Gerard's MHX Spiral Blend Rod

Another long queue rod project as I brought in this blank for Gerard a couple of months ago.

This MHX blank is under their blend series built with a blend of high intermediate and low intermediate modulus fibers.

The 6'10" blank is a single piece blank rated at 4-8lb with moderate fast action.

The reel seat was ordered way back early of this year. A quality Matagi component which not many will pick. This aluminum trigger down locking reel seat has got a burled wood insert, old school type. 

Cork ring stacked and glued for the full grip handle.

Test fitting the handle before gluing. The cork handle still need some shaping.

The mid section of the handle was shaped for a thinner 'waist line'..

11 piece set micro guides with nano rings was used for this rod. Gerard wanted maroon color wrapping. So I suggested Garnet to him. It looked kinda bright but.....

.... after epoxy, it looked dark and under the sunlight it will look very nice.

Before I epoxy the guides and tested the blank... and this is how it will look when loaded...

The rod decal was placed on after all the guides wrapped.

Then the guides and rod decal was epoxy.

The next day..... cork seal was applied to the fore grip and handle.

Aluminum butt tack from Matagi.

......completed!

And tested..........

AMZ last SC UL

This rod project was in queue at least for 4 months before kicked off. Another UL blank from St Croix with slight modification on its' length.

And here are the components used. A simple 'Black and Red" theme.

Configuring the handles before shaping the EVA handle.
                                                                    

Then the shaped EVA handle was test fitted before gluing.

When I was about to start the guide wrapping, I had a second look at it and it looks incomplete to me. Something was missing....

I just have to get the winding check in the fore grip...

Had another look and now it was complete.

Then for the guides.

1 coat of epoxy..

After the 3rd coat of epoxy and a few days for curing.... the rod is done.

Another Fly Rod refurbishment - Bean's LL

This was another request by my long time fly fishing buddy to refurbish his newly purchased BEAN'S "LL" fly rod. Newly purchased doesn't means new alright..

This time was more straight forward. It was just the wrapping , the guides and the blank.

I used silk thread of the nearest matching color to the old wrapping that I could find for this job.

I have all the guides removed.

Remove all the wrapping and gently scuff the surface with fine steel wool to remove dirt on blank's surface.

Then I coat the blank with a thin layer of spar urethane and left it for dry for a couple of days.

The guides was wrapped with the silk thread.

I did not use any epoxy on the wrapping.  Just a few coating of spar urethane should do the job nicely. The silk thread turned darker after the spar urethane was applied on it.

Spar Urathane will set as the same time with epoxy but will take a long time to 'dry'. Therefore, I only apply very thin layer each time.

Can't really see the refurbishment in the photo but it look a hell lot better now compared to the rod when it was handed over to me. 
: )

The refurbishment and repair of Phillipson Fly Fox

This was a request from a friend to repair this Phillipson Fly Fox fly rod which was crack above the cork grip and have the cork grip replaced.

I do not know what causes the cracks but it was quite severe. I had to do a fiberglas insertion to the cracked area and another round of wrapping above it.

The cracks are found at the rod decals area.

The condition of the cork grip.

Stacking up of cork rings for new grip

New cork grip shaped and the hardware of the old handle was removed.

 

A 9" fiberglas blank to be inserted in the the FLy Fox at the cracked area.

The old cork grip was stripped and to be replaced with a new one.

New handle replace and a layer of cork seal was applied onto it.

The slidng band and bottom cap was fixed. After the cork seal dried, the cork handle looked seasoned.

Internal strenghtening done, now the external reinforcement.
The cracked area was wrapped with white silk thread.

The silk thread wrapped all around covering the rod decal.

Later, a layer of epoxy was applied onto the silk thread wrapping.. and the silk thread became transparent showing the rod decal underneath it.

There... it's all done. Replaced, repaired and the old rod decal remain...

Lamiglas UL 2-6lb

Another not so quick "quickie" done during the waiting period.

This Lamiglas blank was among the first batch of blanks I brought in.
2 piece 5'6"  2-6lb Lamiglas UL blank.

As usual, I will match whatever components I can find from my storage box.
I used the Fuji skeleton reel seat with carbon tube insert and a pre formed EVA grips

Duo color rear EVA grip and fighting butt.

Simple wrapping between the rod decal.

11+1 Fuji Alconite guides

And 2 coat of epoxy...



Done.. a simple 2pc UL baitcasting rod.