MickD

Check out http://rodbuilding.org/read.php?2,356610,356751#msg-356751 For drying only the slower rpm's as suggested are fine, but for applying finish, a much faster speed will make it much easier to get good, even, edges. There may be a speed somewhere in the middle that does both well, not sure.

I would not reccomend trying to make a two piece out of a one piece blank. I think if you were to get the ferrule worked out (not likely), the action would be very poor. I think your best bet is to compromise a little on the action and go with a fully developed two piece blank from a good blank maker.

Very nice job-fits to reel seat are excellent, no epoxy showing, nice finish. I don't think you will have any trouble at all with slipping-the major factor in avoiding slipping is not the material, it is the shape, and yours looks good (tapering to the rear, hand gets "trapped" between trigger and the taper. One thing to consider on future builds is to cut the reel seat down to a dimension that allows normal reels to be installed-most reel seats are about 1/4-1/2 in longer than necessary. EVA or rubberized cork will probably be more durable for the butt knob that regular cork, but I expect you'll be taking good care of this rod!

Forgot to mention, put a hook keeper on if you rewrap the foregrip-you don't want to use a guide for a keeper.

If that project were mine I would do the following: 1. Investigate smaller guides. A lot has been written about micro guides and smaller guides than traditional. They work! If you have to pass knots through the guides, then micros are out. If not, they may be a way to have a lighter, better casting, more sensitive rod. 2. Your tiptop need not be that big, either. Ring sizes of tiptops can be the same as the smallest guide. It looks like you wrapped right over the tube of the tiptop. I usually wrap up to but not over the tube. That wrap is just decorative anyway, and stopping it at the tube allows you to change the tiptop without redoing the wrap. 3. I would use cork for the grips, but that is simple personal preference. my experience with the soft plastic grips is that they don't last forever, but deteriorate in sunlight after a few years. My experience is pretty old, so may not be valid any more. Anyone know how it holds up these days? 4. Consider doing a "simple spiral" wrap. 5. If the blank is a relatively expensive blank, go for the whole enchalada. If it is a relatively inexpensive blank, I would leave it alone and start over on a new blank-it's a lot easier, and the component costs are little different if you are going to improve the design of what you have. You can find lots of great deals on really good blanks if you look around. for info on simple spiral and micros, do a search here and at http://www.rodbuilding.org for lots of good info.

Regarding line grooving, micros should perform just like regular guides with the same materials. Regarding ring retention, it's specific to the design and manufacture of the ones you are using. I had one ring of a micro tiptop pop out, the only one I had used at that time. Regarding damage in moving rods around in and out of the rod locker, they should be much more durable since it is really difficult to snag them as they are so small. Overall, I expect it is like any other new product, time will tell.

I forgot to mention, if you do your own labels you can base the label on a favorite fishing scene photo, if the composition is suitable to use on a long, narrow, strip. I have done it a couple times on the matte/vinyl media, and they worked out wonderfully. Use CP on them to prevent a slight color shift from the rod finish.

I use Paint Shop Pro, and with a little practice can get some really sharp decals. But. . .it really takes a lot of practice and technique to get them to print properly because the colors you see on the computer monitor don't really come out the way you see them, depending on media. The media that gives the silver, gold, or holographic backgrounds are somewhat stiff, so applying them to fairly small rods, like bass rods, can also be problematic. They are also the ones that have the most problems in printing as the holo tends to blast through the background, and to stop that you have to really lay the ink on heavily. And that distorts colors, also. The flat white media is very easy to handle and apply, has little color distortion, and should allow good results pretty easily compared to the others. I suggest anyone starting into this get the Rodmaker Magazine back issue that covered the subject-it is not simple. Those advocating buying from Decal Connection just might be right. I have little data on color fade, but was under the opinion that the rod finishes protected them quite well. My oldest rod with a printer label on it is about two years old, has spent a lot of time on the water, and still looks like new. The reason I like to do my own custom labels is that I only do a couple rods a year, like to include the year of build and the rod owner's name, so it seems each label is specific to the rod.

