Thanks to David Norwich, Guides and Blanks and Meadows I now have all my kit ready for assembly. I must give a big thanks to these guys for help and advice and brilliant customer service.

Rod wrapper, lathe to turn handle, and dryer now built so will start the build this weekend.

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Jeff

I just got my orders for my 1st build delivered today from guides and blanks as well as meadows. Meadows were really helpfull and I can recommend them, I think the weekend is going to be a busy one.

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@flyauction on twitter

Good luck with the build Pete

Neil

Good luck with the build, mine is underway now

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Jeff

Jeff the picture link does not appear to be working.

I've had to order a new rod turner/dryer as the cheapo one I had burnt out after just one evening of use, left it running over night as I was told it would be fine and happy with that only to find it very dead in the morning. Thankfully the bit I'd applied the wrap coating to had dried enough before it failed to not have created a "bump". Once the new rod dryer arrives I'll be doing the rest of the epoxy on the wraps.

The one thing I noticed is that the wrapping thread did go very transparent once the epoxy was applied, so it's going to be a case of stripping them off and doing it again using a lite PVA and water mix as a colour preserver, again I'm keen to see how that works out.

I also found using masking tape to try and keep the eyes in place was a real pain so a quick trip down to the craft shop and I picked up a pack of low heat glue sticks (they only do them in packs of 20) for less than I could find them anywhere online. Seems when you put "Rod Building" infront of the product name the price jumps up. I now have enough of these glue sticks to last me a life time.

Pete

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@flyauction on twitter

Hi Pete, hope its there now. I must admit to using a small dab of super glue to hold the smaller guides in place prior to the wraps.




---------- Post added at 04:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------

I dont know how to get more than one photo on a page but here is a pic of the one I built using a microwave motor of ebay. I made it so it plugs in to the rod wrapper.



---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------

Oh I see if you do another post it adds the pic LOL

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Jeff

Looking very good! did you use any colour preserver on the wrappings? I must say the wrapping looks very well done from what I can see in the photos.

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@flyauction on twitter

No epoxy on them yet Pete, I am not going to use CP and on the test bits I did the green goes very dark.
These are the first wraps I have done in 35 years and to be honest I am finding it much harder than it used to be, the eyes have gone LOL and my fingers are no where near as supple as they used to be.

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Jeff

I know what you mean about the eyes and fingers. I must say that the fly tying has definately helped with regards to doing the wrappings, that and the magnifier lamp. I'm trying to work on an insentive to get the youngest daughter to have a go at them as she already ties flies so this could be the natural progression.

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@flyauction on twitter

I built a handle for my rod using some cheaper corks but I was not very happy with the quality so ordered some from this guy in Portugal, delivery took a couple of weeks but I am really impressed with the quality. So if looking for corks he is worth a try and the price is pretty good

30 CORK RINGS 11/4"X1/2" GRADE FLOR BORE 1/4" | eBay

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Jeff