Summer custom Rods - careful PICTURE HEAVY

[savacs]

Hi guys, It's been a long time since I've posted some new projects. Some simpler, some more complex. They all look good in my opinion.

I'll let you enjoy the pics, it's too much explaining to do for all of them

[dusty]

Easily the best rod builder

[Redfish]

Very nice! Thanks for showing. Are they your personal rods or customer's?

[savacs]

2 of them are my personal rods

1. - St.Croix SC3 Light - 3S66LF2, with VSS gloss black reel seat, Torzite guides, and custom decals
2. - MHX-HM-SB812 - Spinnerbait rod, with ALPS AGC-MVT raw finish reel seat, and cork full grip with orange trim, with SiC casting guides.

the rest are customer rods, mostly what they had in mind with a few corrections so they "feel" right , or they gave me a few guidelines (e.g. I saw one of your camo handles, I'd like something like that, but make it feel right with the "X" color reel seat - you have freehand for the rest of the build) to follow, and freehand for the rest of the build.

[IlliniDawg01]

2 of them are my personal rods

1. - St.Croix SC3 Light - 3S66LF2, with VSS gloss black reel seat, Torzite guides, and custom decals
2. - MHX-HM-SB812 - Spinnerbait rod, with ALPS AGC-MVT raw finish reel seat, and cork full grip with orange trim, with SiC casting guides.

the rest are customer rods, mostly what they had in mind with a few corrections so they "feel" right , or they gave me a few guidelines (e.g. I saw one of your camo handles, I'd like something like that, but make it feel right with the "X" color reel seat - you have freehand for the rest of the build) to follow, and freehand for the rest of the build.

Very impressive builds. The white MHX Spinning rod us easily my favorite.

My builds are much more utilitarian and not nearly as clean. I don't have a steady enough hand to epoxy my guide wraps that perfectly. Do you tape them off or something? I have thought about doing that before wrapping guides to keep everything perfectly straight and clean but wasn't sure if it would be more trouble than it is worth.

DaveJ

[savacs]

No tape .

It's about timing with the epoxy u use, and I use a power wrapper to coat them with epoxy. I coat them at high speed, and after coating them I put the rod on drier, and come back after a certain time to straighten everything out (it's difficult to explain when this is, because it depends on temperature, and kind of epoxy - it might be 20 min or 40 min until I come back to the rod and "refinish" everything so it stays straight and perfect).

[trout27]

Awesome work!!! I second the white spinning rod being one of my favorites. I am wondering how much does it cost to build some of these rods?

Thanks,

Ryan

[Teal101]

Excellent. As an amateur rod builder it is awesome to see professional work to get ideas and strive to be better. Your epoxy work is astounding!

[sumguyx103]

Wow is all I can say...

[IlliniDawg01]

No tape .

It's about timing with the epoxy u use, and I use a power wrapper to coat them with epoxy. I coat them at high speed, and after coating them I put the rod on drier, and come back after a certain time to straighten everything out (it's difficult to explain when this is, because it depends on temperature, and kind of epoxy - it might be 20 min or 40 min until I come back to the rod and "refinish" everything so it stays straight and perfect).

I wish the power wrapper was in my budget. Maybe when I retire (only 30 more years!).

DaveJ

[smalliesteve]

No tape .

It's about timing with the epoxy u use, and I use a power wrapper to coat them with epoxy. I coat them at high speed, and after coating them I put the rod on drier, and come back after a certain time to straighten everything out (it's difficult to explain when this is, because it depends on temperature, and kind of epoxy - it might be 20 min or 40 min until I come back to the rod and "refinish" everything so it stays straight and perfect).

If you don't mind sharing a bit more...

Are you coming back and adding/removing epoxy based on where it's setting? i.e. if you're getting footballs, are you just lifting some of the epoxy off the center of the wrap and letting re-level itself?

Thanks

[savacs]

After leaving it for... lets say 20 min... the epoxy tends to bulk towards the middle. It tends to do this to a certain point. If you readjust it with a brush (again, at high speed) at a certain point, when the epoxy is a bit less fluid, don't know how to explain how fluid... it will remain that way, and it won't pull itself to the center anymore, and it won't pull itself off the thread edges, so the thread won't show thru the epoxy.

Don't know how to explain it better than this

[IlliniDawg01]

After leaving it for... lets say 20 min... the epoxy tends to bulk towards the middle. It tends to do this to a certain point. If you readjust it with a brush (again, at high speed) at a certain point, when the epoxy is a bit less fluid, don't know how to explain how fluid... it will remain that way, and it won't pull itself to the center anymore, and it won't pull itself off the thread edges, so the thread won't show thru the epoxy.

Don't know how to explain it better than this

I guess you will just have to make a how to video for us amateurs...

What kind of brushes do you like? I've just been using cheapos.

DaveJ

[rugud2go]

They look great. Very impressive.

[smalliesteve]

After leaving it for... lets say 20 min... the epoxy tends to bulk towards the middle. It tends to do this to a certain point. If you readjust it with a brush (again, at high speed) at a certain point, when the epoxy is a bit less fluid, don't know how to explain how fluid... it will remain that way, and it won't pull itself to the center anymore, and it won't pull itself off the thread edges, so the thread won't show thru the epoxy.

Don't know how to explain it better than this

That works, I know what you're talking about. All I have to do now is figure out the right timing to hit it when the viscosity is high enough that it doesn't flow back to the center, but low enough that it will level out the brush marks.

Thanks, I've got 4 blanks showing up tomorrow to start building. (0 of those are for me )