MickD

If 1/2 inch of tag end makes a difference it means that the knot is moving/slipping. If it moves at all what's to stop it at 12? Not trying to be smart aleck, just trying ask a logical question.

Emerson, with all due respect, the knot was tied properly, tested fine, and was used for a couple days on the water before it failed. Fortunately I was using a surface lure so got both lines back and noticed both were curled. I have had this happen before, but assumed I had not tied it correctly. This one was tied correctly. I'll be interested in the post about 15 # flouro tied to 10 pound braid being the problem. More to come.

Yup. Clue me in, I need help. I've been thinking about this incident I had and I think that the passing of the knot repeatedly through micros may be a problem for it. I KNOW I passed the tag end properly.

Until recently I agreed with all of you who said if it's tied right it won't fail, but I just had one fail that was tied correctly, same way out as in. Improved Albright, 6 wraps down, 6 back. Both the braid and the flouro had curls, no sign of either having broken. I am convinced that this is a good knot for heavy test flouro, but with the lower tests, like s10 pound braid to 15 pound flouro, it just doesn't seem to work reliably. I'm back to the double uni.

If you are going to use epoxy for sure, then I recommend just covering the seam edges with the polish to prevent the epoxy from lifting the edge. I don't know how the polish will react with your waterslides. You may want to just try it on a test piece so you will know exactly how it will react without wasting a lure.

You do know that using a clear decal will mean you will not see whites because an inkjet cannot print white, right? Unless your blank is already white. I predict your decal will be less bright, but only an experiment will tell. I ordered what I think are the same blanks you have. I already design and make rods and tie flies, here goes another. With my decals I have to seal them, too. I also use a little line of color preservative along the seams (after applying the sealed decal to the rod blank) to prevent lifting when the epoxy hits them. Sometimes, I think because the epoxy stays fluid so long, the edges tend to lift if I don't do that. Some rod builders use Sally Hansen clear nail polish over decals. Not sure what its UV resistance is, but it dries almost instantly. I've used it for fly heads, and it works very well for that. Another fast drying option is Permagloss or Lumaseal polyurethanes. They are very hard and never yellow in the sun. I'll be giving the Sally Hansen a try, I think. It has to be tough, and with the fast dry, it should be convenient.

Looks terrific. Using an inkjet? Clear or white background waterslide paper?

Thanks, will do. Appreciate your help.

I use decals printed from my computer for fishing rods and have always had trouble with waterslides. But this looks too good not to try again. I think waterslides would be lighter and less apt to affect the action of a lure than the vinyl. I had a sunfish pattern lipless crank that was a killer. I think I lost it in a pike and have never found a replacement. This is the way to get that replacement. Where do you get your lipless crank bodies? Jann's Netcraft is where I would look not having other recommendations. Thanks,

Neat. I've nothing to add; you're way ahead of me. Other than: Exc for aesthetics, I'll bet not painting the seams will not detract from their fishing effectiveness. And I just thought, you've thought of masking the area you want to save?

May I ask what problems developed after painting the seams? Seams lifting? What is the process to print onto the decal "paper?" You print a photo onto the paper? Have you tried Papilio's white vinyl peel and stick media? I think you are very close to some really great lures. In fact, these look great as is.

I've never heard it makes bearings faster. I've heard and seen that it leaves a red residue but looks dry itself. Reel Mech was one of the best reel service men and he would not use it. He didn't even want it in his reel cleaning solvent. His judgement is good enough for me.

I would not recommend hot sauce. Seems like everything goes away pretty fast except the red color. The Reel Mech used to charge extra if he had to service a reel that had had hot sauce in it. I'm surprised to hear that once a season lube is enough. My level wind pawls look pretty dry a lot sooner than that, and the bearings seem to work better with lube a few times a season (just a drop). But I don't take my reels apart and clean them unless something abnormal has happened, like dropped in the dirt or dunked in the lake for a while. Then I have a pro do it to make sure there are no parts left over when it goes back together.

I was out with a few of my spinning rods today and found that for me 10 1/2inches from the foot of the reel to the butt is what I like. My arm is 16 5/8 inches from my fingertip to biceps contact. If that dimension were 12 1/2 inches from reel foot to butt, the butt would be hanging up on my clothing a lot. Regardless of rod balance.

