[Mike Barrio]

If anybody fancies a fibreglass Epic 580 blank as a winter project, I have a few available in various colours for £195 local hand over, or plus postage at cost

Send me a PM if interested

Cheers
Mike

[troutist]

A good suggestion! We need to think.

[Mike Barrio]

[Graeme Inglis]

Got mine a week a go.


Progress was slowed by a top eye and contrasting thread taking a week to get to me! 

But finished and some of the wrapping done.
Top eye finally arrived and I can get on

I will post up a couple more as it nears completion.

Graeme

[Duncan Inglis]

Looks tidy G, you'll have to head down to Harehope & give it a cast!

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Graeme

Looks like your build is coming along nicely, it's good fun to watch the progress via your photos and I'm looking forward to seeing some more

Best wishes
Mike

[Graeme Inglis]

Nearly finished now, just need to give it a coat of lumiseal and the butt a coat of U40 to keep it nice and clean.





Assembled the rod and with Mike's SLX line on the reel had a few practice casts in the garden

I feel a wee shot at the rainbows coming on!

Graeme

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Graeme ..... Enjoy

Best wishes
Mike

[Rob Brownfield]

Graeme, see your whippings, they are getting that strange patterning due to a variance in thread tension as you have whipped them on.

If you use a thickish knitting needle and rub the whippings with the end of it, you will even out the tension in the thread and the variations in colour will become more even. It takes a while to do, but it is possible to sort.

However, the rod looks great , you will have great fun with it and get admiring looks.

[Graeme Inglis]

Yeah Rob, it's my home made rig, I will make a MK2 before I do another.  Interesting about the knitting needle, I'll remember that.  I also found that thread with the metal through it difficult to use, especially pulling it back through, it tended to de-laminate so that half was through and half wasn't.  I had to re do a few because of that and again the tension variations didn't help.  But hey its done and it will hold a fish.

Graeme

[Ben Dixon]

What metal stuff did you use Graeme?  I've not used any of the specialist rod wrapping stuff, I got some Madeira metailised thread from Megs Attic in Banchory which seems to work really well.  You do not need a heap of tension with the trim, backing off a bit will help.
I used a piece of thin plastic tube (inner from Veniard Scandi Tube) like a nail knot tool for my trim wraps.  I taped one end of thread up the blank, laid the tube on the blank and wrapped over it and the taped end, then slid the wrapped end back through the tube as I pulled it out.  When just about tight enough to spin on the blank and no more I evened it all up, snugged it against the whippings, tightened and trimmed off the ends.  Bit of a fiddle but got the job done nice & even with no damage to tinsel.

Cheers

Ben

[Graeme Inglis]

Ben this is the first time I have used modern threads, I've only built a couple of rods in the last few years, my previous experience goes back to the 1960's when I used to hand wrap over the knee split cane rods, it seemed easier then.   I am now thinking of modifying my jig and re-wrapping, after all there is plenty of time before the trout season opens.

Graeme

[Ben Dixon]

I've only used modern threads Graeme 

This is what I used as a wrapper http://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=1220
it's the only thing I have built anything with, I based it on the Pac Bay design and built it using the fairly basic tools I had lying around in the house.  I tried wrapping by hand and found it very difficult indeed.

The ring on the front that the thread goes through really helps with tension, when I have started wrapping a guide and have forgotten to pull the thread through the ring, it is tricky to get even tension.  When doing the metallic stuff I cut a bit off the spool and do it by hand, think if I was trying to do a long trim section I would probably use off the spool though. Been a massive learning curve for me, like tying flies but more critical as the stuff you're throwing together is a shitload more expensive to replace if you need to start again!

Cheers

Ben

[Rob Brownfield]

I got some Madeira metailised thread from Megs Attic in Banchory

Be a wee bit careful with the Madeira threads. Some of them are designed for machine embroidery and contain silicon as a lubricant for the needles.

Silicon and epoxy do not like each other.

Also worth noting that the Madeira stuff is a wee bit thinner than normal "A" whipping thread.

[Ben Dixon]

I wouldn't use the standard thread Rob, I use proper wrapping thread.  No issues with the metallics and epoxy I have use so far and I like the fact that they are thinner than most "proper" rob trimming thread, that's a bonus for me!

Cheers

Ben

[Sandy Nelson]

Thats our latest Epic finished and looking rather nice , even if i do say so myself

The cinnamon works well with the salsa, especially once the finish is applied.
The reel seat is a nicely figured Rosewood, with Nickel silver and the rings are fine wire snakes.





Hard to get a good close up with artificial light, but you get the idea





This rod is now Available, with the Swift Bag and Tube, contact Mike for more information.

Cheers

Sandy

[Marc Fauvet]

Red-Hot Sandy ! 

[Ben Dixon]

Nice Job Sandy 

[troutist]

Sweet!