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Post 20 Feb 2023, 10:54 • #76 
Master Guide
Joined: 07/26/21
Posts: 383
Location: North West Georgia
Glacier, From left to right, the rods are a troutsmiths 7645, a troutsmiths 7034, a Fenwick 84-5 and an iconoglass 8wt.


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Post 20 Feb 2023, 11:54 • #77 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/23/19
Posts: 371
Location: North Central Oregon
Great work guys, and really like the purple wraps on that MT Bros. blank!


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Post 20 Feb 2023, 13:10 • #78 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
Some really nice glass in this year's class! You guys are killin' it.

I have two near finished.

A two piece lamiflex 665 that I stretched to 7 ft. And a 7 ft. four piece lamiglas. Hope to finish in the next week or so.l


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Post 20 Feb 2023, 14:38 • #79 
Guide
Joined: 08/11/20
Posts: 229
Location: Ontario, Canada
ffftroutbum wrote:
Here is a winter build I did for my wife. Her favorite color is purple. Got me a few brownie points :)


Love the purple! Definitely not something you see every day. And is that an acorn cap on the butt of the reel seat? Also very cool.


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Post 21 Feb 2023, 18:24 • #80 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/26/10
Posts: 547
Location: Montana
Thanks for the nice comments folks. Heavy, yep that is an acorn for the butt cap. The late Paul Brown liked to use them for a butt cap. I think it adds a nice touch :).


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Post 26 Feb 2023, 20:33 • #81 
Guide
Joined: 06/30/20
Posts: 251
Hello all! Another winter build completed. For a buddy of mine. Another 7.5 ft nfc iconoglass 4wt. Light blue silk wraps gone translucent with blue nocp nylon thread as accents. Light wire guides and mild rum stripping guide. Thanks for looking!








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Post 27 Feb 2023, 18:49 • #82 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/31/15
Posts: 1238
Location: Northern Rockies
That NFC rod turned out really nicely. Great work.

I didn't finish anything this weekend, but I did make some progress shaping grips and gluing up butt sections. The first photo has a couple of 7' 3-weights. The clear blank is a ********* Headwaters Glass (S-glass) rod, and the yellow is an unlabeled E-glass blank. The reel seats are from Ray Lee, whose work I always appreciate.

I also made some good progress on the paired set of Western Glass 6-weights for a close friend and me. Now it's on to the thread work.




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Post 27 Feb 2023, 20:31 • #83 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/26/10
Posts: 547
Location: Montana
Whoa, looking very nice so far!


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Post 27 Feb 2023, 21:51 • #84 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/02/16
Posts: 515
Location: Georgia
Clayton, the rods look great, especially the reel seat on the Livingst0n 703, but I may be more impressed by your fly tying collection and organization. Is that a maple insert on the Livingst0n 703?


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Post 28 Feb 2023, 08:50 • #85 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/31/15
Posts: 1238
Location: Northern Rockies
Yes. It’s maple burl. It turned out really nicely, and I’m going to use its colors as inspiration for the wraps. Still thinking that one through.

The two 6-weights also have maple inserts. The one on the left is birdseye that was repurposed from an old project, and the one on the right is burl turned by Ray Lee. He keeps a small stock of inserts turned for Lemke/Struble seats (0.64” OD) that you can email him about.


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Post 28 Feb 2023, 09:15 • #86 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/19/07
Posts: 393
Location: US-MI
When you spend 3 days in a hotel every week for work and you know one day you will be snowed in. You grab your old school Thompson wrapper and basic kit so you can get your Winter project done.
8’ Fisher 5 wt


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Post 28 Feb 2023, 09:50 • #87 
Guide
Joined: 06/30/20
Posts: 251
Gorgeous rods Glacier Rambler. The grips look great with the reel seats you chose. And I can't wait to see that Fisher when its finished out Cheffy!!


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Post 01 Mar 2023, 17:26 • #88 
Guide
Joined: 06/15/20
Posts: 260
Location: Toledo, Ohio, USA.
I mentioned this was one of my projects earlier in the thread. Finally got it off the bench. A 9' 6wt Steffens graphite rolled by Shane Gray. Wrapped in chestnut with old gold tipping. It's my best Scott G Series knock off. Paired with a Red Truck Diesel 5/6 reel and a re-purposed Cabela's rod case covered over with a Steffens patch and a TFM Retro Fly patch







I have a goal of passing the FFI casting certification, and I want to do it on a rod I built. So I built this for that purpose. I paired it with an SA 6wt XXD that I scored NOS off ebay. My understanding is that his is a previous iteration of the expert distance line.

It was a nice day so I went out and did some practice casting. Actually set up my frisbees and measured out 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 feet.

At 20 feet, being a 9ft rod with a 9ft leader there is only 2 ft of fly line out of the tip top. Try to cast off the tip, but it's a graphite rod and not really meant to cast a mere 20 feet. Not a lot of feel and hard to keep accurate.

At 30 feel began to get some nice loops and starting to feel the rod work, though still not a ton.

