Have checked a few blanks from different co. and all are somewhat with bends, curves, humps, etc. Is there any co. that makes straight blanks? or all of them are in this way. Would like to find blanks that are straight on all axis.
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I was up at Lamiglas last spring and saw that they were using a piece of a reel seat with a post welded to it to align guides at the factory. I'd always just eye'd the alignment and wanted something a little more precise. Sent a note to a friend that has a tool and mfg'ing business and described what I was looking for and got this in the mail this week It has two different size reel seat
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im gonna build my first spiral wrap casting pole and was curious about the spine. im sure other people align the spine in different but for me i align the spine with the trigger on casting poles. do i do the same with the spiral wrap or should it be reversed? thanks Greg
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I'm starting to work on the guide spacing for my back bouncing rod and want to make the tip section as sensitive as I can to detect bites - I know that's a challenge on this heavy of a black. I've located two straight axis positions - tip bows up and tip bows down. If we go back to 8 years ago or so when spine orientation seemed to dominate the topics, I've found that this blank has two &qu
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Hi, I would like to know which side is for power and which side is for casting accuracy, on both a flyrod and a spinning rod? If I put the guides on the axis/spine does that mean more fish fighting power or better casting accuracy, and if I put the guides on the under side of the axis/spine is that more fish fighting power or better casting accuracy? Are we talking major differences onl
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...and tomorrow I will break 60 more. In an effort to most closely portray what various types of breaks caused by fisherman abuse/misuse actually look like, I've spent the better part of the day breaking 1st quality rod blanks and recording the breakages on video and in photographs. The results will be published in the Volume 12 #6 issue of RodMaker due out in December. The idea is to better
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Okay someone please correct me if I am wrong here. first you start with the handle, then second is the reel seat. third is the for grip.... (all this of course after locating the spine) so do you continuse this way, from the butt end up the rod to the tip, or does it matter which way you work either up or down when wrapping the guides in place?
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I don't mean to sound a few pickles shy of a full barrel, but what is the straightest axis on a blank. I've not seen a bent blank, or at least one that bends in one direction. When I built two kistler blanks I won on @#$%&, there was an ever so slight roll in the blank that could be seen only by looking down the blank and paying very very close attention. I've also got a 10' 5wt rainshadow bla
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I jhave talked to some other rod builders and it looks like most no longer bother to spine their rods. I cannot tell any difference one way or the other. But some dealers I talk to say to spine is very important. Given that they have been in the business for a long time I wonder why they mention this if it is not needed.
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Accomplished fly fishers routinely claim that casting accuracy is more important than casting distance. The mechanical component of fly casting accuracy apparently results more from the rod's tracking rather than its modulus or taper. When building a fly rod, especially a multi-piece rod, which is more likely to provide straight tracking, aligning the spines(s) of the blank's segments or aligning
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Okay, so I finally had some time to build a new rod for myself. I've got a Phenix X-11B crankbait blank that I've been really excited about. I tried spray painting the reel seat a transparent royal blue. Turned out awesome. Built the handle this week, prepped the guides on Friday night and got them taped on. Wrapped the guides yesterday a.m. and epoxied. It's looking cool! After about 3 hours of
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Hi, I am looking at starting my first rod building project. First will be a few Fly rods and then some spinning rods. I will be ordering Toms book shortly, which will be my reference point and memory bank. Being someone who learns better visually, I would like someone to kindly recommend a rod building DVD that shows the instructions for a fly rod and possibly multi-piece spinning rod
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I have been spineing rods for some time now, but have recently run into some things that have me wondering if I might be doing this correctly. I build rods that are multi-piece. I recently built a 2 piece Sage fly rod. The blank came from Sage with marks on both pieces. Sage said that this blank was marked to be built where they would build the rod. They said that they do not spine blanks an
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I was reading Tom Kirkman's fine article on guide placement and came up on the phrase "Now set the guides between the intersect guide and the tiptop" Being a newby, I checked the Rodbuilding Glossary and found that the "Intersect" and "choke" guide are the same thing and this location is the point where a line drawn from the "reel spool centerline" will in
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I recently sent a fly rod I built back to the blank manufacturer to have a broken tip section replaced and got the rod back last week.Upon looking at the new tip section a bit closer I noticed that the wall thickness of the female ferrule was not the same all the way around the opening.When looking in to the female ferrule opening it is quite noticeable to the naked eye(no need of a magnifier) as
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I am one who does not worry about the spine on single hand fly rods. However up into the long spey rods I am not so sure. The actions they go through perhaps the spine is very important. How in the world would spine.....well....actually how would you place the guides on each section of the rod in relation to the spine? It could be so different thoughout the whole casting process. How do you spine
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Instead of continuing the fray of what the CCS will not do, I thought I would share what it will do and what I can do with it. I can look at the CCS numbers and tell if a blank or rod is more or less powerful than another blank or rod. I can tell if a blank or rod is faster or slower than another blank or rod. I can take the numbers and get a pretty good idea of how the blank flexes and how m
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Would you go section to section from the butt aligning the pieces for the straightest axis or or spine the sections and adjust the tip section to find the straightest axis on which to build or any other idea?
