ebay blanks?

[skiltonian]

anyone build up a rod from the cheap IM6 ebay blanks by Roger?
thoughts?

 

[Alpabuck]

Have you ever built a rod before?

 

[skiltonian]

yes - just looking for a cheap build for something to do this winter.
I really don't need anymore rods, but thinking of a building a few 10 footers for fresh and salt. only hesitation is I don't like slow rods.....

 

[Alpabuck]

If you dont like slow rods then by the cheapest thing you can find they will all feel the same anyways. Why not try and put eyes and a reel seat on a broom stick?

lol

Really I'd get the best thing you can afford. Why brother to spend all winter working on something that your not going to like and that your not going to want to fish.

 

[jdaddy]

Pay particular attention to the weight of the blank. 10'ers can get real heavy, real quick, especially if the weight is loaded in the tip.

 

[Hooligan]

I'd also like to hear how those blanks are.

Overall, I agree with Alpha- get the best you can afford. But I also look at it this way. Going on the cheap, you might be surprised and wind up with a half way decent rod. As a keep busy project for Skiltonian, one of these blanks could be ideal.

If it doesn't fill your needs, you can always give it away. I've attempted to convert several of my friends to fly fishing (and occasionally been successful :-D), and handing them a cheap serviceable rod can help in the conversion process. The fish don't care if it's a Sage or a Roger, and a newbee won't really know the difference.

All of that said, I still wouldn't want a "broomstick" blank. I DO want it to be serviceable.


John

 

[afishinado]

skiltonian wrote:
yes - just looking for a cheap build for something to do this winter.
I really don't need anymore rods, but thinking of a building a few 10 footers for fresh and salt. [color=CC0000]only hesitation is I don't like slow rods.....[/color]

If that's the case I don't believe you will be happy with an IM6 rod. They are very slow action blanks. Unfortunately, it's hard to find a fishable/castable fast blank (one that's not like a broomstick in action and weight) for a reasonable price. Dancraft makes some decent fast rod blanks, but the faster ones aren't really that cheap.

 

[Hooligan]

FWIW, Utmost Enterprises (Batson) has a closeout 5wt 10' RX7 for $22 plus shipping, if that's the wt. you're looking for
. http://www.utmostenterprises.com/CLOSEOUTBLANKS.htm

John

 

[afishinado]

Hooligan wrote:
FWIW, Utmost Enterprises (Batson) has a closeout 5wt 10' RX7 for $22 plus shipping, if that's the wt. you're looking for
. http://www.utmostenterprises.com/CLOSEOUTBLANKS.htm

John

Nice find Hooligan! RX7 is a decent blank. Not real fast, but faster. For that price, a real bargain and a lot more suitable than the IM6 for you Skil, based on your preference for a faster rod.

 

[skiltonian]

Utmost Enterprises (Batson) has a closeout 5wt 10' RX7 for $22 plus shipping, if that's the wt. you're looking for
. http://www.utmostenterprises.com/CLOSEOUTBLANKS.htm

Now they're $16 and others at $14

i'm going to order a few to winter builds

 

[Hooligan]

Yeah, I saw that. Utmost is constantly updating its closeouts on their site. I've dealt with them in the past and they're good people to work with.

You can sometimes get a good heads up on deals from them (look for threads started by Mick Batson) and other vendors on the Rodbuilding.org website's forum. A lot of vendors will notify forum users of upcoming sales and specials.

Good luck and enjoy building those rods.

John

 

[PennKev]

Man those are sweet deals!

Where were they 10+ years ago when I first got into rod building. Too bad I'm switching to mostly 4 piece rods...

Kev

 

[troutslammer]

penn kev - thats the reason they are cheap , not many people want 2 pc rods anymore ,