Reel seat

OK now for the next installment. Today I put the reel seat on the rod along with the but cap. On after thought I think I should have already reamed out the cork handle , so that I could put the whole handle assembly on the rod together. But I didn't so I will do this way. Have quite a bit to ream out on the handle ,esp. at the reel seat end where it cover the front of the seat.

Tools of the trade

Pro Bond all blended together ready to apply.

Reel Seat arbor all gooped up. I really work it into the fiber glass drywall tape.
This will make a very solid connection between blank and real seat. Billy Vivona tells me this may not be as good as I think. By wrapping the tape and then applying epoxy , the epoxy might not get all the way to the blank and the seat my spin later. Like I said I did work it in all the hole and between the two arbors, I so I hope it got enough in to hold.  But  thank you Billy for the advice , have to see how this comes out. On the next one I might apply the epoxy as I wrap the tape .

Thread on the reel seat taped up to keep the goop off of them.

Reel seat installed the end cap is taped on with several layer to keep it in place. 

Ok well that does it for the reel seat, just have to let it set while the epoxy cures. I will start to ream the handle in a little while.

Work station a little cluttered but I know where everything is.....Yeah right!

Of course can't for get te important stuff. Got to have my Dr.

Denatured Alcohol for clean up of any goop that I got sloppy with.

I am Puppy sitting for my Daughter. His name is Lt Aldo Raine (yes from the movie).He is really cute and has a lot more energy than my older dogs. They are not real happy with him being here .But at least no body has tried to eat anyone else yet.

He is an American / British Bulldog . Basically a big dumb strong olf. But you got to love him ,he is pretty cool.

6 Piece Fly Rod Build

I have had this blank  and the rest of the parts for a while now, so I really need to get started .I am planning on taking it with me when my wife and I go to Wyoming this September.  It is a Cabelas Stowaway blank (to replace the one that my wife bought me that I broke), a six piece. I was a little leery of this, I thought finding the spine would be difficult, but then I realized that the spine is only critical in the parts of the blank that will be bending. As this blank is a moderate fast , it will only be bending in the top 2/3 of the blanks. So I found the spine in the top four pieces of the blank , and sighted the last 2 pieces. I also lined up the decal they have on the blank to the correct position to the right of the reel seat.


I began with marking the spine on all pieces of the blank and also I put a tic where each with connect to aid in aliening the pieces. Next I did a build-up of fiber glass Dry Wall Tape it will act as the arbor between the reel seat and the rod blank.

Got this from acid rod , just thought it was cool.

 I like to use the Fiber Glass Dry Wall Tape for arbors. I can make them fit exactly, and I work the epoxy into them all the way to the blank so it will be solid once cured.

The Cork handle I am using is an Cork Burl, I like the character it has.I think it will look good , also went with the full  well just because. LOL

I am building this in the spare time I have so it will be done in installments to this blog. So bear with me . it is funny ,I thought when I retired I would have tons of time on my hands. But no , I seem to be busier than ever. I will post as the rod progresses.

Back from the Beach and at the Tying Bench

Can you see how happy she is...LOL

We got back Sunday afternoon and had some happy dogs waiting for us. It was good to get away and de-stress. My wife really needed it., and it didn't hurt me none either. Didn't even take the fly rods or spinning rods out of the vehicle. Just chilled with Land Sharks, Blue Moons and Boat drinks. Sitting on the beach toes in the waster ass in the sand just watching the birds working the bait balls just off the beach. It was great. Next week will be about fishing but this past weekend was all about just being laid back and stress free.

Got my SUV back yesterday , wow maybe I should have stay with mechanics when I retired. It cost me almost $2000 to get it back. But at least now it has good cold AC.

Sat down this morning and there was a Gamakatsu  SC 16 Circle hook in my vice. So a little crystal flash and squirrel, tail later here's what I came up with . A couple of shrimps that I will try when I go to the Kayak M&G next week end.

Time to get back to work around here. I really will be building some rods soon. I have just been putting it off till I had a week free. So until then its just me and my ramblings.