New swing tips and my custom drying adapter !

Well folks, due to demand and an upsurge in the popularity or resurgence of swing tip fishing seemingly creeping back into fashion of late, I decided to do a bit myself ! After just a couple of sessions I decided it was time for a new tip and set about knocking one up for myself incorporating some rod building technology !

Having made some of these up over the years for friends and seeing a distinct lack of decent kit available I made up a few extra and did a few listings on eBay and a few other sites, Tackle Trader UK and Manchester Gumtree 
well, the phone didn't stop ringing after a week !

Loads of feedback too, people actually ringing me up saying it was the best swing tip they'd ever seen! Super stuff, made my day, that's not something  that usually happens a lot these days !

And they came out like this  . . . . . . .

These are the 'close range' version with just the tip eye for maximum sensitivity and short flicks and underarm casts where you're not likely to tangle, as a bit of a general rule you don't 'need' a second or intermediate eye on a swing tip, they are kind of traditional, but not 'essential' as a rule. I do offer both versions though. For longer distance fishing people tend to like them with the second ring, to be fair all you need to do is what I do, just pull on the line with your spare hand before casting, if it's not free you know where the problem is!

There will be three sizes in the 'range' 6'', 9'' and 12'', the latter having 2 small single leg rings and the 6'' and 9'' available as either a tip ring only model or with 1 small single leg up near the top of the tip.

Price wise they are between £10 and £18, and come supplied with a set of 3 'proper' swing tip rubbers that you may have seen many moons ago marketed as the Trev Tomlin brand (remember the catapults) in a light/medium/heavy format and of course, a threaded swing tip adapter.

They are of course, hand built, bespoke, you won't find them in the shops and yes I do send them out if you're not local, P+P is include in the prices and you can find them on ebay more often than anywhere else. You can pay by paypal, and you can pay me directly without having to go through ebay, just browse my listings, pick one and send me the money through paypal (plus a message with your details) either as a gift, or using my paypal.me link and just adding the amount to the end, so if a tip was £12.99, you would put this in your browser:

www.paypal.me/rodbuilder/12.99


You can find my current items for sale on my ebay page :

Dave's items for Sale: eBay.co.uk


Here's a hot video of some new stock drying off on my newly made adapters that fit my rod drying racks ! Riveting stuff !  You'll love it  . . . . . . 

North Western Blanks 12ft 1 3/4lb Carbon Kevlar refurbishment

 I recently had a blast from the past dropped off, namely as titled, a North Western Blanks 12ft 1 3/4lb Carbon Kevlar carp rod that'd seen better days........

Looking battered and disheveled,  this had been coloured many years ago and spray painted, then finished in what I can only guess was yatch varnish, not a bad way of doing things back in the day, but modern day resins and epoxy's take some beating for clarity and durability. Here's a few 'before' shots showing the damage/wear and tear  . . . . . . ..

From a distance it didn't look that bad..........

However . . . . . . .  close up was another story . . . . . . .

So a total strip down was on the cards, back down to bare blank, first by blade, then by various grades of wet and dry until it was smooth as the proverbial baby's, and clinically cleaned with acetone!

 

Once prep'd I was able to then re-finish the blank in a clear hard wearing modern resin, to get it in shape for the next stage when the rings go back on, as the blank and resin needs a day or two curing time, the 'after' shots will come in another post, but for now, this is the current state of the build............... 

More shots to follow in about a week ;)

Tri-cast Trophy Feeder rods, 11' 4'' & 10' 6'' refurbishments

I often get asked to 'tart up' older rods that have had years of use and have started to look dishevelled and battle weary! People are sometimes surprised that I inform them that the time served method of hand varnishing them is still by far the best way to bring life back into older rods.

The finish on most modern day blanks is 'baked on' straight out of the 'mould' and can't be reproduced with epoxy finishes and the like which are fine for the ring whippings, and indeed I do finish them in epoxy, but it's not really practical on the blank itself.

Several coats of well applied varnish not only looks good but lasts a lifetime, literally, I still see a friend who has a aset of NWB carp rods that I built over 25 years ago and they still look in mint condition!

Recently I was visited by a long time Trafford Angling customer, Keith, who I've known for donkey's years, and he brought me his treasured Tri-Cast feeder rods for a bit of sprucing up. The rods have been rebuilt with a fresh set of Seymo RDX match rings which are a great set of durable lightweight rod rings that suit all match and feeder rods perfectly.

The ring whippings had my usual 2 step process to finish off the rings, then the blanks have had 5 to 6 coats of varnish applied with a days setting time inbetween, plus a ' resting time' of about 2 weeks, I don't really like to let them go 'til I'm happy they're 'right' which includes more drying time than people usually like!

