Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2011 This is a rod I have been working on for the past couple weeks between customer rods. It's a Christmas gift for my 17 yr old nephew Cody. You guys know me I like to think outside the box, well this one has a few very outside the box things on it which I think came out even better than I could have hoped for. Read onto see what I am talking about. My nephew loves anything Patriotic, military, history, or aviation, so I did this rod with a Patriotic theme to it for him. The blank is a 9ft 8wt 2pc fly rod blank which is dark blue in color. The reel seat is one of the 'different" things I came up with. it started out as a plain ol' all graphite FUJI spin seat (nothing special) but I decided to customize it by wrapping not only the front and rear hoods which you guys have seen me do before on fly rods. But I also wrapped the entire barrel of the reel seat with HT Red Metallic thread and finished over it with Threadmaster. The grips are all natural cork, then this is where I came up with something really different far as the parts used. I did a split grip with an aluminum spacer, which is not out of the norm since you can buy aluminum spacers, but I didn't but an aluminum spacer....the red aluminum spacer in the grip of this rod is actually an all aluminum flashlight from the dollar store which I did a lot of thread wrapping and finish over. This is what it started out as ... In front of the reel seat you can see a machined red aluminum piece, that is actually the screw on battery cap for the flashlight which I wrapped over on the threads and finsihed over with threadmaster which makes a nice looking machined trim piece. I also did my first marbling on this rod. I used red, blue, yellow over a base of white paint. I'm very pleased with the way it came out as it has the exact look I was going for. Then over the marbling I did a quote from one of my nephews Heros Chuck Yeager which reads "You don't concentrate on the risks. You concentrate on the results". For the thread wraps it uses metallic blue, metallic red, and metallic silver. Then I added a "History Channel (his fav TV ch) coin to the butt for him. That's probably enough babbling for now, here's the pics.... Steve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bluegill576 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2011 Wow. Another spectacular rod Steve. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riffleriversteelheadslayer 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2011 Beautiful rod bro he is going to love it for sure Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johny Utah 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2011 Steve, That certainly is some art work on the rod. Very nice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TitanFlies 0 Report post Posted December 23, 2011 Wow, that's a rod if I've ever seen one. That medallion on the bottom has me thinking. I have a Mercury dime that I have that I think is lucky. Do you think some CA glue would suffice? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mybadhabit 0 Report post Posted December 23, 2011 That is a beautiful piece of work Steve!! Blane Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted December 23, 2011 Wow, that's a rod if I've ever seen one. That medallion on the bottom has me thinking. I have a Mercury dime that I have that I think is lucky. Do you think some CA glue would suffice? Titan...it depends what you are mounting it to. if its a metal cap on the end of the rod then you'll want to scuff it up with some heavy grit sandpaper (scuff the backside of the coin as well) and then use a two part epoxy. But if it is plastic or rubber cap then just lightly scuff it and CA will do the trick for you. Thanks guys I can't wait to give it to him. Steve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Margaretann 0 Report post Posted December 23, 2011 That is amazing!!! Your nephew is going to love it! Great job!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NJ All Day 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2011 Beautiful rod Steve! How did you do the little pattern with all the different colors. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted December 26, 2011 It's a technique called marbling. You mask off the rod and paint the area under that all white. Then you put a coat of clear finish over the area, then while the finish is wet you take and lay out the pigments for each color you want and then put a dab of each color into the finish. Then you take something sharp and you "drag out" the design with the sharp instrument your using. Then hit it with a heat gun to make it blend better and let it dry, then couple coats of clear over that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
