Red

here is my lathe set up. that is my gramps' old drill, i got it when he died. it only has a 1/4 chuck, so it is useless for most stuff, but works for this. i just used it for the first time this past weekend, it worked great. i used a "paddle" bit as a mandrel, i just taped it up to fit the grip material. but i would say if your making full length grips you would want a longer mandrel, but for the small grips in a split grip, it was perfect. it didnt cost me anything, i used all scrap from work.

i have been out at least twice a week for over a month now, and i have absolutely nothing to show for it. not even a dink! i cant buy a bite. i have tried everything. but, either way, i am still out there every weekend!!

WOW! man i wish my eyes could see as good as my camera!! dusty!! and the wrap on the left didnt get packed very good!

all done!! i am very pleased with how it turned out, it was alot better than the last one, so i guess i will just keep getting better at this. anyway, here is a pic of one of the finished wraps, it is fresh so if it looks heavy on one side it just needs to be turned. this one is way better than the first rod i did with keith, and better than the one i did last night(so you can imagine how ugly they are!!) i will post more pics when i get done with the area in front of the reel seat. thanks for lookin Cliff

that sounds like a deal!! i will be in touch after the 1st of the year! thanks Cliff

thanks for the info. i am using loctite 6 minute epoxy. this is what was recommended to me by flechero. i think he said he glued something up with it, and sunk it in his pool for a week to test its waterproofness, this one tested out the best apparently. plus home depot sells it right down the road, so it is easy to get. i am gonna finish the crankin rod tonight i think, then tomorrow i will work on the area in front of the real seat. thanks Cliff

well i am pretty much open any weekend coming up, other than christmas time of course. so if you guys want your back seat filled, let me know. i am more than happy to put some gas in the boat/truck, or buy lunch or whatever. let me know thanks Cliff

well i just finished the finish on the 784. it went pretty smooth, although i still dont have a very steady hand and have trouble getting a nice smooth edge. i know, practice practice practice. either way it will function, and honestly, thats all i want. i will do the crankin rod tomorrow after work. once all that is done, i have to do something in front of the reel seat. probably will do a small wrap and just put finish on it right up to the seat. thanks Cliff P.S. i will post a pic of the finished wraps tomorrow.

well i finished wrapping all the guides on both rods at about 11:30 last night. here is a picture of one of them. sure isnt perfect, but it will do for me. i thought i would list a few things i have learned from these two builds so far. 6 minute epoxy sets up in like 1 minute if you have a fan blowing on you and your work area. this was a terrible mess. i put the butt cap on no problems, by the time i had the epoxy applied to the reel seat area and the grip area, it was as hard as a rock and i was NOT getting the grip or seat on. i had to wait for it to harden a bit more, then scrape it all off and restart. some how i managed to keep any epoxy from getting in the little area that will be exposed in the seat. when you are wrapping guides you must pay attention that your wraps that are already completed are not spinning in the v-blocks, you will be re-wrapping them if this happens. there i was, just wrapping away on the second to last guide, and i look back, and two of my other wraps, were now unwrapped, cuz the were rolling around in the V's! i prefer double foot guides. they are much much easier to wrap for me than the single foot guides. I will use them from now on, when possible, or until i get better at this whole thing. i didnt have too many problems other than those mentioned. my little "lathe" i made a while back worked perfectly. turning the grips was a breeze and they came out just like i had them pictured in my head. thanks for looking! Cliff

i got all the guides on one rod wrapped and lined up good, so it is ready for finish. i think i will set it aside and wrap the other one up. i have decided that making grips is way more fun than wrapping guides, my fat fingers dont always work very good with the little tedious stuff!!

without flechero's assistance any way. earlier this summer i had the opportunity to have keith teach me how to build a rod. well after all this time i am finally working on my next two, all by my self this time!! they are both on allstar blanks one is a MH and the other is a crankin stick. not doing anything fancy on these, just a simple split grip, and spiral wrap. itis made from black hypalon. here is a pic of one of them, the grips are the same on both. both grips are done and epoxied in place, i will probably start working on the wraps tonight. what do you think? be honest, i can take it! ;D thanks for lookin Cliff

this year the best for me has been a lake fork live magic shad, 4", i cast it to any kind of cover i can see or just run it along the shoreline. i use it on a weighted wide gap hook, and run it steady, pretty fast, just under the surface. i do well with jigs too, pitch to cover or work slowly in the deepest water you can find. t-rigged worms are the next best thing. i work them the same as i do the jigs.

i wish i could help you out, but since the cooler weather has come in here in central texas, i cant buy a bite, has been the worst 3-4 weeks of fishing for me, ever. i try everything and get nothing.

i dont see how anyone can cast the revo S with all the brakes off. i am no pro but i can cast a baitcaster pretty well, but i cant make one single cast without backlash when all brakes are off.

knots left on hooks, lures, etc etc. like when you cut a hook off and just leave the old knot on there, that drives me nuts!! i go through my box a few times a month just for this reason. i usually dont find any cuz i am pretty good at taking the knot off right when i first cut the bait from my line, but sometimes if i am in a hurry, i will leave one.

there is a thumb screw, once you loosen that the side cover will twist off. then you can adjust the brakes, i use mine with just one brake on, two if it is really windy, i wouldnt recommend trying it with zero brakes, unless you like picking out backlashes!!

I have a couple of Slammer musky baits. Which slammer did you get and from where? i got the 7" slammer in dark rainbow, i got it from tackle warehouse.

i got the baits today, the slammer looks awesome, as well as the BBZ shad. i cant wait to throw them!!

i just got my BBZ-1 shad today too, i got the sexy lavender shad, this thing looks sweet!, but not as sweet as the Slammer that came with it!

yeah i fish mostly golf course tanks, some of which are rather big. no streams or creks or anything. i could use a little help in this epartment too!

dont know whats for x-mas yet, but i have an MS slammer, a BBZ-1 shad and some spot removers on there way to my house, for my birthday on monday!!

Saturday morning I got up early, dressed quietly, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, slipped quietly into the garage to hook the boat up to the truck,and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing 50 mph. I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad throughout the day. I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. There I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, 'The weather out there is terrible.' My loving wife of 20 years replied, 'Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that crap?' I still don't know to this day if she was joking, but I've stopped fishing.

thats right...this is a pretty cool design, but if you use the saw properly, use push sticks and PAY ATTENTION, you shouldnt have any problems. i used it a bunch today, we were out of this little wood trim we use, so i just made my own, i think it was about 3/4 wide and less than a 1/4 thick, still got all my fingers!!

so my birthday is on monday. every year i e-mail my wife a bunch of links to tackle warehouse, basspro etc etc for things i would like. i send her stuff from just a couple bucks up to maybe $100 item, like a reel. then she picks and chooses what to get for me. so this year she got me a MS slammer 7" in dark rainbow, a BBZ-1 in sexy lavender shad, and some spot removers. my question is mainly about the slammer. the slammer is a MUCH bigger bait than anything i have used. can anyone give me a quick who what where and how on this bait? i have never used one or read or seen one used. so any info would be great!! thanks! Cliff

i just talked to my dad about this tonight, him and my mom are both in their sixties and both retired. he said they have lost almost $80,000 over the last two years. the thing that i think is crazy, is they talk about it like they lost a one dollar bill!!! my folks have always had money invested, and they are having a good retirement. my dad told me once that he has never, in his life, had a car payment!, and as far back as i can remember, they havent ever had a house payment either. he has faith that after the first of the year things will get better. i dont know anything about stocks and 401k's and all that, but i trust in what my dad says. Cliff