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Post by RodKneeTrouter on Feb 25, 2006 14:49:35 GMT -5
'Lo all Here's a few pics of the finished rod. 9' 5# Scott G series. Sorry about the 'on the duvet' shots! I was getting too much reflection on the table top. In the end, I kept it simple - After trying tag wraps and two colour wraps I decided to go with single colour. Basic, but its a safer choice on a first build and it looks much neater than my tag wraps did. I used flex coat lite. 3 light coats. I would probably use high build next time - lite shows every speck of dust. Thanks so much to everyone who gave me advice/answered questions! Cheers! Mike
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Post by John Gray on Feb 25, 2006 15:47:59 GMT -5
Very nice, Mike.
How did you do the writing?
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Post by RodKneeTrouter on Feb 25, 2006 15:54:49 GMT -5
Hi John Writing was done with a silver pentel 1mm gel pen. I found that holding it just above the blank and allowing the viscocity of of the gel tp pull it away from the pen makes a much smoother finish. Oh - and it took about 50 attempts. one time I had it absolutely perfect - you almost couldn't tell I had drawn the Scott logo myself - and then the ink ran when the flex coat went over it. i cried. M
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Post by Silver Stoat on Feb 25, 2006 16:58:34 GMT -5
Well done Mike. Looks good.
Dave.
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Post by Trout on Feb 26, 2006 16:12:43 GMT -5
Well done! that rod looks super, i bet you can't wait to give it a go Oh - and it took about 50 attempts. one time I had it absolutely perfect - you almost couldn't tell I had drawn the Scott logo myself - and then the ink ran when the flex coat went over it. i cried. I'm on my 8th atempt, with a gold pen, got it perfect once or twice, then it ran when i put the varnish on. (got a plan i will try out)
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Post by Silver Stoat on Feb 26, 2006 18:34:34 GMT -5
Trout,
Try drying the writing with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes then spray a very thin coat of hair lacquer (or any cellulose or acrylic clear spray) over it - mask off the handle and any part of the rod you don't want spray on. Leave it to dry for a half hour and then apply your varnish. The lacquer will act as a sealer and stop the ink running. Don't spray it on too thick though - hold the can at least ten inches away from the rod and keep it moving. This has always worked for me.
Dave.
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Post by The Handsome Stick on Feb 27, 2006 8:10:37 GMT -5
Looks great. Was the cork preformed or did you shape it?
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Post by rrw35 on Feb 27, 2006 10:18:02 GMT -5
Good job. That is a great blank.
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Post by The Handsome Stick on Feb 27, 2006 16:12:30 GMT -5
Good job. That is a great blank. Ryan I have seen you cruising the rod building section of the forum on more than one occasion. When are you going to give in and build one? Don't fight it.
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Post by rrw35 on Feb 27, 2006 17:02:15 GMT -5
Good job. That is a great blank. Ryan I have seen you cruising the rod building section of the forum on more than one occasion. When are you going to give in and build one? Don't fight it. Mate, Its like tradesmen...you don't do your own tiling.. ;D ;D If i built a rod, it would look like Stevie Wonder with epilepsy built it.
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Post by RodKneeTrouter on Feb 28, 2006 5:06:37 GMT -5
Well done! that rod looks super, i bet you can't wait to give it a go Oh - and it took about 50 attempts. one time I had it absolutely perfect - you almost couldn't tell I had drawn the Scott logo myself - and then the ink ran when the flex coat went over it. i cried. I'm on my 8th atempt, with a gold pen, got it perfect once or twice, then it ran when i put the varnish on. (got a plan i will try out) You can scuff the blank with the coarse side of a kitchen sponge - dont worry - it absolutely will not show under the flex coat. this helps the ink to stick and makes your writing look smoother. let the ink dry for at least 2 hours. Then paint a line of flexcoat directly above the writing and use a small straw (the tube from a bic pen works a treat) to blow the flexcoat over the written section. Looks great. Was the cork preformed or did you shape it? The cork was pre-formed - I would have liked a slightly thicker diameter cork, but I knew I didnt have the patience or tools to tackle cork rings myself - Its from H and H. As for the stevie wonder factor - well...the pictures are kind. note no closeups of wraps. You can definitely tell its a first build - but it casts beautifully and thats all that really matters right? or so I keep telling myself - and then I take it down and scrutinise every wrap. Rod and myself are off to the US on Monday for a week's fishing for wild rainbows (yes they are wild) and monster browns on the north fork of the white river. so it will get a baptism by fire - except I probably wont be able to resist taking it out this weekend. tight whippings Mike
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Post by troutfisher 710 on Feb 28, 2006 12:16:07 GMT -5
I hope my first rod build looks as good as that Ill be well pleased, How many hours did you put into the rod from start to finish? Gary
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Post by RodKneeTrouter on Feb 28, 2006 16:54:29 GMT -5
Total hours eh? errrmmm this is depressing actually. In all honesty, I have sworn that I won't build another one until I am retired - it just took too much of my time and I had to sacrifice some things like fly tying and unfortunately family time. I was working towards a semi-tight deadline though. Measuring whippings/finding spline - 2 original whippings - 2 hours per section - 8 hating colour of tag whippings and redoing all whippings - 6 Discovering had measured wrong and having to re-wrap 3 sections - 4 getting the writing right/coating written section 10 Misc - 10
The remaining hours are flex coating (3 coats of lite) / cutting out fuzzies /sanding and recoating some whippings that looked crappy when dried/ obsessively staring at wraps as rod turns - 25+
this does not count time spent turning the rod - I bought a disco light kit from early learning center - took it apart and used it as a turner. if you are turning by hand add at least 2 hours per section per coat.
so in all about 65 hours. But, as you can see - I made lots of mistakes.
If I had one tip to give it would be - be VERY careful with the ends of your wraps - they tend to fray easily and the abrupt transition from blank to thread makes the fuzzies more obvious. This problem is made worse if you dont get the first wrap of thread as tight as the rest (which you will find is hard to do).
If asked for another tip it would be to LEAVE IT ALONE after you have flex coated. don't look at it until its dry - otherwise you will fiddle with the flex coat and the problems you create then are harder to fix. this might sound like a non issue - but trust me - its almost impossible to resist. but you must - its much easier to file down a dried mistake than it is to try to repair a gummy half dried one.
tight whippings (especially those first few wraps)
mike
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Post by troutfisher 710 on Feb 28, 2006 17:02:25 GMT -5
Mike That sound like just the ticket if youre looking for a divorce from both wife and daughter They both think im totally ignoring them now and im only putting in a few hours at the vice preparing for the start of the season Still if divorce leaves me the time for a new rod it may be cheap Thanks for the honest appraisal. Gary
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Post by Silver Stoat on Feb 28, 2006 19:33:05 GMT -5
Regarding the 'fuzzies'.
You can remove most, if not all of them before applying the epoxy by wafting a ciggy lighter by the whippings as you turn the rod. There are dangers. Forget to move the lighter or the rod or hold the flame too close and the nylon melts. You just have to waft it around close-ish - but not too close.
It is not a difficult technique once you know the limits and you can practice it on the practice whippings done on a piece of dowel or a plastic ball point pen tube.
Saves a bit of time.
Dave.
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