Just finished building up a cork grip. Some history for context. I had built a 10 foot rod with cork grip but left the butt as a split. Got sick of looking at the blank and started to wish that I had used cork for all of it. So I embarked on seeing if I can make it all cork without destroying the butt grip. First I made some cork dust granules by planing a piece of cork straight into a bucket. Th
Forum: rodboard

I've used 5 min epoxy for years and never had a problem when need to replace as only need to heat enough for the glue to release. Heat not enough to damage blank. Also don't forget the resin in making blank has been baked and can stand the heat for a short time. I've not seen the need to purchase another item when I've already got the epoxy to hand.
Forum: rodboard

Then why are you still here? Most of the guys here are pretty good and free with their advice to help others as you have noted yourself. Billy's a well respected rod builder and there's no need to take out your frustrations on him. I think your own expectations were possibly too high and you seem to want to run before you can walk or crawl even. You sound like an older person and if so should kno
Forum: rodboard

Just got a Shimano TCurve deep jig 200 which is broken about 14 inch from tip. 2 ways to repair: 1. Just simply put a new tip on broken end and live with a much shorter rod with changed characteristics. 2. Repair by inner and outer sleeve to maintain original length. Thing is I'm not sure the repairs will remain strong enough to exert the forces as a 50lb rod. what's your thoughts?
Forum: rodboard

With K, Torzite, micro does the LC still have a place?
Forum: rodboard

I am also still contemplating which size thread to use. Dale Clemens' general advice is to use size A for freshwater and D for saltwater and E for those really heavy rods. Mind, I've used size A for light saltwater rods and they've not given any problems. As noted above, size A gives you a finish which looks painted and doesn't look as though there's anything holding the guides in place if you've
Forum: rodboard

@#$%&
Forum: rodboard

Apparently a company by the name of Texas Thread Manufacturing is now making Gudebrod. Does anyone have any info on this including whether it's the same quality as before?
Forum: rodboard

Anyone used this brand thread? If so, what's it like?
Forum: rodboard

Hmmm, stiffness ought to be ok as the ferrule is going into the foregrip and being a medium taper all bending should be finished by then which is why I was thinking of reinforcing both male and female. So far I've reinforced the female by covering the remainder of the butt with eva and glued a winding check at the end. The winding check ought to hold any likely splits. Not too worried about wear
Forum: rodboard

Thanks Tom. Don't have a lathe so hand sanded. Not evenly concentric but I went slow and measured as I went along. Got some high and low spots but should even out just a little as it wears. To ensure that there is enough strength I'm going to oversleeve the butt which is the female and undersleeve the male ferrule. Let you all know how it fishes after I'm finished.
Forum: rodboard

I have to make a ferrule out of existing rods to join a piece to a butt section. Both are graphite but the butt has less graphite and has a thicker wall with od of 14mm. I drilled it to make an id of 11mm to be the female and have sanded it as best I can. This means that the top section needs to be the male and have an od of 11mm. Right now the od is 11.5mm. I'm hand sanding at the moment but loo
Forum: rodboard

Yes, when is US going metric? The rest of the world already heading that way. The longer it's left the costlier the conversion. Learning the imperial system and later needing to convert to metric only showed what a pita the imperial system was. As an adult you may be used to it but it's complicated for the children who have to learn it.
Forum: rodboard

Mike, you're on the right track. The different ratings are to allow for the fact that braid doesn't stretch. So typically, you use a braid that is higher breaking strain than mono to allow for the lack of stretch. Mono's stretch allows for the sudden rush by the fish and absorbs it whereas braid doesn't. The stretch allows you to catch fish using lighter mono. Look at the records even up to marli
Forum: rodboard

jerry & others, I think the question refers to epoxy adhesive not finish so the yellowing is irrelevant. Mike, looking at the technical data sheets you'll find that longer setting epoxy has higher strengths than the 5 minute. So I'll urge you to use the regular longer setting one. Also, it allows you more time to adjust things in place. Most brands guarantee up to 12 months or so with som
Forum: rodboard

