new glass rod

[moon1284]

You can cut the butt section of the blank short where the reel seat will go and insert a solid piece of wood / glass and turn this section thin enough so you can fit a normal reel seat. This doesn't change the action on the blank (at least I can't notice). I did that with a kabuto I built and looking at the new orvis glass rods, I'd bet they do the same. CTS makes a lot of glass blanks for suppliers and I've never handled an epic, but I'd be surprised if they weren't noticeably different from a cts quartz or other cts made blank. I built a rod on a Fred paddock blank I think was made by cts and its an excellent rod. I wouldn't knock an epic before I try it. Being from New Zealand, I would guess cts / epic is similar to scott / sage / Winston / orvis, etc. In that most of the workers in the shop are fly fisherman, as opposed to stuff made in a factory in Asia where they probably don't fly fish.

 

[turkey]

I should clarify, I think CTS is top quality. If CTS is rolling Epics then I think they're top quality too. I was sincere when I recommended them.

As far as epoxies go, I prefer FC Lite thinned 50/50 with denatured alcohol for the first coat and uncut for a second coat. Ive also used threadmaster lite and it's nice. I never cut it and wish I would've gone lighter on my first coat. I'd use it again. I am just more familiar with how the FC behaves. When I mix my epoxy I usually put the cup on a radiator style electric heater or float it in a bowl of hot water. It lengthens working time.

I agree with Kev in that dry air is friendlier that humid air.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I recently bought two glass rods from cooks of Oregon. They were built on vintage lamiglas blanks and I love them. They cost about 140 bucks a rod. I'm not sure why you would need to drop 400 to get a good quality custom glass rod.

 

[turkey]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I recently bought two glass rods from cooks of Oregon. They were built on vintage lamiglas blanks and I love them. They cost about 140 bucks a rod. I'm not sure why you would need to drop 400 to get a good quality custom glass rod.

No one "needs" to buy a $400 rod. I dont think anyone was suggesting that. You can buy a Hyundai or a BMW. They both get you to work.

I think that those Lamiglas blanks are awesome. Really smooth rods.

 

[moon1284]

I have a 3 pc lami I built, and its a nice rod. my paddock and kabuto are much better rods, and in my opinion, worth the price difference.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I recently bought two glass rods from cooks of Oregon. They were built on vintage lamiglas blanks and I love them. They cost about 140 bucks a rod. I'm not sure why you would need to drop 400 to get a good quality custom glass rod.

You know I love vintage glass, and you know I don't spend a lot of gear. Relatively speaking, $400 is not expensive. We once talked about a "lifetime purchase" rod. I think it was around the Orvis Helios or something. To me, a $400 glass rod would be a "lifetime purchase".

 

[springer1]

The biggest downside to building a fiberglass rod is the size of their butt ends. In some cases, you simply cannot find a reel seat to fit it (my Kabuto was too big for anythign but a custom cut wood seat or metal seats)

Nah. Just cut the end off the blank the length of the reel seat, and then shim (with tape, drywall mesh, or string) either a dowel or scrap pieces of an old rod to fit epoxied inside the end of the blank, while extending out to fit inside the reel seat. It's not uncommon for custom fiberglass rods to use this method of attaching the reel seat.

 

[gfen]

I found the idea of cutting the end of my shiny new, and not cheap, Kabuto to be rather offsetting.

This is why I stuck an aluminum seat on it, instead. And reamed cork for what seemed to be days on end.

 

[turkey]

So far I've been getting spacers bored to about .420" and I'll take a few more thou out with a reamer. I have a couple bigger blanks that won't abide this process. I'll probably go aluminum on those seats.

 

[blueheron]

Almost completed, wraps are done, aluminum reel seat and grip are finalized, waiting for the flexcoat lite. I'm already perusing the web for a nice bamboo blank, I have a NOS black aluminum reel seat and black old guide set. I'll have pics when it's all over.

 

[bikerfish]

glass rods just scream for aluminum reel seats. BTW, phil at kettle creek has a nice selection of alum seats, some great gaudy retro ones that!

 

[blueheron]

Coated the wraps last night finally, borrowed a turner and I am glad I did, made for an easy application. As you may be able to see, the wraps disappeared and I like the effect. I bought a gold Teton reel years ago on clearance and it fits better than the kalamazoo emperor reel I was gonna use, here are some crappy pics. I am a firm believer in drab outfits for fishing but sometimes you just gotta go with the flow,even if it's over the top bling bling. Goldflinger, ha

 

[blueheron]

pics

 

[afishinado]

Very nice job, Chris.

Good luck with that rod.

 

[blueheron]

Thanks Tom, I think I'm in trouble, I really enjoyed that and have already bought a graphite blank for my next build. Could be a slew of used Sage rods for sale in the gear section soon. All except the SP's.

 

[afishinado]

blueheron wrote:
Thanks Tom, I think I'm in trouble, I really enjoyed that and have already bought a graphite blank for my next build. Could be a slew of used Sage rods for sale in the gear section soon. All except the SP's.

:-o

 

[whheff]

The rod looks great. It is addicting. I enjoyed building my rod too.

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

Turkey those spacers should be perfect size.

Nice job on the rod. I've looked at those mountain brooks on eBay.

You can def get a nice glass rod build for under 100. I've done up quite a few. Can never get myself to the finish process though. Kabuto blanks seem to have gotten a lot cheaper I think like 150 or something. I love the white blanks. As garrison said Steffens probably the best.

 

[blueheron]

Thanks , I can't speak for the action of the mountain brooks but the finish seems fine and for $50 was worth a shot. At this point in the game when I'm fishing little water and short casts almost any rod fills the bill. I bought a white 4 sided 7' rod last year that I'm curious to try, speaking of white.

 

[gfen]

blueheron wrote:
I bought a white 4 sided 7' rod last year that I'm curious to try, speaking of white.

Wright & McGill "Panfish."