A 40 feet, the rod really begins to hit its stride. And if you think about it, there finally starts to be close to 30 feet of fly line out, and you are getting in the range of the AFTMA line ratings

At 50 feet, the rod continues to really do well. I like it a lot.

I can hit 60 feet, and my best was 68 feet. I lose my accuracy, and I still have some work to do on my distance casting.

At any rate, fun to get out and lawn cast on a nice day. I know what I need to work on, and feeling good about how the build turned out.


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Post 02 Mar 2023, 19:55 • #89 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/31/15
Posts: 1238
Location: Northern Rockies
JShenk, thanks for the initial impression of the Steffen. I just looked at these pictures on my computer, after looking at them on my phone yesterday. They look better today. Really excellent work. I will have to order some of that thread for future builds. It's stunning on that blank.

Cheffy, how much progress did you make on the Fisher? I'm excited to see how it turns out too.

I have a lot of work this week, so of course I decided to spend some time in the basement wrapping up one of the 703s, even though I won't be able to fish it until June at the earliest. Here it is so far, with the second coat of finish rotating on the dryer.




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Post 02 Mar 2023, 20:38 • #90 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/19/07
Posts: 393
Location: US-MI
Due to being slightly snowed in at the hotel this week I made a ton of progress. Finished an NFC blank for a friend and got all the guides wrapped on the Fisher. All that’s left are trim wraps and to turn the reel seat insert.
Next up. An 11’ center pin rod.


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Post 03 Mar 2023, 09:30 • #91 
Sport
Joined: 03/28/21
Posts: 70
Jshenk,
Thanks for the update on the 6wt. Just a beautiful job and I was looking for a 9' 6wt that is a bit more forgiving then my CTS Affinity X. You guys in the colder climates have really been busy. I need to finish up my Ben's of Holland 7' 3wt 5pc blueline rod in the next couple of weeks. It's a complement to the 7'5" 4wt 4pc Ben's that's my favorite small stream rod right now. GlacierRambler, I took your advice and modified a small cheap drill press to serve as a vertical lathe for new grips and will try to duplicate your grip style that I really like. Need to glue up some rings and give it a go.
Thanks to all for the great insights and new benchmarks,
Chris


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Post 03 Mar 2023, 16:39 • #92 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/23/19
Posts: 371
Location: North Central Oregon
Great work guys! I haven't been able to do much lately, been super busy at home


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Post 03 Mar 2023, 22:17 • #93 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/02/16
Posts: 515
Location: Georgia
Here’s a McFarland Spruce Creek 6’8” 3wt small stream rod intended for native brook trout. Orange silk wraps with red silk trim, Threadmaster epoxy, Ray Lee slide band reel seat with cherry wood insert, Mildrum stripping guide, Snake light wire guides, all dark nickel hardware, bullet nose grip from Proof.

If you buy a blank from Mike McFarland, take him up on the offer to include a rod bag - has to be the nicest rod bag I’ve ever seen.







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Post 04 Mar 2023, 08:00 • #94 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/12
Posts: 1007
Location: Beantown
Beautiful El Duderino!


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Post 04 Mar 2023, 11:38 • #95 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/26/10
Posts: 547
Location: Montana
Ditto, nice work


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Post 06 Mar 2023, 18:52 • #96 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/31/15
Posts: 1238
Location: Northern Rockies
Agreed! It's really stunning.

Among the bench progress I made this weekend, I finally finished repairing the last of the four rods whose inserts went bad. In addition to refinishing the insert, I had to rebuild the whole butt section on this one. I accidentally destroyed the cork when trying to get the reel seat off. I didn't care for the grip that was on it beforehand, so it was serendipitous. It just took much longer than I expected.




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Post 16 Mar 2023, 22:37 • #97 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/02/16
Posts: 515
Location: Georgia
Glacier, nice work on the reel seat repair that turned into more work than you expected! The new grip looks great - also a good looking reel you’ve got there. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of honey color blanks.


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Post 17 Mar 2023, 11:42 • #98 
Guide
Joined: 02/17/23
Posts: 112
Duderino-

That Spruce Creek build is STELLAR! Truly fine work!


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Post 20 Mar 2023, 12:25 • #99 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
This weekend I finished two 7' 4wt winter projects. They need a final polish and scripting.

A two piece LamiFlex blank scored from a forum member wrapped in gudebrod nylon#396. I ferruled the blank and wrapped black nickel guides. Blued reel seat with elder burl spacer.

The four piece Lamiglas blank was partially built when I received it. I stripped it down and refinished the blank. Turned a half cork, half wood spacer and added a sliding ring and pocketed end cap. Lightweight Pac Bay snake guides, mildrum style stripping guide, turned a short 6.5" Fenwick-inspired cork grip. Thread is Pac Bay NCP - baby poop brown!





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Post 22 Mar 2023, 10:18 • #100 
Guide
Joined: 06/30/20
Posts: 251
Picketpin what if anything would you be willing to share about your polishing process?


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