Replacing the tiptop is easy, but not a no-brainer. It is easy to overheat the blank and damage it. One trick I use on removal is to run a loop of line through the eye of the tiptop and put tension on it while heating it. It will come off when the adhesive lets it, and then you stop heating the blank and prevent damage. On installing the new tiptop, first slide the new tiptop onto the clean bare tip of the blank to be sure you have the right size. Then apply some heated adhesive to the blank, then just heat the tiptop enough to allow you to slide the new one on. It will remelt the adhesive. Don't exert a lot of force-if it's heated enough it will slide right on. If you apply too much force, and not in perfect alignment with the axis of the blank, you can break off the tip of the blank. If in doubt, let the pros do it.

I have built 3 7 foot medium action blanks into rods, 2 for my son and 1 for me. He loved the first so much he had me build him another. I loved them so much I built one for me. Ours are all the brown blank, which if I'm not mistaken, replaced the green one about 4 years ago. I've used mine for just about everything, and just plain love it. Not sure how they weigh compared to others, mine weighs 3.9 oz. I have only one 7 foot rod that weighs less, a Loomis 843 casting crankbait rod. I have also built a 6 1/2 foot SC III for my grandson, and it is one sweet rod also. I have read before that many on this forum consider the SCIII to be "sweet spot" for St Croix, a lot of value for significantly less money.

A friend bought last year, got a couple casting rods, he is pleased with how they fish. My observations, being a sort of builder/snob, is that the cork is very poor quality, highly pitted. I just got a mailing, and comparing weights of the rods with some of mine, they seem a little heavy. The prices are very good, so you cannot go very wrong even if you don't like them. Regift.

Regarding Shimano quality, I have never had a Shimano reel or bicycle part that was anything but fine quality. I find it hard to imagine that with all my experience with Shimano that I missed all the problems. Going after RW for his just stating that Shimano will stand behind their product just doesn't make sense, and sounds a little (lot?)disingenuous. My experience with almost everyone I've done business with has been that if you conduct yourself politely, almost everything can be resolved satifactorily.

I have bought a lot of rodbuilding stuff through eBay, more in the past than now. You can get guide sets rather reasonably there, and motors/bushings for rod drying are available inexpensively. Since I am now using setups that require guides different than the "sets", I have been buying from regular suppliers. I never did find the blanks I wanted there. Selections tend to be limited on most all stuff. I think exc for the motors, it makes more sense to buy from regular suppliers. I have recently found some good reel buys on eBay. In buying from eBay, just be sure the person you are buying from has a positive rating no lower than about 98%. Sellers who do a good job have that high a rating, and I've never had a problem with one.

I use the pointy tool (bodkin?) to make sure I get finish under the foot of the guide, and use those dental floss devices that look like a half circle with dental floss connecting the ends of the half circle. Just touch them to the finish as the rod rotates and it helps to give the same edge all the way around. Then just throw them away. They come about 100 for less than a buck, if I remember right.

