What I’ve been into

[skeetbum]

I’ve kinda discovered as I’ve begun down this path of rod building that it doesn’t have to be about new high dollar blanks and high end guides and such. One that I threw together, literally, was a $14 house brand blank from Mudhole. While it turned out good enough for most folks, I know it’s weak spots that I didn’t pay enough attention to.

I also was given a 7’ mh spinning rod that had been abused and guides broken and left in the sun enough that the coating had crazed and peeled around the edges of the crazing. Cork was bug eaten. I looked it over through the mess it had become and didn’t see anything had happened to the blank. Stripped it down and sanded and made a final assessment to find that it was ready for new parts. I had most of a set of guides suitable for the rod, and I needed some heavier thread and some other supplies, so I made a trip to mudhole and got what I needed. Some good folks there if you’ve never been. Got my spacing for the guides and had to make a reamer from another rod to get the cork handle to fit this blank. Other than that, it went together without incident. I got to the coating and decided to try a 2 coat application this time. I don’t like the thinner coats as much as the 1 heavy coat I’ve done before. It came out uneven with some spots thinner than others. I’m not concerned about it as it’s a work rod and the windings came out good. I did my first fade wrap on the bottom, above the lure loop. A little bland but now I know how to improve on that. If I can find the pic I’ll post it. Also fixed four Penn for the guy that gave me the rod/blank. Broken guides and peeling coating that I was able to make look very good. How many of our friends have broken rods in the corner that we might be able to put back into shape again. I had fun doing it too and learned something along the way. Hope this finds y’all happy and healthy. Enjoy your upcoming holidays, ..........Skeet