View Full Version : First Rod Complete
OSUhuntnfish
03-01-2009, 11:12 AM
Hey everyone, just thought I'd share my experience building my first rod and went a lot easier than I had expected. I wanted a new fly rod so I decided to go with a St. Croix SCIV 5wt. 2pc blank and paired it up with a struble U24 reel seat and TiCh single foot guides from pacbay topped off with green wraps..Thankfully I had my granddad (who is much more experienced in rod building than I) there to show me the ropes and coach me through building my first rod. I got to do everything from turning the grip out on the lathe to my first go at putting finish on the wraps (which was much more difficult than one would think). One question I do have for you guys is what kind of finish do you prefer to use on your wraps? I used the packaged formula from pacbay and I seemed to have a really hard time getting all the bubbles to come out for a nice clean finish. Any input would be great for my next one! Sorry about the pics, they didn't come out quite as clear as I hoped for.
StickFish
03-01-2009, 12:05 PM
Those are green wraps? Any which way I wish my first rod looked that good. Great job.
I'm using threadmaster now, really like it. I usually soak the thread good with a coat of light build and follow up with a coat of high build - I'm liking the way that combination fills the tunnels.
Bubble release - with Threadmaster is very good. The light build especially. I apply finish straight from the mixing cup, spread it out and as a last step before moving I put a couple spirals in the finish - I find that it helps level better. Than I slow the lathe down to about 9rpm and use an alcohol burner to pop bubbles and sag off excess finish or redistribute it on the wrap - just don't fuss too much. Others like to poor their finish out on foil and either breath on it to pop the bubbles of flash it with their torch. Others also find that using the foil increases the pot life on the finish so they have more time to work. Biggest tip about finish is try a couple different types of finish and decide which one works best for the technique you develop.
dixiefisher
03-01-2009, 01:11 PM
Looks good...I like how the cork handle turned out!
Bobbin for steel
03-02-2009, 08:50 AM
That's areal nice looking rod. Now you need to go catch something with it!
Hookmiester
03-03-2009, 04:04 PM
That looks good, I like the color of the blank with the wrap color you chose.
j