I, like many others, hand wrap, not power wrap. I built my rig from scrap lumber, added a thread tensioner bought from Cabelas or JannsNetcraft.com. I think the only reason to build a kit is if you don't have a drill press or lathe on which to turn cork rings. You can cobble a usable method to turn them on a drill press using threaded rod. Even if you have to use pre-made cork components, you can buy them without resorting to a kit. Kits don't have the right guide sizes, either. Do a lot of pre-planning to get the guides you want, check out rodbuilding.org for how to do the Fuji Concept guide layout-it really works and is actually simpler than using a whole bunch of guide sizes-you most likely only need 4, like a 25, 16, and 10, then size 5, 5.5, or 6 single foot fly guides for the last 4 or so. This gives you really light guides on the tip which helps rod action relative to using heavier/bigger guides. Check out split grip-If you do a split grip you need only have a ring or so at each end of the reel seat (actually don't even need that, but I like the looks of it) and a butt grip of about 2 inches. Make sure you use hypos to measure your epoxy and rod finish-one of the biggest problems I see on forums is finish/epoxy not hardening properly, and that usually means poor measuring technique. Make sure you rough up your plastic parts before glueing with fine sandpaper or other methods (NOT BIG GOUGES-THAT IS WEAKER THAN USING VERY FINE ABRASIVE). If you partially submerge your epoxy/rod finish containers in hot water for five minutes before you draw material from them, the material will be thinner, have fewer bubbles, and the bubbles you do make will clear better. Make sure not to get even a drop of water into your finish. A great way to use the expoxy/rod finish is to buy it in the little plastic bottle with the pointed caps, and cut off the tip of the cap point at the place that leaves a diameter that is just a little tighter than the tip on the hypo, then you stick the hypo into the open end, tip it upside down, wait for the air to leave, then suck in what you think you will need. No drips/accurate measuring. Keep the resin hypo for resin, and the hardner hypo for hardner, otherwise you will get a reaction and ruin your hypo. Keep separate hypos for each material you use. They are cheap, and oh so handy. I just had a builder suggest to me to hold the guides on the rod temporarily for tuning location and for tying by using very small cable ties. Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like it would work great. Tape the handle on, temporarily attach the guides (run line through them right away so if one falls off it won't be lost), put your reel on, and move things around for best balance and fit (check the length from the reel to the butt to make sure it doesn't catch your elbow) and do some test casting. When you get your setup the way you like it, mark it and get to building! I think going a little on the cheap side is not a bad idea since you will learn with every build, and it might make sense to use the premium stuff on your 3rd or 4th build. I've built for 40 years, have done about 10 in the last 3 years, and I'm still learning. Not only will you get smarter, techniques and parts change with time, also. Re guides, Fuji Alconites are very good guides, even with braid, and if you use the small fly guides for the ones on the tip, you will have a very light setup without spending a fortune on guides. Use as little finish as possible-that adds weight, too. I like the lite rod finish as it goes on better without forming "footballs" on the windings. Use A size thread instead of heavier B or D. It is a little harder to use, but you'll get used to it. You can use color preservative if you want to make sure the color of the thread doesn't change, use multi coats, or you can just put rod finish on the thread without using CP and you'll have much different colors. For example, if you don't use CP on garnet, it will look like a sweet cherry color. Many colors that look like they match the rod will almost disappear giving a "stealth" look. Check it out by wetting the thread on a test winding with alcohol to see what you would get. I like metallic thread for a little bright trim, silver with some colors, gold with others, although there are many metallic colors available. Regarding spine, most veteran builders say it doesn't make a difference, but they build in their favorite way relative to spine anyway. I put the spine so that it makes the blank feel more stable when flexed in the manner it will be with a fish on. This puts it on one side on regular casting rods, and on the other for spinning and spiral wrap casting rods. Not a big deal. Don't start building rods unless you are willing to build more than one. You will get hooked! It is a lot of fun and very rewarding. I've built 3 for my son and just finished what may be my best build ever for his son for Christmas.

I hope no one really believes that the pike attacked the guy. He was just nailed by a thrashing pike. If he had held the fish with one hand by the back of the neck, or, just by the tail with one hand, and let the fish go when seemed revived, no problem. The only time I have been bitten by a pike is when I put my hands into their mouth-there is nothing that can prevent a stupid act from nailing you.

There is nothing really tough about handling pike. Don't buy the hype. If the fish is small enough to simply grab the fish just behind the gills, from the top, do it and hold on. Will not hurt the fish or you. A jaw spreader is very handy if you are fishing with multi hook lures. In fact it is a godsend. Keep the fish out of the water as little as possible if you want it to survive. If the fish is too big (about 36 inches) to handle this way, then grab it under the lower jaw by the structure that runs down the center of the jaw-not in the mouth, directly below the mouth. Use a jaw spreader if necessary to remove your lure. I catch lots of northerns in Canada every year and net only the bigger ones, release them all, and have never been attacked successfully. For the bigger ones, net them then grab them as above. I expect this would work with muskies.

