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Post 04 May 2020, 13:03 • #1 
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Joined: 10/07/14
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Location: Rushford, MN
Anyone tried NFC's iconoglass line of blanks?


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Post 04 May 2020, 13:58 • #2 
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Joined: 06/27/11
Posts: 387
Location: US-OH
I wasn't even away they made glass blanks. Price seems good.


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Post 04 May 2020, 14:47 • #3 
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Joined: 11/11/13
Posts: 774
Location: US-CA
I called and spoke to someone at NFC about the glass blanks. He said they sold out the initial run within a few days of them being released. They are made out S2/ Zetron glass with Gary Loomis tapers. The person I spoke to said if you order a blank it might take a while get to it. The blanks range is price from $125.00 to $150.00 and are 4 piece


Last edited by Little kern golden on 04 May 2020, 15:41, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 04 May 2020, 15:08 • #4 
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Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
These blanks are news to me. If not for the 'Iconoglass' name, the fact these are glass blanks does not jump out on their website. At all.

Briefly, 7'6" four weight, 8'0" five weight, 8'6" eight, ten, and twelve! weights. All in 4 piece, tip over butt ferrules. Available in cyan, green, and 'natural' S2/Zentron glass.

More info if I can get it...


Tom


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Post 04 May 2020, 15:47 • #5 
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Joined: 09/18/09
Posts: 5561
Location: Relocated to the Drought Stricken West.
I have one coming. Stay tuned.


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Post 04 May 2020, 16:19 • #6 
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Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
carlz wrote:
I have one coming. Stay tuned.

Faster than normal humans, aren't you? ;)


Tom


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Post 04 May 2020, 17:20 • #7 
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Joined: 01/21/12
Posts: 462
Location: US-NY
I've seen NFC graphite blanks and they are very nice. I've heard the customer service isn't the best. For the price I'd be willing to bet they are decent blanks. I wish they were spigot ferrule, I'd build one. I like spigots better than tip over.


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Post 04 May 2020, 18:10 • #8 
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Joined: 11/27/14
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Location: US-NC
Judging their specs vs Swift’s Epics my guess is they will be fast action on the strong side of the given line weight. Looking forward to your thoughts carlz. All I know for sure that’s a great price for a 4 piece modern fiberglass fly rod blank made in the USA. As to their costumer service it looks like they have improved quite a bit the past year.


Last edited by dmiller328 on 05 May 2020, 03:02, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 04 May 2020, 18:36 • #9 
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Joined: 09/18/09
Posts: 5561
Location: Relocated to the Drought Stricken West.
jgestar wrote:
carlz wrote:
I have one coming. Stay tuned.

Faster than normal humans, aren't you? ;)

I'm on their email list and I was drinking that evening 8)

Even so, I couldn't get a green blank (they were sold out in the lower weights.

The blank arrived. (grey) and it looks good. The preliminary wiggle is not as fast or light as I was expecting.
The NFC 904 graphite I have is stiff and fast. This one seems progressive with a little swing weight (and not too flexy).

I have to figure out how to kit this one out.


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Post 04 May 2020, 19:01 • #10 
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Joined: 12/27/14
Posts: 1501
Location: ON, Canada
carlz wrote:
I'm on their email list and I was drinking that evening 8)


I'm on their list too, but I think I'd had one less scotch than you. If they'd sent the email an hour later...

Which one did you get?


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Post 04 May 2020, 21:01 • #11 
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Joined: 09/18/09
Posts: 5561
Location: Relocated to the Drought Stricken West.
Brocton, I picked up the 8054 in grey.
I hadn't bought much recently but I was really curious about this blank. I've been following NFC since they started and their first generation graphite (first for them) is a soulless cannon. Accurate, sensitive, a good all around tactical rod, but it doesn't bend and you have to rely on your reel a lot when playing fish. I was expecting a very fast/light rod. It doesn't have the lightness I was expecting. but until I get the rod built out and get to cast it, I really wont' be able to say much more.

