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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]After going the wrong direction I finally ended up at Hooked for the Saturday session of Hooked's rod building class. There were a number of BFT folks there all primed to begin their new project rods.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I believe FlyFishingMoose, UncleRay, and a possible new member of our board, Steve? were building fly rods. Polokid and OneEyedJack were building spinning rods, Fishcrazy was building a nice graphite ice rod, and I was the only baitcaster in the crowd.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]HFT and his staff were great at helping and offering tips on all aspects of the first portion of the class which included splining the rod, fitting the cork handles and fore grip, and setting the reel seat to match the spline of the rod. [/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]As with the first class, a lot of the "rookie" builders were getting fired up with their new project and couldn't wait to come back to the second class to learn to wrap eyes and the finishing touches to complete their project. [/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I know I'm fired up. I brought with me the new reel I am going to attach to my new St. Croix jig stick and I could tell with just the reel seat and cork in place and reel attached it was going to be SWEET! Now, if I just don't screw it up wrapping eyes! HA!
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]See you boys next Saturday at the next class! For those who didn't make it, All's I can say is you missed out![/size][/font]
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Right you are BLM, it was a good time for all! Even my daughter who tagged along had a good time tying flies while we worked on buidling the rods. Last night while we put on the reel seats and glued thr cork in place my daughter polished off James' salsa in the fridge and put a pretty good dent into the chips too!
Next week I'm bring enough salsa for all and she won't have to eat all of the shops salsa. By the way she said eating the salsa was the best part!
Thanks James & crew for the help. I can't wait for next week!
See ya'll then
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Hey are you still filing out your cork??? hehehe That was a great class, and the folks at Hooked are as friendly as ever. Even though arctic girl must like the Thursday class better??? [  ] I am excited about my investment i am making, now if i can just not break it, like i am doing to all my other rods i own!!!
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I filed a lot of cork from the center of that handle. The base of my rod was over a 1/2" and the hole thru the cork was about 3/16". I finally got it after filing for 40 minutes! There was a time or two I was wondering if I should of made an ice rod so I only had to add tape! No, not really. I think the baitcaster is going to be a jewel. I can wait to hook up Mr. Big on it and put it to the test![/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]On another subject, I've got all the lead that I got from you melted down to 2lb ingots from those 50# and 25# bricks. That has taken a while but will be nice when casting jigheads and such.[/size][/font]
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It was an awesome class but no pictures to prove it! Out of all of us no one remebered a camera. Oh well, a lot was lost because we could not hear James because of the constant cursing from BLM in the corner. The good news is the next class will be glue and thread. Thank you James and it was nice meeting everyone, can not wait for Saturday.
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I tried to get the girls to take pictures of your ugly mugs,but they were too tired from ice fishing.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]What a dog you are, OEJ! And I thought I was in PG mode![/size][/font]
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You were in PG mode... At least from what I heard inbetween all of the filing.
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It was a great class,I'm looking forward to next Sat.,I'll try and remember to bring my digital camera.BLM-you need one of those Dremel tools![crazy][  ]
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I thought you did OK, BLM, but I was not in PG mode even with my daughter there! I did manage to get thru the class without too many kicks in the shins from her!
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[cool][size 2]What are you guys using for reaming out the cork in the handle? Do you have any of those three-sized reamers...like available from Cabelas, Janns, etc?[/size] ![[Image: i314580hz01.jpg]](http://a1460.g.akamai.net/f/1460/1339/6h/www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/31/45/80/i314580hz01.jpg)
![[Image: spacer.gif]](http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/images/spacer.gif) Tapered Cork Reamers
Designed for hand use, these coarse-grit reamers enlarge and taper cork ring holes and pre-made cork handle holes with an easy turning action. 18" long.