The results speak for themselves . . . . . . .  ;)

 

Some Daiwa Tournament reel servicing shots. . . . . . .

Thought I'd pop some pictures on of a few recent reels in for servicing, namely some Daiwa Tournament's, the TS5000T's that came out years ago, then went off the market, and then came back into production years later!

Cracking reels, and at (still) over £200 a piece, definitely worth looking after.
Great work horses and really well engineered reels too, ingenious design! one of only a few reels I've come across where the body plates come off either side, which is great for servicing.

This shot shows both side plates off, from the back.........

And the view from the left and right sides..........................

The best part of this configuration is having access to the worm shaft for inspection and the small drive gear on the end, everything else can easily come out be quickly cleaned, greased and put back in place.

Unfortunately this one had a serious case of wear on the main drive gear and the pinion gear as can be clearly seen in the images below, the main round drive gear had very badly rounded and worn teeth, the pinion gear came off even worse and has clearly taken the brunt of the damage. Luckily the oscillating shaft and pawl seem to have gotten away with it, which is something like a miracle to be honest !

The cause of this damage is largely unknown, the only clue seems to be that it's been taken apart before and by the looks of it, not put back together propely, screws not tightened up right, and grease not applied, the reel was bare, with very little, very old, black grease, a sign it's not been done in years.

Here is another example of how damage occurs - the reels are Daiwa again, this time the Emblem Z 5500 models.

 I think it's fair to hazard a guess this guy fishes a sandy pit somewhere fairly often . . . . . . . that stuff really won't help, and can ruin bearings, especially if the reels are left wet and covered in this or any length of time, best advice, wash them under a tap and shake them dry, leaving them on a towel for a day, take the spools off and prop them up so all the water drains out of the reel,  fresh water generally doesn't do much harm if you do your best to drain it off.

And don't forget! 3 reels serviced is only £35 ! That's a bargain! The reels are stripped, cleaned, oiled, checked, greased, re-assembled, this price will not last forever, and it's currently less than half of what Tackle Box charges, it's cheaper than Shimano's charges, you don't have to send them away, so you're saving on postage too !

Daiwa Infinity X Baitrunner back in action

Just a few pic's to illustrate a little clearer  the damage done to this Daiwa Infinty X Baitrunner after just a short drop, quite literally, to look at, this was all the damage done when the reel was dropped, spool first  . . . . . . .

Doesn't look too bad until you compare what it did to the oscillating worm gear once the handle was turned!

But happily as usual, Daiwa's service department were efficient as ever and had the new worm drive and a 'pawl' to me in just a couple of days to get this lovely bit of kit back on fighting form . . . . . . .

The finished article . . . . . . . .

After applying the epoxy over a couple of coats to build it up, the final finishing coat is applied and watched carefully while it dries to the point where it can be left for a couple of hours spinning away happily without the danger of losing shape, some Century rods are done with a very (over-thick in my opinion) thick application of resin which although it may look 'nice', is a bit heavy and unnecessary in reality.

Personally I prefer a compromise on the thickness between the extremes of the likes of Daiwa  (not enough) to Century (too much) and I generally do my builds and personal rods in 2 'decent' thickness coats. But anyway, I digress . . . . . .  the finished ring ....

See part 1 here!

Century 'Big Bertha' butt ring repair part 1 !

Daiwa Infinity X 5000 baitrunner, repair and service.

Another set of reels recently dropped in for repair and services, Daiwa Infinity X 5000 baitrunners, 2 working well and one not working at all.

Upon stripping down, the faulty reels fault was pretty obvious to see, the reel had been dropped and the spool had taken the brunt of the fall, marking the lip of the spool a little. The greater damage was inside, luckily, the spool shaft was intact and seemingly undamaged, which is a stroke of luck considering - the worm gear that drives the shaft, not so lucky!

First couple of handle turns and the worm shaft was chewed beyond usefulness  . . . . . as can clearly be seen by the amount of swarf chewed up and spat round the reel body!

In cases like this it's recommended to also change the oscillating 'pawl' that rides the worm shaft, these can often look fine, but any minor burrs they suffer after a chewing like that can render them useless and not worthy the risk of putting them back in the reel, and besides, at just a few pounds to replace, is it really worth skimping on a £300 reel?

The mangled worm shaft  . . . . . . . . .

Total cost on this repair only came to £35.00 and included a service, and parts! please compare that to some of the tackle shops service only charges, which seem to average around £28.00. The reel has to be stripped down to the same degree, and cleaned, oiled, and greased and then re-assembled. And if you're around the greater Manchester area (or reasonable driving distance) you won't have postage costs to add in either.