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  1. #1
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    My latest build for a buddy

    Last year my buddy asked me to build a rod for his dad for a birthday gift. Once I delivered that one to him, he decided he needed one too. So he bought a reel and dropped it off and said build me a rod that matches up with this reel. I went with an MHX 842 that I cut down for a 6'-9" Light for crappie fishing. I turned an acrylic butt grip and and KSKSS fore grip, and added that to Fuji VSS reel seat with the EVA grip. Copper metallic base wrap with 4 color gray nylon deco wrap and a slight epoxy ramp transition. Pro Wrap 831 Smoke Screen nylon thread for the guide wraps along with copper metallic trim bands. I spooled up the reel with Trilene Sensation in orange to finish off the motif and for easy visible bite detection when pitching jigs near docks for crappies.







    Everyone said don't do nylon deco wraps without color preserver, I didn't listen, and I like the look.


    This photo was shot just prior to polishing the tip of the fore grip on the G2 Power Wrapper.

  2. Member Fins's Avatar
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    #2
    Beautiful!

  3. Member apdriver's Avatar
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    #3
    Yes. He must be a veryyyy good friend!!!!!
    2013 BassCat Cougar
    Serial # 1B962763

  4. Member TerrysRanger374V's Avatar
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    #4
    Great job . He should be very happy with it

  5. Member Solitario Lupo's Avatar
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    #5
    Looks great. I would use the color preserve it does help the color pop out.

  6. Member
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    #6
    That looks extremely nice.

  7. Member wareagle24's Avatar
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    #7
    Absolutely a work of art!!!

  8. Member basscatlildave's Avatar
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    #8
    Awesome work.

    98 Bullet 20XD
    225 Pro Max

  9. Member
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    #9
    Thanks all. He told me to take it out and catch a couple crappies on it this weekend to give it some good mojo, so I did. This is one seriously nice stick for pitching light jigs to crappies.



    And as for the CP comment, I was going for the subdued colors and the transparency to see the metallic copper underneath the nylon. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to. If I want the colors to pop I would use colorfast threads, but that was not the intent on this one. I had never done nylon over metallic and I had an idea of how it would look, and my intuition was correct. I don't like to toe the line and do it like everyone else.

  10. Member
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    #10
    Very slick!

  11. Member
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    #11
    Dude that is sweet !!! If you don't mind sharing. how did you marble (I assume it's marbling) the butt grip? As far as the no color preserver over regular nylon thread. I'm with you. You don't always want the color to "pop" Personally, I'm a fan of the depth in color that finish over regular nylon thread affords.

    Anyhow ........ that is some serious sweet work you do there TDobb. Seriously sweet .....

  12. Member
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    #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Bassbme View Post
    Dude that is sweet !!! If you don't mind sharing. how did you marble (I assume it's marbling) the butt grip? As far as the no color preserver over regular nylon thread. I'm with you. You don't always want the color to "pop" Personally, I'm a fan of the depth in color that finish over regular nylon thread affords.

    Anyhow ........ that is some serious sweet work you do there TDobb. Seriously sweet .....
    Thanks for the compliment. The butt grip and fore grip are actually made out of an acrylic blank that I got from www.beartoothwoods.com - one of their call blanks. It starts off as a 1.5 x 1.5 square blank, 6" long. I chuck it up on the lathe and bore a hole in it as close to the blank diameter as I can get. The hardest part is boring the hole in the fore grip section because its about 7/8" diameter and that is a pretty large hole in a relatively fragile material. Once the holes are bored, I go at it with a negative rake round carbide to get it rounded off and close to the shape, but it is VERY EASY to chip it out deep. After I get it close to the shape I go at it with a square radius carbide tool and crank the speed up on the lathe. When you are running that process you have to be very careful to do super light scrapes. I get it shaped up nice and it looks pretty good at that point, then its time to polish. I keep it cranked up on speed for the first few grits, start about 120 wet, and work up to about 600 or 800 wet. Then I slow the speed down and go thru the whole process of wet sanding up to 12,000 grit, then some glass polish compound to give it the final touch. It turns out awesome, but it is a pretty good bit of work. This was the first one I have done in a while so it took me a little longer than if I did it more frequently, about 3 hours start to finish for the acrylics.

  13. Member
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    #13
    Another thing to note with the acrylics is you need to be very close to the inside diameters you require for your blank or foregrip pieces. Some of the acrylics are semi transparent so if you need to put tape arbors under them, you run a huge risk of being able to see anything thru them. Choosing the acrylics, I would tend to stay away from the "water" type color variations as those are the most transparent. The colors that are more rich and opaque are going to work better for most rod building applications, especially since they are very frequently going to be out in the sun where the transparency will be most apparent.

  14. Member
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    #14
    TDobb, I just checked out that web site you linked. Just looking at what's available, has me wanting to buy an actual lathe, and learn how to use the tooling you're talking about. It's above my pay grade though. lol

    I use my power wrapper and a cheap seat of wood working chisels I got from Harbor Freight (like I said, cheap lol )to make cork grips, but that's it. I really enjoy doing it though. I've made some really custom looking grips, but nothing close to what you got going on there.

    Ya know ...... when I first looked at the pictures (prior to reading what you used) I thought that rear grip was one of the new carbon tube grips that American Tackle offers.

    Anyhow ... thanks for posting the link and for the explanation of what you're doing n such. That's some serious talent you got going. That's for sure

  15. Member
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    #15
    Its a lot of fun to make stuff with the wood lathe, but it definitely takes some practice. The power wrapper I don't think is going to have enough torque to turn acrylic, definitely powerful enough to work cork or EVA but wood and acrylic is going to take a bigger lathe. I appreciate the compliments on the work. I don't know that the acrylic is the right thing for every rod, it is a bit heavier than cork or EVA, but for a rod to fish bobbers or moving baits its a fun addition. Anything I want the utmost sensitivity on though, is gonna be a different grip material.

  16. Member avidbasser's Avatar
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    #16
    Damn...that's one serious crappie rig. Good job!
    Been fishin' since I was 5 years old...Thanks Grandpa!


  17. Member
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    #17
    Very nice. I like the work done at the transition from blank to grips. Looks very comfortable.

  18. Member
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    #18
    Nice Work!!