Tuna Rod Build Start to Finish

[FLATLINER]

Great job shoe! It looks awesome. I think you will agree that the abalone is addictive!!! Heck I went from not knowing what the stuff is, to putting it on everything in my house!!!

Just an FYI, if anyone needs veneer, I have it in good supply!

Kevin Knox
www.anglersenvy.com

[GALAZIO]

Nice work Shoe! And even better seeing them put to the test. Just came across this thread. I might give it a go sometime. The wrapping part reminds me of days past dealing with golf clubs when they were made of wood and you had to wrap the ferrels. A little trick: make a T-handle out of a dowl or something and attach your loop to pull the tag end of the wrap under the wraps on the rod. Nothing worse than pulling it through and half way, one side lets go.

Hope all is well!

[shoefish]

Relentless one,
Thanks for the nice comments and for the questions. I haven't had any formal training either, so I appreciate it when folks ask questions and point out things that I could do better. The way I do my underwraps is to finish them all (from fore grip to tip) and then flex coat them. Sometimes I do this at the time of the decorative wrap and sometimes not- if I do a really intricate thread wrap I usually hit it with flex coat and nail it immediately (before the underwraps)...I've never had one give out, but after putting hours into a wrap I'd hate to see it happen. If I look back at this thread, I think the reason I flex coated the abalone and then did the rest of the under wraps is just because I couldn't wait to see what it looked like The reason I put coats on between over wraps is for redundancy...again...not sure it makes a difference, but in my mind if something happens to the first "layer" I feel good knowing that there is another fully set layer underneath....again, it probably doesn't make a bit of difference but that's the reasoning behind it.

Flatliner- thanks for the kind works and for pointing us all in the right direction when it comes to shell. If you're curious, PM me your email...I'm working on something with shell that will hopefully turn out really cool.

Galaz....I'm thinking about building you a Red Sox rod with the red abalone Thanks for the kind words dude and I hope you're doing well.

Shoe

[chumtini]

The way I do my underwraps is to finish them all (from fore grip to tip) and then flex coat them.

Oh Shit!!



...Just kidding.

[GALAZIO]

Galaz....I'm thinking about building you a Red Sox rod with the red abalone Thanks for the kind words dude and I hope you're doing well.

Shoe

Tell ya what... If you wanted to undertake 2 rods for my FinNor 30W (one with a Bronx Bomber (not looking like a giant syringe) theme and the other with a Dread Sox theme)... I'm in. It would be an honor to fish with some of your handy work. Let me know...

[captkev1]

Its been awhile, but I'm back working on the rods. I have two almost done and one I still need to do the guides on. I got a little side tracked on a few other rods. These pics are not very good but you can see how they are coming along.

[Hardtail Hunter]

anyone use the stuart tuff butts? they might be a way to cut down cost but might also break on a big fish? anyone use them?

[clt_capt]

anyone use the stuart tuff butts? they might be a way to cut down cost but might also break on a big fish? anyone use them?

I had a whole spread of rods - 30 & 50 Lb class with Tuff-Butts - they were great. No problems even on big fish. I could probably argue that with the blank extending through the grip, the whole rod is stronger.

I just happen to like the look and feel of aluminum butts - and they make it a lot easier for me to transport and store my rods - that's why my new stuff has them.

[shoefish]

Really nice work Kev- that Blue wrap looks so sharp!

[ElMar2530]

Ditto, Nice Job!