I finally finally decided to make the jump and go for a complete build of a fishing rod from the blank, as many of you already know I've been restored and rewrapped many rods so, far so, basic wraping & epoxy job is under control, but restoring rods for my friends and co-woerkers didnt gave me time to go for a complete build until now, since its the 1st one I made from a blank and I had to make many questions related to reel seat glue, how to attach/glue grips, etc I wanted to experiment with a rod for my personal use, I could live with any mistakes on the build but Im really anal when doing a job for someone else.
good thing is that I think I have nothing to worry on this build, I really liked how to rod turned out on any detail, I used only Batson components as slickbutt, XHN guides, centra lock reel seat with window, aluminium gimbal, EPDM foregrip.
the blank is a Seeker CTSF-60XXH 6ft 60-130 tuna rod
this will become my go-to rod for use it mostly on Gonzaga Bay Area on Baja north fishing for groupers and YT, it might be overkill for this zone but you never know when I big gulf grouper or shark might bite your offering and its perfect size for Panga use and it has a nice flex on the tip, no need to monster fish to put a nice bend on this rod, I will take it to BOLA and Loreto next year (I hope), anyway, you need to excuse the tons of pics but I feel proud on how the fishing rod ended up and want to show you most of the details, now I want to sell all my factory build rods and make me an arsenal of custom rods from spotty bay bass to sharks.
this one has a experimental "kind-of" dragon scale spiral in the 1st and 2d guide cosmetic wrap and normal dragon scales on the rest of the guides.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_55_49_26679236.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_56_17_26682114.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_56_18_266831777.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_56_37_266841588.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_56_48_26685751.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_57_12_26686868.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_57_43_266872107.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_58_37_266882470.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_58_45_266891791.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_59_14_2669092.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_12_59_41_266912192.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_00_08_26692685.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_00_56_26696944.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_01_09_266971226.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_01_12_266982461.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_00_10_26693500.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_00_31_266942095.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/26/3592_17_12_18_1_00_38_266951253.jpeg)
many thanks to the guys that had helped me so far like Sheridan, Dwight, Joe and others with your generosity, tips and help on the rod building world.
Alex, I'm not sure that that rod will work. I will PM you my address and you can send it to me for testing. :D Great looking rod. You are getting to be a master at the craft. Dominick
Beautiful, Alex!
Wow! Great work Alex...it looks fantastic. 8)
Dom is correct. That will never work, the guides are all in a row, not spiral wrap. You have my address and can send it on up for me a Christmas tomato stake as you will never be able to catch fish with that ;D ;D ;D ;D
Beautiful work compadre!
The fish might just pass out when they see that rod, cuz that rod is the shizzle ;D
Great job on the rod, she's a beauty!
Shizzle Indeed! ;D
Amazing Work Alex! :o
Nice choice of components. I love the dragon scales!
The Man
Quote from: Gobi King on December 17, 2018, 10:06:42 PM
The fish might just pass out when they see that rod, cuz that rod is the shizzle ;D
that is the best descriptive of this colorful beauty. nicely done Alex.
Came out great Alex,Time to out a bend in it. The superman logo is nice with that color combo.
Outstanding work Alex! Better watch out, soon you will be building so many Steelfish rods you won't have time for fishing.
Dave
Very well done , I like the Super man theme ..
Looks like you've got decals on thread wraps - I don't think they're weaves - how did you do that? Or are those decals on the blank and I'm just thinking I'm seeing thread wraps there? (Edit: the blank is black, I'm confused)
Great looking rod!
Looks great, lovely work.
Quote from: Swami805 on December 17, 2018, 10:52:58 PM
Came out great Alex,Time to out a bend in it. The superman logo is nice with that color combo.
thanks compadre Sheridan, next set of pictured of this rod will be with a nice fish on it
Quote from: droppedit on December 17, 2018, 10:56:07 PM
Outstanding work Alex! Better watch out, soon you will be building so many Steelfish rods you won't have time for fishing., Dave
kind of already there, I have the blanks and components since may ready to build, but other fishing rod jobs kept me away from my own projects, but a good friend gave me a good advise, to put my own rod on the "customers list of pending jobs" and work on it as a customer rod, if I havent done it that way, the components might still be on the cabinet drawer.
Quote from: sdlehr on December 17, 2018, 11:10:46 PM
Looks like you've got decals on thread wraps - I don't think they're weaves - how did you do that? Or are those decals on the blank and I'm just thinking I'm seeing thread wraps there? (Edit: the blank is black, I'm confused)
Sid, Im confused too, I dont know what are your referring, I do have decals on the thread wraps, I dont have any decal on the bare blank (which part gave you that ilusion/idea?)
