Continuation of the 2pc 6'6" BROWN unsanded fiberglass 3wt Fly Rod

I was out of fly top for this rod and had to put on hold till it arrived. And finally, it's completed.

** Please visit my classified section if you are interested to get one of this affordable fiberglass fly rod and other fly fishing gears**

Replacing EVA grip and reel seat for spinning rod

Simple and straight forward task.

Remove old grip and reel seat. Clean up the blank to receive new EVA grip and reel seat. Originally it was a normal reel seat setup but change to split grip setup with carbon effect vinyl inlay.

Original condition

Hypalon fore grip , rear grip and reel seat removed. Epoxy residue removed.

Install new EVA split grip and reel seat

Carbon effect vinyl inlay

Completed face lift of spinning reel seat and split grip.

2 piece 6'6" 3wt BROWN fiberglass fly rod

I picked up something new on the rodbuilding forum recently, actually 2. The Olive branch wrap and also the dragon scale wrap invented by Jim Trelikes.

Since the dragon scale wrap is for bigger rod, I will start off with the Olive branch wrap to my fly rods. Without looking on the "how to's", I have no idea how they are able to make that design by just wrapping the threads.
After going through some step-by-step lessons online, I just have to wrap that on my rod.

I did the  Olive branch wrap to the hook keeps and the ferrules area.

There is a few more wrappings to do before the epoxy process.

** Please visit my classified section if you are interested to get one of this affordable fiberglass fly rod and other fly fishing gears**

Completion of the BROWN unsanded fiberglass fly rod blank

This is a 4pc 8' rated at 4/5wt fiberglass fly rod.
The action of this fly rod is slightly stiffer because of it thicker fiberglass construction. To finish it off, I have applied a coat of spar urethane for the finish coat.

** Please visit my classified section if you are interested to get one of this affordable fiberglass fly rod and other fly fishing gears**

Decals, fiberglass and bamboo

Quite alot of activities was "packed" for the weekends..

I tried to place a water transfer decal on the brown rod but it did not when as planned. I supposed to print out the decal, coat it a clear aerosol spray and then just transfer it on the rod. To make it unique, I wrapped a layer of metallic chrome thread under neath the decal. Sound pretty simple but didn't know it was the difficult.

From the top, it is the ok, but at the bottom, it look quite messy.

The next day, I still got time for another fiberglass.

The  wrapping was completed a day earlier and today it was epoxied.

Finally the rod is completed...

While the fiberglass rod was turning on the drying jig, I have got time to assemble the reel seat and cork grip on my bamboo fly rod blank.

Color Preservation for Twisted Threads

I took the hard way to learn that certain wrapping threads need to be coated with color preserver to maintain its' original colors, especially twisted threads like Bullard's Craftman Twist, Gudebrod's Classic Twist and Pearall's Gossamer Jasper.

If epoxy are applied directly onto these threads, the twisted affect will not be clearly seen and will turned dark. All your effort wrapping will goes down the drain.

After completed the wrappings on the brown blank, a coat of CP were applied onto it.

Almost done there... but I think it still missing...  black trimming!!

Back to BROWN

After installing the cork grip and the reel seat, it was time to do some match making.

Tried many colors and I thought of using Bullard's Black/Brown Craftman Twist on this brown blank but the color just would not stand out. At last, I have decided to go with the next best choice, Black/Gold Craftman Twist.

I was right, the Black/Gold Craftman Twist looked great on the brown blank.

Now, I'll have to complete the wrapping to the guides.