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Am I correct that the term "building on an axis" means that is the line or side along which the guides are placed and wrapped?
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I have decided to release the RodMaker Special Edition on Guide Sizing and Placement on CD. The run will be limited to 250 copies. They are $29.95 each, postpaid (no extra shipping charge). Check or money order to RodMaker, PO Box 1322, High Point, NC 27261. Or credit card via www.rodmakermagazine.com I have packed a lot of "extras" into this edition and there are several article
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I have decided to release the RodMaker Special Edition on Guide Sizing and Placement on CD. The run will be limited to 250 copies. They are $29.95 each, postpaid (no extra shipping charge). The first 10 to order will receive a free Fuji tiptop sizing gauge. Check or money order to RodMaker, PO Box 1322, High Point, NC 27261. At some point they will be available on the RodMaker Magazine w
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Is it harder to spine the heavier jerkbait rods Tom
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I am a rookie when it comes to rod building, and no doubt i have a bit to learn, but over all, things are progressing nicely for me. I do have a couple of questions though. I purchased two rod blanks that I will be making into spinners, for inshore fishing, namely stripers. The blanks are as follows. St Criox 3C80MF 8’ and a Lami GSH961MT also 8'. When spining them, the Lami would roll
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I was wondering what you guys do to keep your guides straight? I have built about a dozon rods, and sold a few of them. I find that my guides are straight, but they are not perfect. I really want to sell my stuff, but I want to perfect it first! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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I just recently returned a blank to a company because you could see a bend in the blank about half way up the rod and to the tip and as you rotated it on a flat surface it would rotate to this curve every time so I return it to this company because I want a straight blank. They had no problem replacing the blank but I had to pay for the return shipping feeling to that should not have paid the re
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Ok, to bring back an on ongoing question. I have been building flyrods for over 10 years now and I do get the magazine and read this forum. I want to thank all of you builders who take the time to post here and answer question we all have. I decided to take the plunge and start a small business building and selling custom flyrods. (which brings up a whole alot more questions). I was watching a vi
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I just received a Phenix blank that I ordered for a customer and there is an issue with the blank that is making me pull my hair out. The blank came with a sort of, I don't know, painted on decal or something that can be scraped off with a razor blade but the finish on the blank is not under the "decal" and the decal is half under my planned split grip and half exposed, to make things w
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While at the reception at the 2009 show, I won a $200 gift certificate from Batson. I am a salt water builder, so I decided to do something different and build a 4 piece 8 weight fly rod. I spined all 4 pieces of the rod to get a starting point. Now I have two questions: When doing ferols, do you put alignment lines on both the male and female parts to keep the guides straight? Also, what
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I am building my second casting rod and have glued the grip and cork using the straightest axis method. I have used tubing and tape to attach the guides in conventional, simple and what I think is a revolver spiral and have been making test casts. The guides and the tip top(which is simply taped on) on the upper half of the rod keep ending up rotating under the tubing or tape to where they are
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I`m aware of the importance of finding the spline of a one piece. Do you basicly use the same method for a 2 piece. The tip piece is a rather easy find ,but the shorter fat butt piece I`m not sure about. Does it really matter on the butt section? The rod is a Seeker SP 703 7' 4-10 #. 2pc. Also, I found a good deal on a Super powerwrap. looks generic. Has a drying motor attached. Works very well.
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