Just the HANDLE....

I have got this one time special request from a friend who just wanted me to do up the handle.

Yup, just the handle. Maybe my wrappings and epoxy work is not up to par.  : )

He says, "simple handle will do like the Shimano Poison Glorious rod ONLY"
Gosh.. that simple huh! I will just try la... but ain't sure what will come out..

Stacked and glued the cork rings that he hand-picked himself... no joke!
Extra grade... super AAA grade , what's the difference??? nothing really..!

The glued stacked cork rings was left to dry for a couple of days before it was shaped.

Components was then fitted to it for a test.

Fitting the fighting butt.

Fitting KDPS hood to the ECS custom gloss black painted reel seat with MATAGI butt cap at the background. Then the cork foregrip, rear grip and fighting butt was sealed with U-40 Corkseal.

 Fitting the rear grip.

Fixing the short carbon tube to the fighting butt. 

The 2mm gap between the cork and the carbon tube sealed with epoxy. The diameter of this area had to be made smaller to fit in the aluminum trim. The handle project stopped here for a day to let the epoxy to cure.

Later, the female part ( screw ) of the butt cap was inserted in the carbon tube before the fighting butt and other parts were glued on.

After the complete assembly of the handle, the blank was inserted and glued.

The top part of the reel seat was sealed off with Fuji graphite winding check.

The gap between the blank and reel seat opening sealed with Fuji graphite winding check.

At last, the opening at the foregrip was made bigger to fit the OD of the blank.

So, did I do want my friend wanted????

The answer is NO...!!!! LOL......

He wanted the shape of this...

But I gave him this.......

A more sexier glass hour....

Hahahahahaha...............  :P



The LAMI that was nearly left OUT

I was clearing and sorting out some photos of the rods I have made then I realised I missed this out.  This project photos was kept in a separate folder.

This is the 2nd rod I built for Faizal. The 6'6" 2 pc blank is from Lamiglas rated at 4-10lb.

Starting off with the foregrip. KDPS quick lock with an aluminum spacer from Matagi and finished off with 1" cork foregrip.

I normally apply a few coats of U-40 Cork Seal to all the cork handles and grip on those rods that I built.

A simple protective coating will extend the lifespan of the cork handles and it will be also for ease of maintenance.

Rear grip and fighting butt with the aluminum deco butt cap was test fitted before it was epoxied.

Local custom gloss black painted Fuji ECS reel seat were used. I finished off the front of the reel seat with Fuji graphite winding check.

Fixing up the handles and foregrip before I start wrapping up the guides.

Another angle of the rod handle.

The last guide from the top was a size#10.

 

There are 11 guides on the rod , that is excluding the top. All are single foot guide except for the last 3 guides.

My new OLD rod project - Bloodshot UL rod handle

I remembered seeing on the internet that someone actually used a real snake head... well, a 'taxidermied' snake head to be exact, with it's mouth open wide showing its' fangs. Looks COOL....!!

and I got the craziest ideas when I saw that lures. Maybe I could do the same, but subsituting with the snake alike lure rather than the real thing.

This idea was last year's idea.... and I managed to do it bit by bit...

The Balsa wood 'BLOODSHOT' lure was dissected into 2 section, the head for the foregrip and the rear for the rear grip.

Something light for the reel seat. Fuji skeleton reel seat seems like a good choice couple with carbon tube insert.

One plus one equal to one hell of a customised handle....

Lathed a rubberised fighting butt for this rod. Tapered edge just to add a little kick to it. Look more unconventional.

This is the snake skin which I planned to use at the exposed blank at the split handle section. The exposed blank section looks too plain, snake skin inlay was added.

Test fit before the epoxy coating.



Then epoxy was coated onto the snake skin inlay.

After the epoxy dried, the rear part of the lure, the skeleton reel seat and the snake head was fixed up.

The dissected lure was coated with a layer of epoxy to protect the original lures paint from flacking and also to maintain its' glossiness.

The gap where the rod protruded out from the snake head was sealed with epoxy.

So much so for the handle. Next would be the guides....
I hope I don't have to wait till next year before I can complete this rod...

Lamiglas graphite BC casting rod for ADE

People always have the perception that Lamiglas blanks are glass blanks because of their brand name. Lamiglas equals to fiberglass.


Lamiglas makes great honey yellow colored fiberglass fly rod blanks but they also have some nice graphite blanks too.

Lamiglas blank have very nice black finishing. This 6'6" rated 6-15lb blank was cropped 6" from the butt making it a six footer. This might take 4lb off the butt power.

 

Shaping of the full EVA grip.

Intended design is a full EVA handle with a gloss painted Fuji ACS trigger reel seat coupled with a Matagi Carbon painted KDPS with foregrip.

 

Test fitting the complete handle.



Fitting the handle with aluminum trim parts and butt cap



Comparing two handle of different material and design.

Simple black wrapping with metallic gold trim to match the gold aluminum trim parts.

11+1 guides on this rod

Lamiglas and Matagi rod decals



The completed rod for ADE.