Recent rod projects

noles · Post by **noles** » Tue May 16, 2006 7:56 am

Here's my rod building station. Dryers are on the top and Clemens/Renzetti power wrapper on the bench. I've used a manual wrapping jig (2x4) for a couple of years
until I acquired a power wrapper. What a diffence! Learning to manually wrap was great but the power wrapper is the way to go if you're planning to build
more than a couple of rods per year.

After using an 8' St. Croix that I built for the past couple of season for Tarpon out of the yak, I was on a mission to build the perfect tarpon rod for fishing out of the yak.
I think I have a good candidate with this one. It's a broom stick! The lightest broom stick you'll find. Its much lighter than my 8' St. Croix so I should not have any problem throwing
a Baitbuster all morning. It has a stiff butt section and a fast tip. Components used were: Rainshadow blank, Fuji Alconite guides, Fuji reel seat, high grade cork / burnt cork, and gold/blank wrap.
Here's a couple of pictures:

Burnt Cork with high grade cork.

Grip and handle assembly

Fuji Alconite Single foot guide

Fuji Alconite Double foot guide for top half of rod

Here's my first official custom rod for a client. It's an inshore rod built using a St. Croix SCII blank, Fuji reel seat, American Tackle Titan guides (solid titanium frame)
and wrapped in USF Bulls colors (Gold/Green) with silver trim.
St. Croix

Handle/Reel seat

Titan guides

islander · Post by **islander** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:24 am

Drool.

Diggin the cork!

Monkey · Post by **Monkey** » Tue May 16, 2006 12:31 pm

yohan is going to flip when he sees your set-up...very nice!!!

LivelyBaits · Post by **LivelyBaits** » Tue May 16, 2006 12:55 pm

Phinla,
Great work. I got three more epoxied and will be measuring them out later in the week. The first one I'm doing is a little 5 foot rod that I'm putting an ultralight reel on for a future flounder rod.

Rik · Post by **Rik** » Tue May 16, 2006 1:14 pm

Noles Rod Shop

Nice work Phinla!

LivelyBaits · Post by **LivelyBaits** » Tue May 16, 2006 1:57 pm

Noles,
I'll see if my buddy can photograph some of the wraps he's been doing just above the cork. Beautiful work he does too.

Have you tried any of the bendable guides yet? I want to make a couple of rods with those.

yohan1973 · Post by **yohan1973** » Tue May 16, 2006 3:40 pm

Oh my freaking gawd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is awesome!
Mind you, the word "awesome" is not even in my vocabulary!
This is one of those moments such as in the movie "revenge of the nerds" when bugger meets that old asian dude!
I am truely humbled!

noles · Post by **noles** » Tue May 16, 2006 3:56 pm

Rik,
Actually the business is Phinla's Custom Fishing Rods

Next time I see you out; would like you to try the tarpon stick for some feed back. I'll be out "there" this weekend if the weather is nice.

Neil,
You have to remember I'm an engineer by trade and not an architect. I can do the pretty wraps but I much prefer to spend my time and money on better components. I like to keep things simple.

Yohan,
I'm not an old asian dude, yet! You'll drool over my handle turning station (lathe) Grasshopper!

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Tue May 16, 2006 4:09 pm

I held it. It's verrrry light. Epoxy work is flawless. Cork is beautiful. I know nothing about rod building components but the single foot guides give me slight cause for concern. I've seen them give way on big fish but Noles knows what he's doing. If he says they will work, they will work. Just don't let Tommy give it a whirl!

Great Job!

shamus · Post by **shamus** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:11 pm

Noles had made a really sweet setup here folks. It's super light. Got the chance to get my hands on it today. Of course the real test will come when he lends it to me for my Keys trip

But a word of caution everyone. I had Noles change out the guides on my old St. Croix to these new Titanium ones he said where worth trying. I got home and tied on a 1/16 jighead( hook was cut off for safety. ) I went out to the street to give it a little toss. I think it went a block and a half before it hit the ground !!!!!! The line also makes a really cool sound going thru those guides. Mr Noles is on to something here folks.

Rev. Tom · Post by **Rev. Tom** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:31 pm

Noles,

I pretty much get the gist of your setup, but is it possible to get a guided tour and see the workings in action? No joke, I'd love to see it all doing what it is it does. I've never seen a rod built before and I would love to.

--tom
(anyone else who builds rods & lives near 54th Ave. N. & 275 in St. Pete who might like to show me what's what with rod building, please drop me a p.m.)

LivelyBaits · Post by **LivelyBaits** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:20 pm

This is one of those moments such as in the movie "revenge of the nerds" when bugger meets that old asian dude!

Dudley Dawson (that's booger) said to him: "Master!!!"

Phinla,
Some of that decorate wrap comes in coils now and is easy to wrap on there and makes an immediate pattern. My pal Brian does it that way now and they look great.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

NEIL

noles · Post by **noles** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:57 pm

Tom,
No problem. Sent you a PM.

Neil,
I know about the wraps. Haven't used it on any of my rods yet. Oh, about the recoil guides; they look pretty cool and there not cheap. I a big fan of ceramic guides since I strictly use braided lines. Heard that the recoils are noisy when casting.

LivelyBaits · Post by **LivelyBaits** » Wed May 17, 2006 2:01 pm

Heard that the recoils are noisy when casting.

Hmmm. I'll ask Brian if he's tried his yet. That would be interesting to know if that's true. It is pretty cool how they bend all the way to the blank and then pop right back to normal.

shamus · Post by **shamus** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:05 pm

Perhaps a wee bit too light

noles · Post by **noles** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:15 pm

we'll call that one operator error!