Vertical Jig Rod Build.

[basscatcher8]

All my parts and pieces arrived yesterday to begin a build that I have been planning for awhile now. I'm building two rods for vertical jigging sauger on the river in the winter time. I'm building one on a St. Croix SCIII 6'3 Medium XF and the other on a Rainshadow Revelation 6'2" Medium Fast blank. I haven't built on a bunch of different brand blanks so I figured this was the best to compare and get to know a couple different brands. The main goal with this blank is to be light but also balance out to have a real light tip so it sits well in your hands when out all day.. I am going to use one of the Tennessee style grips with the slide rings that I saw recently used on here. It will hold an ultra light reel and I'm building it just big enough to hold the reel and that's it. I have ATC guides for both rods. Should turn out awesome. I began clamping up the reel seats and butt ends last night. I'll post here with updates as it goes along.

 

[S Hovanec]

I've always wanted to build on one of the 6'3" XF blanks.  might have to add one to my wish list!

[Batson]

All my parts and pieces arrived yesterday to begin a build that I have been planning for awhile now. I'm building two rods for vertical jigging sauger on the river in the winter time. I'm building one on a St. Croix SCIII 6'3 Medium XF and the other on a Rainshadow Revelation 6'2" Medium Fast blank. I haven't built on a bunch of different brand blanks so I figured this was the best to compare and get to know a couple different brands. The main goal with this blank is to be light but also balance out to have a real light tip so it sits well in your hands when out all day.. I am going to use one of the Tennessee style grips with the slide rings that I saw recently used on here. It will hold an ultra light reel and I'm building it just big enough to hold the reel and that's it. I have ATC guides for both rods. Should turn out awesome. I began clamping up the reel seats and butt ends last night. I'll post here with updates as it goes along.

 

 

 

Looks great!!! Lets see the RainShadow Revelation in action!  

[iabass8]

6'3 mxf is perfect for vertical jigging the river! Cant wait to see it.

[basscatcher8]

I got one of the handles turned Tuesday night and had a couple issues. Hoping to get back over tonight and turn the other one. The hardest part for me is turning it down level all the way across. I take most of my material off with the sheet rock sanding material so it took awhile to keep take it down a big check both ends to see how close they were then go again.

[S Hovanec]

I do the rough turning with a Stanley sure form file. It gets all of the rings concentric and level pretty quick. Not much finish sanding required after roughing in.

[basscatcher8]

I do the rough turning with a Stanley sure form file. It gets all of the rings concentric and level pretty quick. Not much finish sanding required after roughing in.

 

And I will be stopping at menards on my lunch break. thank you sir.

[S Hovanec]

Get the long one. I have both and the short one sucks for forming.

[basscatcher8]

Get the long one. I have both and the short one sucks for forming.

 

 

Do you just square up the tool rest with the cork and hold it against that to keep the file straight?

[S Hovanec]

Do you just square up the tool rest with the cork and hold it against that to keep the file straight?

Yep. Light pressure, especially with natural cork. It's sharp and can dig too deep quickly. After the Stanley, I lightly hit it with a flat file, then sandpaper.

[basscatcher8]

Awesome thank you. The few handles I've done so far have all been spinning rod handles with the small part up front and back and then the spit grip piece at the butt so just using the sheet rock sanding stuff worked great for that but this is definitely different.

[basscatcher8]

Got one handle turned and had an issue with the other and had to redo. The lathe I've been using is older than me and not very accurate. So I sucked it up and went and bought a new one yesterday. And of course I get home and my Chuck won't fit the taper is to big. Ordered an adapter and on hold. Hoping to get the other handle that is done mounted on the blank this week.

[S Hovanec]

The joys of lathe accessories. I bet i have spent 4x more on accessories than I did for my lathe!