Im attaching some pics that you can zoom and check.
Beautiful job Alex! you can be proud of putting your name down on anything you build.
Sal
Great work Alex, its not until you get to do some rod rapping yourself, that we really apriceate how talented people like you are, thanks for showing us, cheers Don.
Alex, good job. Your finish looks good. I like the dragon scale... Jeff
Alex: Your what they call "A sleeper" in the profession ;) :D :D. Grate work amego.....................................Joe
Very nice Alex. How did you do the Superman logos?
-steve
That is beautiful! No need to apologize in the beginning about posting too many photos; I would be happy to see more! Love the colors and detail! Looking forward to seeing some fish photos with this rod in the frame!!!!
Great looking rod. Love the Superman decal on the tip.
Splendid that's really nice!!!!
Certainly bright, you'll need stronger sun glasses when fishing ................ ;D
Great work.
Very nice! The rod looks amazing.
Nice job amigo. When your first is that good, it makes it harder to set the bar higher.
Scott
Very neat work Alex, it looks great!
Mike
That's about 1 mile of thread around this blank ! ;D
Beautiful work !
Really nice job Alex. I like the finish at the end of the fore grip. Too many people do nothing there. Looks great.
Dwight
Really nice job!! And for your first "build from scratch"!
About the only thing I might have done differently is to wrap the rod guides 'spirally', especially since you're talking about fighting big grouper and sharks as by-catch.
Quote from: Reel 224 on December 18, 2018, 03:38:36 AM
Alex: Your what they call "A sleeper" in the profession ;) :D :D. Grate work amego.....................................Joe
you might be right Joe, according to my wife I sleep to much !!! j/k ;D
thanks buddy.
Quote from: Jeri on December 18, 2018, 08:09:25 AM
Certainly bright, you'll need stronger sun glasses when fishing ................ ;D
Great work.
believe it or not, I made another one which it was reaaally more bright, wrapped with orange neon/fluorecent thread, but it wasnt allowed to be posted
by 12 y.o. rule :P ::), my friend asked me to put some unique decals on it.
Quote from: conchydong on December 18, 2018, 10:46:49 AM
Nice job amigo. When your first is that good, it makes it harder to set the bar higher.
Scott
well, my wife is my Q.C. manager on my work and according to her, she liked more some rods I have wrapped before
this is my first "from the scratch" or from the blank, but I think I have rewrapped and restore an average of 30 rods so far, 70% of the work done on the rod was not new to me.
Quote from: Captain64-200 on December 18, 2018, 11:41:20 AM
That's about 1 mile of thread around this blank ! ;D
Beautiful work !
maybe more but, who's counting !! :D
Quote from: Newell Nut on December 18, 2018, 04:11:42 PM
Really nice job Alex. I like the finish at the end of the fore grip. Too many people do nothing there. Looks great.
Dwight
thanks compadre Dwight, I have always admire your encapsulated shark tooth on some of your rods, I was about to do something similar with a sterling silver pin I have but changed the theme of the rod at the last moment.
Quote from: Jim Fujitani on December 18, 2018, 04:59:58 PM
Really nice job!! And for your first "build from scratch"!
About the only thing I might have done differently is to wrap the rod guides 'spirally', especially since you're talking about fighting big grouper and sharks as by-catch.
Yay !! you just rub salt into the wound amigo, I didnt sleept one night thinking if going or not with a spiral wrap on this one, I already made one musky rod acid-wrapped and liked it a lot, so I was all set in going spiral wrapped on this one too, it was last minute desition that I went with a regular straight wrap for the guides not a single reason for that, but the condition (that I put myself) is the next one will be spiral wrapped, you might not believe it but I already have the blank ;D ::), just need to $$ave a bit more for the components.
I really appreciate your nice comments and input amigos, I dont think I would've even started to wrap rods without the help of many of you guys, building one from the blank it wasnt even considered at the beginning, so, thanks again.
Fantastic job Alex! I really like the clean lines and consistency you bring to all of your projects. So what was the experimental dragon scale? I tried to pick it up, but I'm not sure what you did. The whole thing looks great though! I like the addition of the Superman logos on the tip. Don't think I've seen that before. Keep going with this and don't stop experimenting!