They look nice. The photos on their site were a bit odd. They had flaws/inclusions in the blank. The grey blank doesn't show any flaws. The unsanded/semisanded look is nice and very uniform. The color is almost identical to my Epic DH11.

I have the components lined up and will try to get things glued up/layed out tomorrow if I have time. I've been avoiding gluing up grips on a few rods recently. This may get me moving.


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Post 05 May 2020, 10:59 • #12 
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Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
Yes, their website doesn't communicate as much as one would hope. Even of their graphite blanks they don't go explaining the differences between their materials and tapers. I came across an article about their linen rods, and there's no information to be found on those on the NFC site. Apparently they sold and shipped them all back in 2016, but information is scarce.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/58 ... ary-loomis
http://www.moldychum.com/fishstarter-li ... s-edition/
Though touting it as the most ecological material to be made into a fly rod seems to ignore all of the bamboo rods. Looks like they sold 15 blanks and 26 rods per the kickstarter numbers. Maybe they'll do another run of them, but it's been 4 years since they sold them, and they say they did the initial development in only 2, so the window may have closed.


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Post 05 May 2020, 13:21 • #13 
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Joined: 11/30/10
Posts: 1846
Location: Michigan
ColdPass... here is why or where they went or wth? HaHa - http://www.moldychum.com/you-can-now-buy-a-hermes-fly-rod-for-13790/


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Post 05 May 2020, 14:38 • #14 
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Joined: 12/27/14
Posts: 1501
Location: ON, Canada
Didn’t Christian build one of those?


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Post 05 May 2020, 16:03 • #15 
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Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
Wow. And they don't take as nice a picture of that rod as you do of yours. I wonder how fine the thread work is on a $14,000 Hermes rod. :) Single foot guides, so they didn't need to take as long to wrap it. :) I do wonder if NFC supplied the blanks.

Actually, I'm pretty sure NFC made the blank.
https://www.hermes.cn/cn/en/story/18673 ... aign-2019/
Listening to Axel de Beaufort, Director of Design and Engineering (translated from French) he states "For the rod we were fortunate to find someone, quite possibly the only person in the world, in fact, who makes fishing rods in flax fiber. So we ended up designing a rod in silk thread."


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Post 05 May 2020, 16:10 • #16 
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Joined: 11/30/10
Posts: 1846
Location: Michigan
Coldpass, thanks for the kind words. I asked what happened to the blanks, and this was the response... Hermes.


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Post 05 May 2020, 16:30 • #17 
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Joined: 11/27/14
Posts: 330
Location: US-NC
carlz wrote:
Brocton, I picked up the 8054 in grey.
I hadn't bought much recently but I was really curious about this blank. I've been following NFC since they started and their first generation graphite (first for them) is a soulless cannon. Accurate, sensitive, a good all around tactical rod, but it doesn't bend and you have to rely on your reel a lot when playing fish. I was expecting a very fast/light rod. It doesn't have the lightness I was expecting. but until I get the rod built out and get to cast it, I really wont' be able to say much more.

They look nice. The photos on their site were a bit odd. They had flaws/inclusions in the blank. The grey blank doesn't show any flaws. The unsanded/semisanded look is nice and very uniform. The color is almost identical to my Epic DH11.

I have the components lined up and will try to get things glued up/layed out tomorrow if I have time. I've been avoiding gluing up grips on a few rods recently. This may get me moving.



The Epic 580 is 1.94 oz with an ERN of 5.5

NFC Iconoglass 8054 by there specs is 2.1 oz

My McFarland GTX 8664 is 2.1 with an ERN of 5.7 or 5.8 trying to remember but it was one of the two.

I wouldn’t be surprised that folks like me that don’t do long distance casting while fishing is probably going to think this blank is way underrated in line weight. Just my hunch but certainly want to find out what you think of it after you build it. Even if it is a 6/7 that would be perfect for me for bass and redfish from the kayak.


