.ghoti.

When I choose guides for a build, I talk to my customer. I want to know what they want, what they expect, and what they will be doing with the finished rod. There are a lot of different answers to the question. For my own rods, I want the lightest guides set I can buy. I use Recoil guides for the upper part of the rod. Stripper guides and one or two more will usually be Fuji Alconites. The tiptop is also usually an Alconite. Titanium alloy frames will be lighter that steel frames. Enough lighter to justify the cost differential? Not in my opinion. what about ring material? You can look up the hardness specs. I know I spent a lot of time comparing guides specs. Go ahead and check it all out. You will learn something from it. The truth is, anything from aluminum oxide up, is fine. I did an experiment suggested by an experienced rod builder. Took an Alconite guide, and went at the ceramic ring with a file. Fingers got cramped up, so I got ahold of the guide frame with Vise grips. I eventually bent up the frame badly enough the ring popped out of the frame, but the file did no damage at all to the ring. NONE! I have built rods using SiC guides, and a couple with Torzites. Have heard several claim they would never use anything less. I have heard people claim SiC and Torzite guides will cast farther than lesser ring materials. That is a large steaming pile of what dropped out of the south end of a north-bound bull. The main difference between Alconite and SiC is durability. Drop a rod with SiC guides on your garage floor, and there is a very good chance one or more of those SiC rings will be cracked. Do the same with Alconites and there is a very good chance no rings will be damaged. SiC rings are a lot more brittle. As far as Torzite guides go, those are for the dude whose ego demands that his toys be the most expensive. Do not drink that flavor koolaid. Torzites are expensive, and possess no qualities justifying the cost. txchaser, if you are serious about a custom stick, get with Mike at DVT. He will take care of you.

Got a teapot? Get it boiling and whistling. Hold the tip in the steam whistle. The steam will be a little over 200°F. Blanks, when made, are oven cured at around 260°F. 200°F will not hurt the blank. A cig lighter can. i’ve used steam out of a teapot to remove numerous rod components, and have never damaged a blank doing so.

Starting this week. Get my grandsons; one 13, one 7. Tuesday and Thursday one week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday the next. I’ve seen some of the materials. A bit of teaching is going to be required. Hope you are ready for that. Being a retired professor, I do not anticipate any difficulty.

I’ve built jerkbait rods both ways; spiral and conventional. Both perform just fine.

If a friend told me I would only be able to use one if anything for the rest of my life, I would trade the friend in on a used dog, and shoot the dog.

To wait, or not to wait; that is the question

Here is a hook sharpener that will never rust https://www.amazon.com/Smiths-DCS4-4-Inch-Diamond-Sharpening/dp/B00009YV6L/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxbX47L-l6wIVOYNaBR145gdEEAMYAyAAEgI8TPD_BwE&hvadid=177775471437&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9022564&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13026233732729353456&hvtargid=kwd-11036716345&hydadcr=1642_9901529&keywords=folding+diamond+sharpener&qid=1597779473&sr=8-5&tag=googhydr-20

You can say that again! Been waiting for two blanks since....... well, it has been long enough i am not sure when. Early May, or late April. And, they are not coming from China. They are coming from the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia.

Remember Fluffy?

There sure is. It’s called an obituary.

Doesn't matter when you retie, as long as you do.

For a birthday present one tear, I got a box with some “lures”. A Budweiser can, Miller Lite can, Bart Simpson, a turd, and a couple I shouldn't mention on a family friendly forum. All about 2” long with diving lip in front and a treble hook on the back end. I caught fish on all of them except Bart Simpson.

Line touching the blank will not hurt anything. What you have to worry about is line passing inder the blqnk under load. What I have found Comparing moderate to fast or x-fast action blanks is, the faster the action, more guides near the tip. Makes sense if you think about it. When the actions gets faster, the flex is more concentrated in the tip section, requiring more guides where the flex is most pronounced. If you haven't wrapped the guides yet, you could try doing your static load test with the guides on thebottom side of the blank. A spiral wrap will some times eliminate a guide or two from the tip section.

Very nice. I bought several colrs of Nuno’s pigments, and have been experimenting. Have not produced anything that looks as refined as yours.. do you put down a white base first?

Its a new reel. Nobody has seen one. Nobody has used one. What do you expect?

All I will say is too many.

Gentle Giant. Who’s heard of them? British band, early 70’s. also Premiata Forneria Marconi, which translates as Marconi’s Best Bakery, if memory serves. Italian, same era. King Crimson

That is what I do as well. Thought I would post a viable alternative for the new builder who likely does not have a lathe.

Here’s a solution to that problem. The arbors i use have a 1/4” hole. A1/4” drill bit goes right through them. Bore them out in increments. Start with a 9/32” bit. Run it all the way through. Run the next size up in 1/32” increments. Here’s the trick. Do not use a drill. Twist the bits through by hand, always starting at the same end. With a little practice, you can get them out to about 1/16” wall thickness. Any more than that, I skip the arbor, and use drywall tape.

Hagane is steel in Japanese . Tamahagane is Japanese for jewel steel, or gem steel, and is produced for knife making. Shimano’s use of the term is a corruption of the original meaning, thus is actually meaningless.

It is possible your baits are fallong quicker and have a slightly different action when on the lighter line. Try increasing the weight you’re using when fishing the casting rig with #14 line. Speed up the fall rate and tweqk the action a bit.

Bushmills

I’ve found this to be the best way to hold guides for wrapping, and for easy movement during static testing https://www.mudhole.com//Guide-Tubing Get all four sizes. Cut into rings with a razor blade. You might want a ring 1/4” long, or more, for a large spinning guide, down to a ring 1/16” for a micro guide. Get your thread wrap about half way done, and touch the tubing ring with a blade to cut it off.

Here’s one for you. A beautiful song, beautifully sung, be my candidate for the best female singer ever.