Mike
Quote from: Fishy247 on December 18, 2018, 07:33:00 PM
Fantastic job Alex! I really like the clean lines and consistency you bring to all of your projects. So what was the experimental dragon scale?
well, I called experimental for me, but maybe it was used before by lots of rodbuilders out there, its hard to explain but I used the same techique to make dragon scales but only on a spiral way around the cosmetic wrap, my plan was to dont go for the whole dragon scale effect, imaging a DNA chain and then wrapped around the blank (LOL told you, hard to explain) its also hard to see on the pics but in person is more noticiable depending on the sunlight, I dont think I will do it again waaay to much time consuming.
maybe you can see what I tried to explain on the next pics, dont look for the dragon scale effect on the long costmetic wrap, but for some spiral thread effect with 3 thead lines and also a connecting thread between the lines formed by the thread used for the spiral effect.
Ok, I see what you did. Dragon scale is going up and down the blank, spiral is just going up(or down). I've done a few spirals and they are definitely more difficult than dragon scales. Probably because you can't just make squares...Looks pretty sweet though!
Alex, you are doing an incredible job on your epoxy finish. What type are you using it seems to flow pretty thin. Nice job.
Dave
Wow, just wow!! :o :o
Muy Bueno Compadre :D
Very nice look to it, I think you might have some Talent... ;)
Now as Sheridan says, time to put a good bend in it, down Gonzaga way...
Fish that rod hard Amigo!
Dan
Quote from: droppedit on December 18, 2018, 11:04:04 PM
Alex, you are doing an incredible job on your epoxy finish. What type are you using it seems to flow pretty thin. Nice job.
Dave
thanks Dave, Im just follow directions of what I have read here on how to put epoxy, mix it slowly, wash your hands so you dont contaminate the components and tools, clean the area of the rod with DNA before put the epoxy, etc, etc, Jon Vadley did a write up and it works http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=12361.0
the epoxy is Diamond II from voodoo, its not that thin but is really clear.
most consider this epoxy as medium formula, flex-coat is thicker and they also carry thinner formula flexcoat lite, LS Supreme is thin like water you need at least 3 or 4 coats for a nice encapsulated efect.
the pictures are you seeing are after 3 coats of Diamond II, one for the underwrap and 2 for the over wrap, I've never feel the need to put more coats than that on my wraps, after two coats on the over wrap the thread is 100% covered and the wrap has a nice epoxy build-up with a smooth encapsulated effect on the thread wrap.
Way to go, Baja Guy. When you build for yourself, you can do some things that you might not try if working on someone else's gear, and that's how unique pieces come to be.
Frank
Damn Alex....just go ahead and take my money! Bill
Wow Alex, I don't think I've ever seen decals on thread wraps before, never thought of doing that. Do you put them on between layers of finish? I could see that working. I wouldn't think one could get the air out from under a decal placed directly on the thread - if you could get it to stick at all.
Quote from: sdlehr on December 20, 2018, 06:02:53 PM
Wow Alex, I don't think I've ever seen decals on thread wraps before, never thought of doing that.
Sid, I put them the same way you can put any lettering or labels on the rod, mostly depends on the glue on the back of the sticker, some can be put directly on the wraps or on the blank but some need a smooth surface for the sticker to adhiere.
Alex: You have truly progressed since you first came here. Good for you! You prove to people that hard work and being a good study Pays off.
Joe
thanks amigo Joe, much appreciated
Quote from: steelfish on December 18, 2018, 08:10:59 PM
Quote from: Fishy247 on December 18, 2018, 07:33:00 PM
Fantastic job Alex! I really like the clean lines and consistency you bring to all of your projects. So what was the experimental dragon scale?
well, I called experimental for me, but maybe it was used before by lots of rodbuilders out there, its hard to explain but I used the same techique to make dragon scales but only on a spiral way around the cosmetic wrap, my plan was to dont go for the whole dragon scale effect, imaging a DNA chain and then wrapped around the blank (LOL told you, hard to explain) its also hard to see on the pics but in person is more noticiable depending on the sunlight, I dont think I will do it again waaay to much time consuming.
maybe you can see what I tried to explain on the next pics, dont look for the dragon scale effect on the long costmetic wrap, but for some spiral thread effect with 3 thead lines and also a connecting thread between the lines formed by the thread used for the spiral effect.
es
You have me thinking about the DNA chain .. How about using drywall mesh tape cut in a strip , random cut out a few 'boxes' ,a few twists and turns for the foundation . :-\
That's a beautiful rod you've made. It's probably one of the nicest I've ever seen.