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Post 05 May 2020, 17:19 • #18 
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Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
I wouldn't put too much stock in a relationship of rod weight to rod power. For one thing, if you weigh three rods you will get three different weights. Second, the rod taper (the distribution of the material) has far more to do with the rod power than the raw weight. Every rod designer has their own opinion about how the material should be distributed to get the best fly rod. That's what makes trying different fly rods so much fun.

Remember, Gary Loomis started with Lamiglas before graphite. He designed the Lami SFL S-glass rod blanks, which are lovely to cast. That doesn't mean the Iconoglass blanks are good, only that I am intrigued. What matters most is how they fish.


Tom


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Post 05 May 2020, 19:52 • #19 
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Joined: 11/27/14
Posts: 330
Location: US-NC
Tom, No doubt I am intrigued about them too. I think the line in their description “ is lightweight and faster in action compared to traditional E and S glass predecessors.” just makes me assume it’s either a very strong 5 or even a 6. I maybe totally wrong on that assumption which was created from many manufacturers under rating fly rods especially carbon fiber that now with fly lines that are 1/2 to 2 line weights over AFTMA.

I messaged Aleks from NFC over 2 years ago that they should look into having a line of fiberglass fly rod blanks because the popularity has increased and there is a big niche or gap to fill between cheap imports and high quality smaller batch made in the USA blanks. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.


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Post 06 May 2020, 05:09 • #20 
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Joined: 04/12/07
Posts: 1292
Location: western Massachusetts
jgestar wrote:
Remember, Gary Loomis started with Lamiglas before graphite. He designed the Lami SFL S-glass rod blanks, which are lovely to cast. That doesn't mean the Iconoglass blanks are good, only that I am intrigued. What matters most is how they fish. Tom


My sentiments exactly. I have two on order, and we shall see!


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Post 22 May 2020, 18:22 • #21 
Master Guide
Joined: 11/11/13
Posts: 774
Location: US-CA
Hello, for those of you that have ordered from NFC how was your experience? They have horrible business and customer service reputation. Numerous complaints to the BBB and an F rating by them. They seem like Dave Scadden Water-crafts people really like their products but they are terrible business people.

Thank you


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Post 22 May 2020, 20:35 • #22 
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Joined: 09/18/09
Posts: 5561
Location: Relocated to the Drought Stricken West.
It shipped quickly and looks like the picture. I'm trying to get the last epoxy on now.

I had a warranty replacement on a graphite rod a few years ago and I had no problems. I sent it in and they sent me back a matching tip section. The problem wasn't there's. I over flexed the tip when trying to fine the spline. The tip just didn't bend like I expected and I snapped it.

Some of those graphite rods are truely stiff.


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Post 22 May 2020, 21:10 • #23 
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Joined: 11/11/13
Posts: 774
Location: US-CA
Carlz, thanks for the response. The current NFC blank your working on was it in stock or did they build it for? How long did you wait to receive it? Their web site says 2-3 weeks wait time which is fine. But on many of the compliments I read people claim it took months or they never received their blanks.

Lanny


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Post 23 May 2020, 11:39 • #24 
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Joined: 12/27/14
Posts: 1501
Location: ON, Canada
Little kern golden wrote:
Carlz, thanks for the response. The current NFC blank your working on was it in stock or did they build it for? How long did you wait to receive it? Their web site says 2-3 weeks wait time which is fine. But on many of the compliments I read people claim it took months or they never received their blanks.

Lanny


I have a graphite 6wt from them (Carlz’ description of ‘soulless canon’ is apt) and it took nearly 6 weeks to ship - this was last year. It did arrive and was good quality, but took a while.


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Post 23 May 2020, 16:37 • #25 
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Joined: 09/18/09
Posts: 5561
Location: Relocated to the Drought Stricken West.
Mine shipped right away, I got it within a week, but it was during the initial push (I got the email and purchased it within a few days), so I assume it was in stock.

If they have to wait for another production run, I don't know if I would trust their estimates, especially on a new model.


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