There are a hundred ways to apply epoxy to the wraps, and I've tried a lot of them. I like the square ended artist's brushes available at Hobby Lobby and similar shops the best. I recommend if you do use brushes get some brush cleaner, U40 or other. It really works better than other ways of keeping your brushes in good shape. Lots of paper towels and keep alcohol handy to clean up epoxy you've tracked onto the blank before it hardens. Once hard, there's not much you can do to get it off. Agree, paste epoxy for the structural work. Some don't like the quick hardening type as it tends to rush the builder; some don't work that fast. Get an Exacto handle and a bunch of blades. I like a fly tying bodkin to get epoxy into the ends of the guide foot tunnels, but I expect your probe set has an equivalent. Color preservative? Re the reamers, why not the Batson Dream Reamer? A wonderful tool. More expensive, but it will have all the sizes you will most likely ever need.

In general I find the clearer the water the more white makes sense. Additionally, floating white worms worked over and close to lily pads seem to work pretty well everywhere the pads grow.

I have built for years using a home made wrapper, just V blocks mounted on a board and a Flex Coat thread tensioner, and have made some great rods. I just upgraded to what amounts to a power wrapper without the motor. I don't think I can keep up with a power wrapper anyway. But what is, IMHO, necessary is a low speed power "dryer" motor. (epoxy doesn't dry, it's a chemical reaction). This will allow the epoxy to harden without your having to turn the rod many times until it sets. Some epoxies, like the American Tackle Pro Kote, seem to take forever to set. Motors can be bought for very reasonable prices from Ebay, and you can cobble some kind of a "chuck" to grip the rod.

If you check out the other string of posts on "Advantage of building your own rods?" you will quickly come to the conclusion that building is the way to go with upgrading your rods. Good decision.

I understand your position, you have a lot more experience with tearing those rods apart than I. I do know that I've never had a structural issue with any of the rods I have made, and many are getting pretty old and well used. There is no doubt that the structural epoxy work on ALL custom rods is more trustworthy than most if not all factory rods.

OK, you've documented some crap. But to characterize a whole industry with with the word "crap" is still, in my opinion, a stretch. There have been a lot of rods from this industry that have satisfied their purchasers very well.

I have never had a factory rod fail due to the quality of the build, so would be interested in how the build quality is "crap." I know cork is not the best, guides are often less than top of the line, I've had a couple tiptops groove, but considering the price, I don't think I've been screwed. The quality of the components has not been up to what I use in my builds, but the "quality of the build" has not been deficient.

It started as a way to get the top of the line blanks without breaking the bank. It morphed into getting exactly what I want in a rod. I have developed a design feature that I use on many spinning rods that offers significant advantage in some kinds of fishing and it has yet to make it onto commercial rods. Some special types of rods are just not available commercially. Take the long ultra-light panfish spinning rod for example. You have a hard time even finding blanks to build from, impossible to find finished rods with a regular spinning grip design as opposed to crappie rod holder rods. They can be built on fly blanks and make wonderful panfish rods. With regard to cork quality, it is very difficult today to get top quality cork on commercial rods, even pretty high end ones. You can still get it as rings, although they are pretty pricey.

Nice to see someone with an open mind and who is willing to learn from their mistakes. We all have made them. The appearance of the fracture is typical of overloading the blank by high sticking, just like what most everyone else is saying. Note the difference between "high sticking" and lifting with the rod butt parallel to the water described by DVT. Makes all the difference in the world. While defective blanks usually break right away, damaged blanks can break anytime. While your practice in transporting your rods is suspect, and could damage a hi modulus rod, it does not appear to be the culprit in this case. Take a look at the following information: http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/rodusage.pdf Rodmaker Magazine had an article a few years ago which showed photos of hi modulus blanks that were intentionally failed by numerous methods, and there are distinctive features to the different causes of failure. Yours looks to me most like the overload/high sticking failure. Unfortunately that article is not available on line. You can buy back issues from the magazine site. One last comment on the pros, yes they lift fish from the water with the rod and some don't use the best techniques. But they don't have to pay for their replacement rods like we do. Their priority is to get max fishing time and it is no problem if they break a few rods.

I think that the application of epoxy to the guide wraps gives us more trouble than other areas, so I guess I'd say that. Getting a smooth, even edge, the right amount of epoxy Since epoxy application seems to give us the most trouble, I'd say finishing the wraps. Attaining the smooth, even, edge, the right amount of epoxy, finding a color preservative that works well for you. Surprisingly, some swear by a brand while others curse it. Some don't use it, and you'll need to know how to determine what the color will be without CP. Some use brushes for epoxy, others use spatulas. I'll give you tip so you can avoid a mistake that most of us have made: Use syringes every time to measure two part epoxies, exactly the same amounts of both components.

Good suggestions, also possible is too much line on the reel. If it loops up just a little during the cast it can rub against the frame "cross rods/pillars," or whatever they are called.