I agree. Just finished 2 and ordered 2 more. Longer rod blanks used for crappie fishing down here are difficult to find. They are very nice blanks for a very good price. Norm
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Yes
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Mudhole has them Norm
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A lot of people use the VSS 16 reel seats without any ergonomic issues. It is a very popular and comfortable seat. The OD where you hold the reel is about 23 mm, which about the same OD as a size 20 pipe reel seat. The ODs for the VSS17 and IPS16 where you hold the reel are about 27mm. Norm
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The Anglers Resource’s KR GPS calculates the KR reduction train length (I.e. - the distance from the butt guide to the choke/belly guide) to be approximately 0.42 X the distance of the butt guide to the tip top. Fuji uses approximately 0.45 as the multiplier to calculate the KR reduction train length. I use the term approximately since the final reduction train length can and will be adjusted. I
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I’ve not used the NFC Atlas spinning guides yet. However, they are about the same heights as the Fuji KR guides for a given ring size, so they can be used in a KR concept. They only caveat being is they don’t make a size 5.5M. This precludes using them in a16H based reduction train. For a 20H based reduction train you can use 20H, 10H, and 6L coupled with the runner size of your choice. Could al
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Got to LOVE the KR concept; a lot of versatility. Braid, monofilament, fluorocarbon, big reel, small reel, long rod, short rod there’s an option for you that will work. Norm
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You can still find pistol grips I put one on a 6’ casting rod about two month ago, and the price has gone up since I bought it. Norm
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David you are quite welcome, and I sincerely appreciate your thank you. I’ve been building rods for over fifty years and KR spinning rods for the past 10 years or so, almost since the KR concept was first introduced in the US. I spent a lot of time dissecting and experimenting with with the KR concept until I convinced myself as to how well it really worked. Since I almost exclusively use braid,
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Bad idea. The blank is most probably an unsanded blank with resin ridges giving it that rough feel. I wouldn’t do anything and leave it as is. If it really bothers you, you could wet sand it with a wet/dry 600 to 1500 grit sand paper. Mask off the guides, wet the paper, and begin sanding. Doesn’t take long to smooth the ridges. Sand just enough to smooth the resin ridges. If the water begins to t
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Fuji has always considered the KR reduction train to consist of 3 reduction guides, which are engineered to be grouped by size, plus one “belly or choke” guide. This belly/choke guide can be either a normal low profile KB guide or a high belly guide. So, the “3+1” reduction train described by Les is not an “odd ball modified reduction train” but rather one of the many reduction train combinations
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Not really false if installing the reel seat in the down locking position, unless you ream the grip so it slides further down the blank to give you the room needed to wrap the tape arbors, or if you install the grip from the butt up. In my opinion, neither are the best nor easiest ways to go. If you are using the reel seats in the up locking position, which I never do, you can certainly use tape
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Both the Fuji VSS and IPS seats require grips with a machined cutout into which the seat reel is inserted. Because of this cutout the use of a tape arbor is precluded. The VSS/IPS reel seats need to be arbored first and then reamed to fit the blank prior to installation. Norm
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Ed - You are quoting the steps I use to assemble a VSS/IPS seat and handle combination. It works very well and I’ve never had a failure, and have used them on a number of Point Blanks with no problems. If you wish you can glue the pieces separately to the blank, it also works. However, in my opinion you have fewer problems when gluing as a unit. Norm
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Herb gives good advice. If you are ever planning on using the reamer with a power drill, I would use an epoxy that can tolerate high frictional heat without breaking down. Many epoxies begin to break down at temperatures above 150 degrees F. I don’t know the heat resistance for the West System epoxy, but I have used JB Weld epoxy with good results for bonding the grit onto the reamer. It can with
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I’m with Spencer, the raw blanks will wrap fine and really don’t need sanding. However, with that said, I have also sanded a number of them to remove the ridges. I wet sand by hand and do not use a rod lathe. Basically, I use 600 to1500 grit wet/dry sand paper (the black stuff) and wet sand. All you need is a bucket of water, the sand paper, and your hands. Wet the sand paper in a bucket of water
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It should be pretty simple for you to convert your rod to a spiral wrapped rod. Basically, the spacing for your guides can remain the same. Cut off all the guides, except for possibly the butt guide. Cut the thread on top of the guide foot with a razor blade or utility knife, and peel off and unwrap the thread. I prefer a utility knife because I feel it’s safer and gives me more control. Once the
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According to Anglers Resource the New Guide Concept was introduced in 1995, and the KR Concept was introduced in 2011. Both are an improvement over the old traditional Cone of Flight guide layout, which has been around for a very long time and is still being widely used today. Traditions dies slowly. I’ve mentioned previously that both the Fuji NGC and KR concepts are all about line control and
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Don’t ever stop asking questions. Asking questions I how you learn. Norm
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They look like a high frame small ring design that could be used in a KR concept. Very nice,I’d certainly try them. How do you put the tip top on? Can hot melt tip top cement be use, or do you need to use something else? Norm
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St Croix used a powered tip top glue that contained Piccolastic hydrocarbon #D125. They use to supply a small quantity of this stuff to people needing to replace a tip top on a St Croix rod. As far as I know they did not sell it to the public. Sportsmen’s Direct sells a product called HWI Tipsie Dust PyroCrystalline Epoxy. It’s not an epoxy, but rather a hot melt crystalline power, which appears
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You can have a blank of your choice custom painted. Try Backbone Customs. Norm
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Which NFC CF grip did you get? The regular carbon fiber grip has an ID of about 9.5 mm. If that is too large for your blank then arbor by doing a wrap or two of dry wall tape cut to about 1” wide, at the front and rear of the grip. I tack the drywall tape in place with a drop or two super glue before applying epoxy to prevent the tape from ‘walking’ when sliding the grip into place. If you got th
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The tiger (jasper/zebra) thread is thicker than size A regular thread. Norm
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The prowrap tiger thread is the same as a jasper or zebra thread. It’s basically two thread colors twisted together to form a single strand. There is no problems with its strength since it is made with the same fibers as used with a single color regular wrapping thread. It is used exactly the same way as regular thread. However, in order for the contrasting colors to stand out you should use colo
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The both the 18 RPM and 9 RPM motor will work fine for curing. No need to move to your 9 RPM motor unless you are doing two rods. Norm
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The plastic container will have nothing to do with setup time. The flex coat rod builders epoxy has a pot life of about 20 min and that depends on the temperature. The higher the temperature the shorter the pot life. In addition, epoxy begins curing as soon as it’s mixed, the longer you take to do your work the thicker the epoxy becomes. So with this epoxy either work fast or mix up small batches
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I assume you don’t have extra decals to experiment with. I tend not to use decals, so I have a bunch of them laying around from different manufacturers. Which manufacturer’s decal label are you using? If I have a decal from that manufacturer I’ll experiment for you using Permagloss and see what happens. As Micheal suggests Permagloss is your best bet. It is absolutely water clear and will never
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I mock up the handle with the reel seat and reel in place and find the handle length that the individual likes. Once we find that length, I measure from the butt end of the blank to the front of the rear grip (or the rear of the reel seat). This is the measurement I use when I glue up the handle, because the reel is not in place when I glue up. Therefore, I rarely do measurements from the reel st
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Looks great! Nice job. Norm
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