Re.build

[steelheadnut]

Keep an eye on this thread, there will be an SBS on a rebuild coming up soon.
I'm nearly there with photos and build is nearly finished.
I meant to have it on here before christmas but due to unforseen circumstances things are running late.
This is the rod in question:



I do hope that the owner will be happy with the final result.

Cap

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Come on Cap! I know the trout season has started up there in the darkest corner of the Teifi but no need to keep us in suspense! :>

TT.

[steelheadnut]

Come on Cap! I know the trout season has started up there in the darkest corner of the Teifi but no need to keep us in suspense! :>

TT.

Sorry folks, almost there, but I'm having an awfull time with my computer at the moment, just one of many things.
I've lost a hell of a lot of material, mostly pics and a few files, and the computer is running so slow almost dead stop(or so it seems).
Will try and download the SBS between now and the end of the weekend.
If it doesn't work then I'll have to get someone to put them on here for me, but it will happen somehow.


Cap

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Will help out as needed if your computer continues to be stubborn, Cap. Looking forward to seeing the masterpiece either way.

TT.

[steelheadnut]

I do hope most of the pics. I salvaged come out. It’s been quite a nightmare. I have lost some and they were important in that they showed some of the whipping techniques used to inlay a single thread in the middle of a solid thread block.
This is the rod as received


Well here goes:
First job was to sweat the reel seat off the blank



Next, trimmed the old cork off the blank as well as the old guides.
The blank itself was in a poor state with some marks, dents and unnerving splits.
At this point I was thinking about leaving the rod as is, but I taped up the worst splits and put the blank through casting session using a 9wt line Which was slightly overweight for this blank.
Everything held together so carried on.
Cleaned most of the “varnish” off the blank using the back of a knife I have for this job.
There should be a pic. Here but it’s lost.
Next , using wet & dry paper proceeded to get remaining gunge off blank to a satisfactory finish without compromising the integrity of the blank:



Checked blank for more damage and found the blank had been broken before, thankfully at the butt, so spliced a new section with epoxy.This you’ll see in the picture below.
As well as the splice the three sections were loose when fitted together due to wear,
Remedied this by taking 6mm off the middle section to the butt and 4mm off the top section to the middle.
Before fixing new reel seat in place I decided to re.check the spine of the sections.
I do this by holding the tip of each section in turn using my right hand and with the butt resting on a hard surface table/desk/worktop I put pressure in the middle of the sections with my left hand, forcing it to bend, but not excessively, the section will jump to the spine every time. I then put a mark on the section right opposite the place it sits on the worktop.
I’ll do this more than once for each section just to confirm I have marked it right.
You don’t have to do this, but I do it out of habit. Sometimes I will go by how sections look when I sight down each length, not all blanks are as straight as pokers.
Then I‘ll go with what looks more pleasing to the eye.

Once I was happy I fixed a new reel seat in place using a slow setting 2 part epoxy glue. Although I could have used a five minute two parter I find that these are more brittle and some don’t take the flexing some blanks are placed under.
With very little packing needed under the reel seat I used three bands of masking tape to get it to fit with enough space between the bands for the epoxy, a bit of roughing to the inside of the seat and it’s ready to fit:


Next comes the cork sections:
These I reamed out individually to fit the blank and then glued them together on a tapered mandrel in the correct order and placed them in the press below.


Once dry I put the two sections in a lathe and using surform and sand paper I shaped them




Next, glue these to the butt section using the same slow epoxy and wait 24hours to put a finish on the blank before commencing with the wrapping.
There are two pictures missing here, so apologies again.
The finish I used on this blank was a laquer which dried through evaporation and I used a rag to put it on, this is a quick process, achieved on each section using two long strokes, and was done twice to each section with 24 hours between coats.
Once dry I started on the trim wraps on each joint and above the handle, including the
Welsh flag:






Next comes the guides, so into the jig the rod goes:


I use two double foot full titanium stripper guides and the others are all single foot guides, same as the ones found on some Sage rods and of course a tip to match.
Once these are in place I give all the wraps two coats of sealer to keep the true colour of the thread used.

Finally two coats of a two part laquer over all wraps:






As you can see it's now a switch rod


I'm not overly happy with the quality of some of the pictures, but i've been trying to get this on here since 8.00am this morning and trying to salvage what pictures I could out of the hard drive.
To say it's been an event would be a slight exaggeration
Absolutely p****d off with the damn computer to be honest

A cnackered Cap

[T7]

Brilliant! |\

[cullster]

Cracking job |\ I would love a room like that I could call my own , three kids three bedrooms well the daughters almost 18 :>

Dai.

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Spot on, da iawn Cap. |\

A man of many talents!

TT

[daijones]

Great job,

Dai|\