I was distant from our hobby/industry for a few years, but did anyone complain that Hypalon for available in place of BRICK HARD EVA was a reasonable substitute? total different process to fit grips!! Now I have to find a solution for a partially installed new EVA GRIP!! Any help?
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Well my 40yr old rod dryer just went belly up, locked up and wouldn't turn. Not sure what went wrong but it made no noise, Time for a new one but not sure about the ones I see with the rubber cover with the hole in it. Wondering how others feel about what dryers work better than others. I have 3 different units, had 3, now 2, all have the cup with the 3 screws that hold the rod. The ones with t
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Building up a new rod and decided to go with the Fuji VSS reel seat and split grips and wondered to possibly put a twist and maybe it’s too big of twist but wondered if you guys have ever had any luck painting cork. I read one man first expoxied the cork, then sanded, primed and painted then to cover and protect he epoxied over top of the paint and he said it worked well but I wanted to see i
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I'm working on a rod with an EVA fighting butt. I put at least a 1/8" layer of masking tape over it before I put it in the lathe, and thought I was being careful not to over-tighten, but apparently I did, as the jaws left minor indents in the EVA. It's been a day since I removed the tape, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. This is a donation rod for an event on June 24th, so I
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Anyone build and use a balsa wood handle.
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Hi Guys, just received my ALPS chuck all the way over here in the UK. It arrived a little worse for wear with a few dinks and dents due to the poor handling no doubt. What I am seeing is there is little space between the main pulley and the drier motor pull to enable the drive belt to be changed??? Also is there a measurement to drill the new holes in the base, or is it just by eye? Also, I n
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I just pulled a rod off the dryer and much to my dismay I noticed that the my chuck left some dents where I'd wrapped a small rubber band on to prevent slippage in the chuck. Are there any tricks for removing this? It's the rear grip on a split grip so it's be hard to sand.
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When chucking on an EVA butt with a 3 Jaw rod chuck or dryer you get 3 dents. Any tips for avoiding this or getting them to pop out quickly?
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Thinking of ordering some Tommy Tape for my next TN Handle build. Any tips on using it?
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hello everyone. where do most rod builders buy their cork grips? just curious, I am still fairly new to rod building and recently ordered some grips for a couple spinning rods but when they came in one grip has an obvious bend in it along with what looks like stress cracks possibly from not being glued together properly. these grips were ordered from a well know supplier but the quality of them i
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I just finished a rod and was wondering how long I should wait till I fish it? thanks gents
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I know about the carbon and glass type skins for the hard foam grips, but what about other materials that might work and be quicker to do? Has anyone tried anything else commonly available? Results? I have wondered about just using an epoxy paint on the foam and wonder if that would harden the outside enough to make it durable. Things like cork and EVA are not really that durable anyway. How &quo
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Hey quick question for all you carbon fiber builders. Do you all build the handle on a mandrel the same size as the rod blank it will go on. Or do you build it on a smaller manderal then drill everything out to the correct size? Thanks Casey
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Hi Guys, I just got back from a fishing trip, and my rods really took a beating..........the primary "damage" was to the eva grips, especially were things had been pressed against the eva and it has been pressed in...... Does any body have any ideas how I can get the eva to its original state.....ie making the pressed in parts "pop out" again Thanks.... Farid
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Hi All, I've been getting really bad results on my finish work over CP. I have tried 3 brands with new bottle and still getting same results. When I apply my finish everything seems to look smooth by the time I'm done with the last guide, I notice the rest is getting a really ugly finish look. Not sure if you call it fisheye or something else? The finish doesnt wants to stay in certain are
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I have some identations in the butt section of my rod,composite cork is, where the, well i guess the chuck grips, grips the butt end on the rod turner, anyone has any idea on how to get those dents out? will soaking it hot water get them out, just guessing, thank you.
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I just took a new rod out of the dryer. I had trouble getting the rod tight enough in the chuck so that it didn't slip. I wrapped the area of the rod where the 3 screws thightened on the cork with a rubber turniquet. There are now 3 dents in the cork. I am wondering if I can raise these dents with seam or warm water? I did seal this cork with U40. Any ideas?
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I made a carbon fiber grip for the last fly rod I made. In fact I made several and they turned out nice. But now I am getting ready to make a new steelhead rod for myself and I want to do the carbon fiber thing again but I will have a fighting butt. Do they make a CF sock the is closed on one end you can buy? any suggestions? Thanks, Bob
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I have a couple of rods that have blemishes in the finish. These are not dings or dents, but rather spots in the finish that have either come off, if that is possible, or were just missed when the original finish was applied. Is there a remedy? Short of repainting the rod (it is black), if that is even possible (if so what will stick to the rod), or is this just something one has to live with?
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On long one piece rods, I often jam it into ceiling, walls and such....:) Never damaged anything as I'm not hitting it hard. I wonder how common it is for you to encounter customers who break either tip tops, or the blank itself from jamming into ceilings and walls. Thanks, Mo
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I'm interested in making a rod that will be used specifically with a downrigger. I want to use cork tape on the rear grip. The blank I'm looking at has a butt OD of .410". Using 1/16" tape, this gets me up to about .535" OD for the handle, and that is just too small for my hands. I measured the OD on a surf rod I built that is comfortable and it measures approximately .98&q
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I have recently completed a handle using Tru Oil as finish coating and it is a little harder and more plasticy than I like. I have used Tru Oil before but this is not as "soft" as other handles I have finished and it feels like it is sealed with a plastic sleeve or somethinC Can someone recommend a way to take it down a little while retaining the protective aspects of the coating?
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Terry's photo has me thinking a little - my mind is wandering. Is there really a need to have a carbon, kevlar, fiberglass, etc skin over a poured foam handle? Outside of aesthetics, what purpose does the skin hold?
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I just had the most amazing and disappointing experience with one of your major freigh companies. I've brought multi-piece fly blanks into Australia over the years using all of the major freight companies and until last week hadn't experienced a breakage. Last week though I was expecting some two piece blanks (for the first time) and when the parcel arrived it was clearly damaged (end cap torn of
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The good news is that I finally finished my first weave and it turned out quite nice. The big oops, is that I tightened the set screws on the Wonder Weaver too much and now I have some indents in a custom built cork grip. As I see it, if I fill the dents with filler, they are uniformly spaced and it will be too obvious that the filler shouldn't be there. I'm open to suggestions on how to corre
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I just pulled a rod out of the dryer that has impressions in the EVA rear grip from the chuck. I want to get them out obviously. I was thinking that maybe steam would work. Any idea's?
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Hi All, I am 99% finished turning a fly rod grip (reverse half wells) having used the best cork that I could find (6 months of waiting but I got it). Now while the cork is all CG1 there are one or two smallish imperfections here and there. I want to know what your views are about "filling" those small imperfections. If its recommended do you use cork dust mixed with epoxy or do yo
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finished in time for spring salmon season (if there is one).
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I assume that cork rings are made from a section of cork that is cut into specific lengths by a machine. What I would like to know is what causes the divits (sp?), uneven cork faces, dents in the cork face that keeps two cork ring faces from fitting tightly against each other whan clamped and epoxied side by side on a blank during the early stages of building a grip? I guess what I am asking i
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