Seemed like we agreed there for a second.

Actually I still agree that looks aren't more important than performance but can't I have both (for the most part)? I figure that if I'm gonna build it, why not make it look good too? For me, it's a nice piece of wood for the seat if possible.

Just stripped a painted 8 weight blank, not surprisingly the raw appearance leaves a bit to be desired, so I'm going to spray it a different color. I'm looking for both a neon orange, and a turquoise/aqua color. Any recommendations? Fusion's choices are limited.

Test wrap on the proof blank tonight.



Apparently I should only buy black and white thread as I gravitate towards it.

Hello
Nice Post War Bamboo BBQ you should post that for your friends over on Clark's !

Looks nice but where are the guides ? I realize you have problems arranging the 3 sections together for a complete rod picture.

However it looks from your picture like a 8'6" rod with 4 guides where we should be seeing 9 at least ? Out of curiosity how many guides does the rod have now ?

You mentioned how much you liked the new cork, from the picture it looks like a really big grip for a wrestlers hand,do you plan to give it some sort of shape after you get a feel for the rod or do you really have hands the size of Andre The Giant ?

The end grain of that first ring is a tell of the quality of the cork.it looks like Swiss Cheese with all the pits and holes,that grip must have 1/2 a can of filler in it if all the rest of its rings are of the same quality.
Do you plan to ever remove the plastic or is that going to be permanent ?

Nice job on the ferrule clean up ! do they pop when you separate them ?

Okay it cast a 7 weight does it cast a 5 or 6 ?

As usual your thread work and finish look very nice,the blank finish looks a little thin from the pictures what did you use and how many coats ?

Sorry for all the questions the rod really looks much better that it did when it left here that's for dang sure.

Tight Lines And All Spiffed Up And Ready For Action Loops
Andy M

That is an honorable end for the souvenir cane: cremation.

I like your re-build of the HI rod, you have given yourself a great deal of experience that will help with future rod building gigs. HI rods are not revered as classics, but many are good fishing rods. The guides do look a little sparse, is that the factory spacing? You can add a few guides in between them so that you come out with one guide for every foot + one.

HI really insulted their own work by using those ferrules - and the way they mounted them is enough to make one cry, you did a good job salvaging them just to get by. One question: I thought I saw a ghost of the inscription giving the rod's model name, in one of the pictures, can you read it?

I bet you will enjoy fishing that rod which you have brought back to fishability. I have a 9 feet HI Governor that I refinished, picked it up at the proverbial estate sale for $5 thing, it is a nice fishing rod, and I fish it at least once every year. It has caught some nice fish.

Now, back to glass!

That is a great look. I'm guessing it is white NCP, but is the black also NCP?
It really is a great look. It sets the blank color off.

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.



I stuck with the original guide spacing and size, so it's got 6 guides.



I like big grips and I cannot lie… those other brothers can’t deny… That when a rod comes in with an itty bitty grip… I change it!
Matt @ proof does a much better job at grips than I can with my current setup. For the price I don’t mind some filler, and I like that the grip is plastic wrapped when it arrives. Plastic is off now, it’s usually the last thing I do.



They do pop, but I think I want to try to tighten up the lower ferrule a bit.


Tried a 6 wf, I felt like I was starting to push the line a bit instead of letting the rod do the work. Might be different with a double taper and bit of line out of the tip tough.



One coat of spar on the finished blank, one coat thinned spar two coats straight spar on the wraps, then one coat spar on the blank and wraps to blend everything together.



Shakespeare. Nice reliable reel for a good price.


Thanks. I learned a lot wrapping the silk, and now nylon seems like rope. I tried using a fly tying thread bobbin to hold the silk as I didn’t want to run it though a friction tensioner and end up with fuzzies, and found that I really like the control it gives me. It’s becoming my go-to technique now, I just need to find some bobbins to hold some of the larger sized thread spools.
I stuck with the factory spacing, I figured it should work. If I want a high-performance bamboo I’ll buy a blank with a better taper and work out ‘proper’ guide spacing. Same with the ferrules. They might get upgraded in the future, we’ll see how I like the rod after a day on the water.
The rod is an HI Beaverkill. I was able to save the label, but unfortunately lost the inscription in the process.



Thanks Matt. Appreciate your help with the components and the hex winding check. Love the feel of these grips.

All wrapped up and ready for finishing.

That looks great, Tom!

An Appalachian 632 on the bench, getting wrapped. More pics if I get a chance, workshop is getting messy.

That's a lot of bamboo on that grip.

What finish did you use to make the colors on the grip POP out so well?

Looks really good Peter. I love the way that the bamboo grain pops with some coats of varnish.

Managed to get my project all finished up.





I'm giving it to my brother-in-law tonight. His wife was recently diagnosed with cancer, and I'm hoping it can give him some stress relief. He's expressed an interest in fly fishing and has another brother-in-law who fly fishes as well. I just need to find him a reel yet, the one in the pictures is my own Pridex. Keeping my eyes open for another one, or a Medalist - either a 1492 or a 1494.