my first ever rod built from the blank, Superman themed rod by Steelfish

Started by steelfish, December 17, 2018, 08:56:22 PM

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Captain64-200

That's about 1 mile of thread around this blank ! ;D

Beautiful work ! 
Fred from Biarritz ,

Newell Nut

Really nice job Alex. I like the finish at the end of the fore grip. Too many people do nothing there. Looks great.

Dwight

Jim Fujitani

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.

steelfish

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.



The Baja Guy

Fishy247

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

steelfish

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.


The Baja Guy

Fishy247

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!

droppedit

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
Some days the supply of available curse words is insufficient to meet my demands.

http://www.turnerscustomrods.com

xjchad

Husband, Father, Fisherman

Jigtosser

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

steelfish

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.


The Baja Guy

happyhooker

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

Bill B

It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

sdlehr

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.
Sid Lehr
Veterinarian, fishing enthusiast, custom rod builder, reel collector

steelfish

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.




The Baja Guy