Jim, +1 to what Don said above. If you are slow then mixing a quantity to do the whole rod will find you perhaps rushing towards the end. better to mix smaller quantities that you can comfortably work with. What Tom has said about mixing 3ml of each is to ensure you have exactly the quantity of resin and hardener as otherwise it wont set properly. This notwithstanding, I have used as little as 0.
Forum: rodboard

AGS proprietary to Daiwa, don't think they're available to public. need to buy another Daiwa rod. If don't like Daiwa blank can always buy the rod, remove the guides to blank of your choice.
Forum: rodboard

I still use masking tape and haven't experienced any problems. Trick is to use as much epoxy as you can over a greater surface area. In this sense, the masking tape acts as a centering medium. If you have enough epoxy at both ends of reel seat no water should be able to enter and make mush out of it. Keying the blank and the inside of the reel seat is essential to maximise bonds.
Forum: rodboard

Although I didn't say John is correct I am building a rod dryer not a wrapper so cork/wood will be fine. I'm just wondering which is the better that's all. Roger, I know about the shower screen, window & sliding door rollers. I wasn't thinking when I threw out my old shower screen doors a few months ago and didn't rescue the rollers. Now I want them back for this little project. Whilst I
Forum: rodboard

Just need to make a couple of supports and while a V will do the job it's nice to have wheels. The commercial jobs have rubber bearing wheels. Many homemade use a variety of wheels such as castors, skates, etc. Now I'm thinking of rollers out of wood or cork. Easy enough to cut out with hole saw and then drill out center to fit bearing. What do any of you think, wood or cork?
Forum: rodboard

I'm going to try the tip top size that is the ring size as its nearest guide. A light bulb moment went off when I was looking at the rod in that while there is a difference in height this is much reduced and even disappears under casting conditions. This is because the bait/lure used has a weight and this will bend the tip anyway. So maybe my concerns are answered in this manner.
Forum: rodboard

Don't know that it matters, that's what I'm trying to find out. It's logical that it matters. After all the trouble we go to to line up the guides whichever concept is used, to have the last one being out of whack just grates. One rod I built didn't cast well and when I realigned the guides so that it looked like a bullseye the casting improved. If you don't have the tip top aligned it'll matter
Forum: rodboard

Maybe Jim Ising or Bill Batson can answer for their respective brands but we all know that the same ring size tip top has a reduced height compared to its guide. Why is that? It doesn't matter when fighting a fish but most of the work is casting. Whether using NGC or cone of flight the tip top ought to be the same ring size as its nearest guide but it doesn't work for height. One has to use the n
Forum: rodboard

Got a yellow tennis grip tape too gaudy for me. Didn't want to buy other color and it was thinner than the bicycle one which suited me better
Forum: rodboard

General advice re butt guide size is to divide your reel spool diameter by 2 and then go up to the nearest. So for a spool of 43mm use a size 25 butt guide. As to spacing, Tom's article in the library is easy to follow. Like Ray suggests, tape your guides to the blank and test cast before binding but I have failed to follow this myself many times. Before test casting you can also sight along the
Forum: rodboard

Acquired a couple of 10' 2 piece carbon rod blanks and decided to try and keep the build as light as possible. Already built one with split cork grips but decided to use bike handle bar tape for this one. Branded tape at the bike shop was $30 - 40 here in Perth. Not impressed with that. Saw that cheapest was chinese stuff on evil bay so went with that. Paid less than $3 for two lengths and found
Forum: rodboard

Depends on how clean his floor is, if he just disinfect it he'll be ok. After all our pets readily gulp whatever we drop on the floor and they're ok as are babies. Seriously, I have more problems determining where the top half's ferrule comfortably sits into the bottom half as not all ferrules are made absolutely cylindrical unlike metal ferrules. I had a rod once that moved under fishing pres
Forum: rodboard

Thanks Tom
Forum: rodboard

For NGC measurements are based on one reel. However, I use my rod with many reels depending on condition. The diameter varies from 51mm to 56mm. The 5mm difference places the choker at different points so what do I do?
Forum: rodboard

I second the "bull's eye". I just built a 10' rod using ngc placement but when I test cast I didn't get the distance I thought it ought to have. So after adjusting the reduction guides so that they are concentric I test cast and this time the distance improved markedly.
Forum: rodboard