using basic Batson components: VS guides (6,6,6,8,12,20 - A double foot guide as the butt guide), an ultra-light Batson spinning handle kit, a hook keeper, black thread and some me
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I'm only a beginner rod builder, having built three rods so far. I use a 5 rpm motor that I salvaged from an old microwave oven (that is the speed that the turntable turns at!) I wrap by hand, and I use this motor for both applying the epoxy and for drying. I've been extremely happy with the results so far. I am interested to hear Roger's comment that a faster speed would make it easier to
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Thanks a lot, Ken and Roger
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Hi all, 1. I'm about to order a couple of Batson Spin Bass blanks (in clear-gloss) which I believe is a charcoal grey colour. Is standard black thread the closest match to these blanks?, or could someone reccommend another easily available thread colour which matches nicely. 2. I like to add some small trim wraps in either gold or silver on the rods above, to contrast against the black bi
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Thanks very much everyone for your replies. I had never heard of the New Guide Concept system, but its most like likely I'll use it. In any case, I'll probably buy enough guides for both this configuration and the Batson configuration and make up my mind when they arrive. The Batson VS guides are only around 60-80 cents each in the smaller sizes and it won't hurt to have a few spares. D
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Ed, could you tell me the name of the shop that sells the Sage VXP kit for $259. The only sources I've found so far are selling these for $320-odd
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Hi all, My name is Dale Holmes, I'm from Tasmania, AUSTRALIA and I'm fairly new to rod building (and just only just joined this forum!) I built a Rainshadow RX7 5wt flyrod last year as my first project. Now I'd like to build a couple of spinning rods and I have a couple of questions: Firstly, an easy one: When you are measuring the placement of single foot spinning guides, do the measure
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