New Rod 8' 3/4 Weight

This is a new rod that I am about to finish up. I normally don't label rods two different weights because I try to focus on a specific line weight. However, with this rod I tried to change that. When I designed it I made the changes for myself in mind. I have been traveling more the last past couple of years and have found that 3 piece rods work better for that. When traveling long distances its harder to travel with a lot of 2 piece rods. So I thought it would be easier to travel with just a couple of rods.

This rod is a combination of two rods. Its basically a 3 weight body with a 4 weight tip. Normally, I would use a .060 to .064 size tip on my 3 weights. This rod has a tip size of .066. Its a very smooth casting rod with a 3 Long Belly line. When I put on the 4 DT line the rod loads all the way to the grip and becomes very powerful. This synopsis is oversimplified, but with the addition of an extra ferrule more goes into the rod than just mixing and matching bodies with tips. I have also added an extra guide to the tip to add more line control.

Along the lines of this rod I am also making myself a rod that will handle 4 weight lines and 5 weight lines with the same parameters in mind. I will post pics of that rod soon.

Here also is a follow up pic to the post on what reels I use. They made them in three different sizes and I like all three sizes.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Cris

Rod Repair

Sometime ago I began receiving requests to do rod repair. It started with fixing Curt Elder rods. When Curt started building rods the epoxy he used on his ferrules didn't hold up in the long run. That was probably 20 years ago. Now days the technology is quite superior for epoxies.

I have now fixed a range of makers rods. I wouldn't say I do major fixes, but I do ferrules, rewrapping and revarnishing.

Since I use Tung Oil and Linseed Oil on my rods there are longer waiting periods between applications of the varnish. So I like to fill the time with these repairs. In the below photos is a rod I just repaired and sent back to its owner. It was a Charlie Rife rod. I don't know much about this maker, but it was a nice rod and well built. The owner had put it up wet and the moisture had made it under the varnish. Also, the reel seat had swollen up. All issues were fixed and the rod is ready to go!

So far I have been pretty good about posting on a weekly basis. Please keep checking back because I have other posts ready to go and will post them each week. I have some new rods just about done so I will be posting those soon. In my last post I talked about quads. I will also be posting about how the Quinchat beveller does and the process of making quads.

Quads Soon

Last spring I purchased some new items to start making quads again. In the past I made some with Chris Moore. Now I will be doing everything myself. I have a couple of great tapers I am going to start with. My first will be a 4 wt spliced joint rod. I will probably make these in small batches. They will be hollowed into the tips like all of my rods.

I purchased forms and a beveller to do most of the basic work. I went with a Quinchat Beveller. I finally got it setup today and hopefully start running strips in the next couple of weeks.

I chose to go this route versus buying a Morgan Handmill. We will see how it goes and in the future if you see me making a post about my new Morgan Handmill you will know it didn't go so great.