A strength of braid relative to mono (not sure about flouro) is that it is not sensitive to moisture. If you live in the north and leave your mono line out in the garage for the winter it will dry out and become stiff and brittle. Even new mono on the spool should be kept inside where the relative humidity is likely to be higher. I agree that braid can last a long time, many years. Just be sure to inspect that last few feet of it to be sure it isn't damaged. And as someone else mentioned, if you use a leader on it, rety that quite regularly.

With the current sale going the Johnny Morris rods are $70. To buy a set of guides (Fuji titanium frame SIC) will cost more than that. You can buy them for the guides and use the blanks for driveway markers. By the way, the guy who broke his rod should put the guides for sale on eBay and reclaim some of his losses. The owner reviews of the rods on the BPS web site are all very positive. I expect the rods are well worth the $70 they are going for now.

For glossy blanks I often do the "stealth" thing making the wraps match the blank as closely as possible. To do this, do test wraps of colors closely matching the blank, then apply alcohol to the wrap to see the color that almost matches the color you would have if you wrapped that color thread without using color preservative. I think your blank is matte, so you won't get very stealthy on that and it may make more sense to just go with the colors you like. My last matte gray rod was done with candy apple with CP and scarce metallic gold trim, and it looks very nice. A great site for rodbuilders, new and expert, is: Rodbuilding.org I've never visited the site without learning something new.

Who cares how many rods you have in the boat? Have as many or as few as you want. I'm with BassnBlvd.

It has been my experience that no modern reel is as bad as its detractors say it is, and no modern reel is as good as its cheerleaders say it is. It has also been my experience that when I've lost a fish it is because I've done something stupid, not because of a failure of my equipment. All of the equipment we use is vastly overdesigned for bass.

I have two Quantum PT's and they both cast very well if you get them set up right, but they seem to require more fiddling with the controls to get them right on for the lure/line being used. Just changing lures often requires adjustments to both controls. One is smooth as silk, the other a little less so, and it makes more noise on the cast. I haven't been able to get the second one to be as nice as the first (actually the smoother one is about two years newer than the other). I think from what I've read on this forum, I'll try a Shimano Curado next. By the way, my best casting reel is a 15 year old Calcutta with I think two ball bearings and the roller clutch anti reverse. It's not all about bearing count.

Since I was a kid I took my reels apart and oiled/greased them every fall, but now I don't lube anything that requires the reels to be disassembled. I'm really not dumber now (honest, doubters), but reels have gotten so darned complicated that I just don't trust myself to do it right any more. I lube what I can easily reach, and leave the rest to the professional reel servicers. As mentioned previously in this string of messages, Reelmech can be trusted. I used hot sauce, but the containers for the oil leak like crazy and the oil seems to disappear fast in the reels. I'm trying reel butter now, and it seems better, but too early to tell.

I use flouro leaders with braid most of the time, and never use a swivel. I like my leaders so long that they must be reeled onto the reel through the eyes, so have to use a knot. I have used with good success the uni to uni knot. After a few days of getting reeled and cast through the eyes it is a good idea to cut off a little and rety. I have lost a few fish with old knots when I got too lazy to rety. A knot I have been experimenting with with good success so far is the Albright knot, a popular knot used to tie leaders to fly line. The advantage of the Albright over the uni-uni is that the large diameter line is only doubled with the Albright. You have 5 thicknesses of the large diameter line on one of the uni's. This makes the Albright a more compact knot. I haven't used it enough to have a solid conclusion about durability. The strength as tied seems excellent. With moderate practice, both knots are easy to tie. There are many sites with instructions for the knots-do an on-line search.