[basscatcher8]

Well I'm having an issue cutting tennons to fit in the butt caps and I found the mandrel is bent so that was probably part of the problem. But the old lathe may have bent it lol

[basscatcher8]

Got the first handle glued up on the blank. This is my st Croix blank. Not the reel I'll be using but for mock up. My lathe parts arrived today so hopefully I'll get the other handle done soon and on the batson.

[basscatcher8]

Well the Rainshadow blank is gonna catch a ton of fish I think....mostly cause its being a pain to build. Got the butt piece done on the lathe last night went to ream it and fit it on the blank. And even though I thought I was going slow the reamer walked side ways at some point and when I put it on the blank it looked horrible sooooo back to the drawing board on that one. Gonna keep going on the St. Croix while im waiting on more cork to work on the Rainshadow.

[S Hovanec]

Are you boring your rings prior to gluing them up or are you using them as-is with the 1/4" bore?

[basscatcher8]

I'm using them as is with the quarter inch bore and then reaming them for the rod when done on the lathe. Reading around it sounds like maybe I should ream it before going on the lathe.

[S Hovanec]

I'm using them as is with the quarter inch bore and then reaming them for the rod when done on the lathe. Reading around it sounds like maybe I should ream it before going on the lathe.

 

 

Yea.  Here's what I do and I never have grips that are not concentric.  I have a set of 5 mandrels (actually 2 sets and a few threaded ones too): 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16" and  1/2".  I'll measure the blank where the grip is to be located and select the next smallest mandrel.  I bore the rings to fit that size mandrel and then glue them up.  Also, using larger mandrels means less flex when turning them.  After turning, there is very little reaming required.  How I ream the grips is by using drill bits in my hand drill, followed by a tapered reamer to finish.  I start with the next biggest size drill bit from what the cork is bored and work up to the next smallest from the blank diameter.  Then I finish it off with the reamer.  It sounds more complicated than it actually is.

 

Boring the rings.

 

Glued up on mandrels.  Note the butt and grip are on 2 different size mandrels.  This build was to be extended from 6'10" to 7', so the butt grip was going on a much smaller piece of blank than the front grip.

[basscatcher8]

That makes perfect sense. I actually ordered a 3/8 mandrel last night when I ordered more cork. I am going to rig up and give this a shot. think I will be looking for some half inch all thread and try to use that as well. Thank you for your help sir! I'm definitely still learning but I find something new with every rod.

[S Hovanec]

If you ever do any rods with reel seats, i think you'll find the lathe is the best way to trim the seat to length and bore the arbors to keep them concentric.

 

Trimming.

 

Boring.

[basscatcher8]

What kinda chuck is that holding the cork ring for the drill bit? I was messing around yesterday and I have that 3 jaw chuck for the mandrel shut it won't open wide enough for the cork rings.

[S Hovanec]

What kinda chuck is that holding the cork ring for the drill bit? I was messing around yesterday and I have that 3 jaw chuck for the mandrel shut it won't open wide enough for the cork rings.

35mm spigot jaws on a Nova G3 chuck.

[basscatcher8]

_{I've made a bunch of progress on the St.Croix just haven't had time for pictures. Hoping to have it ready for the first coat of finish soon. Got my cork in for the Rainshadow blank yesterday so probably get it glued up and on the lathe this weekend.}

[basscatcher8]

Well here is the St.Croix fresh off of the dryer. I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. The colors are awesome and really pop and the feel with the blank is awesome. This is the St.Croix SCIII 6'3" MXF blank with ATC guides. Its getting cold out up here so hopefully the sauger are on their way towards the tail waters cause im ready to go try it out. I'm definitely glad I didn't build the Rainshadow and this one together cause now I have notes for what to change on the Rainshadow. The biggest being I'm going to put a bigger rear grip section on the next one. Mostly just to try to get more weight towards the rear of the rod. This one is a little tip heavy but being as its built for ultra light reels and low weight parts so I'm not totally worried about it just like to get better with each rod and try something different. I apologize for a couple of the pictures. I'm not much of a photographer but got the expensive camera and don't use it. These were on an iphone lol.