Sizes: Small, Medium, Large.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Hey TD, we do it the manly man way with a rat tail files! We don't need no stinking reamers! HA! I've used those reamers before and they are the bomb![/size][/font]
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[#0000ff][size 2]Lets not hold anything back now boys![/size][/#0000ff]
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[cool][size 2]I have lost count of the number of rods I have put together over the years. I have gone through a couple of sets of those reamers, and they really do save time and help with the right taper. I sometimes rig them on my power drills and keep them at low speed...for control.[/size]
[size 2]There was another question that came up from Coot, that might be worth some input too. That is HOW ABOUT THE USE OF MASKING TAPE TO BUILD UP THE ROD UNDER THE REEL SEAT?[/size]
[size 2]My observation has been that it works fine for filling small gaps...where there is not a great difference between the outside diameter of the rod blank, and the inside diameter of the reel seat. Some good rod building cement to bind it all together and you will have a long lasting connection.[/size]
[size 2]However, if you are building a heavy rod, with a large reel seat...much larger than the diameter of the rod blank...you will do better by adding either cork or graphite rings and then sanding them down to fill the gap.[/size]
[size 2]In making heavy duty commercial boat rods, for rental on the party boats in California, I used to wrap heavy cord over the rod to fill the gaps, and cement it all together with a heavy duty marine adhesive.[/size]
[size 2]Too much masking tape between the rod blank and reel seat will leave your project vulnerable to extremes of heat and cold. The tape will turn soft in the heat and brittle in the cold. You do not want your reel seat rotating or breaking loose on you in the heat of battle with a biggun. I have had to take a couple of rods apart and rebuild them after the masking tape and epoxy disintegrated under heavy flexing and temperature extremes.[/size]
[size 2]Whenever I am building a "toughman" rod anymore, I use these graphite arbors between rod and reel seat. This is from Cabelas.[/size] ![[Image: i312027hz01.jpg]](http://a1460.g.akamai.net/f/1460/1339/6h/www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/31/20/27/i312027hz01.jpg)
![[Image: cabelasLogo.gif]](http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/images/cabelasLogo.gif) Graphite Arbors
These arbors are lighter, but stronger than cork or tape bushings. They give the rod maximum sensitivity by transmitting the strike signal and lure action from the blank through the reel seat. Standard inner diameter can be reamed to a larger size to fit a wide array of blank diameters. All models are a standard 25.4mm (1") long. Per 6.
Cabela's Graphite Arbors Item: ID-312027 Price: $2.49 - $2.79
Please use the chart below to find your product and add it to cart
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[#0000ff][size 2]I knew it had to be TubeDude.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 2]Thanks for the info, I was wonder about that gap too, I'm building a 3 weight fly rod with a cork handle that is just a little larger than my hand so there is not much gap between the rod blank and the cork, but I was wondering about the area between the masking tape. Is that why we goop a lot of the 5 minute epoxy into that area? Won't it (the cork) sag over time between the tape?
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FFM
you will not have any problem with sagging, once the 5 minute is set it is not going to change with time,as for the graphite bushing did you see them when you were in class, they are a pain in the--- to deal with, they are great for a manufacturer who is building a lot of the same size rod and can bring them in at the perfect size so as to not have to reshape them.
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[cool][size 2]Hey, FFM, as James has advised, you should never experience any problems with your new flyrod setup. There is a minimal difference to fill with the tape and epoxy, and when that all sets up, it is solid. Also, there is never the flex and torque on a fly reel, at the end of the rod, as there is on a large jig stick, using superbraid line and large reels.[/size]
[size 2]Didn't mean to alarm anyone. I knew that BLM was working on a "beat-em-up" outfit, so just thought I would offer some input. For the average fresh water spinning, fly fishing or even baitcasting rods, the old tried and true masking tape bushings work just fine.[/size]
[size 2]Now you guys get the fun part...decorating your new sticks with guides and wrapping. Most of us who have been bitten by the rod building bug seem to go through the phase of wanting to make all kinds of exotic wrappings. But, we find out sooner or later that it doesn't make the fish bite any better, even if it does give you something to look at between bites.[/size]
[size 2]As I am sure you will soon learn, the key to proper rod performance is spacing the guides properly to account for the flexing action of the rod. I use mostly fast tip rods...with the majority of the flex in the top 30% of the rod...so my guides are closer near the top than at the bottom.[/size]
[size 2]That has always been a big part of the appeal of building my own rods...being able to not only have ENOUGH guides on the rod, but to have them spaced right too. That's one of the first things I look at in a finished rod...the number and placement of guides, in relation to the length and action of the rod.[/size]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]HFT is not the only rod builder who uses masking tape as a spacer. It is a common practice with almost all the guys that I know who build custom rods. They also say what HFT says about the graphite ring spacers. "Throw them away and use masking tape!".[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I've got a couple custom ice fishing rods for macks that were built a few years back and have tape spacers in the reel seats. I've yanked on some pretty healthy fish with them and the rods show no adverse effects at the reel seat. I would dearly love to hook into the fish that could break that joint. What a fight it would be...[/size][/font]
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[#0000ff][size 2]I see what you mean, both opinions are interesting, yuors & TD's, thanks all [/size][/#0000ff]
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