Rod Ring Replacement.

[GPSguru]

I am hoping that @stan m can have some input here to help me make sure I do it right !

This is the story ............. On Sunday I was out on my mate's boat (Offshore 25) and we were fishing the wrecks at 40+ miles out.

I normally slow jig (SPJ), and TBH, I was doing ok, however, I was busy talking and wasn't looking what I was doing, and I had got tip wrapped (it happens a lot on slow jigging rods, as the line slackens for the jig tumble action). At that instasnt, a f'off big pollock gabbed the lure and in a split second there was a loud ping and the rod sprung back and the 20lb braid parted. Unfortunately, it has broken a ring clean off the rod (3rd ring down from the tip), but the rod blank hasn't suffered at all.

The rod is quite an expensive Temple Reef Gravitate 3.0. I have spoken to Temple Reef today (Singapore) and the rings are single leg, size 6, Fuji K Series KTAG Alconite guides, however, a suitable replacement would be the later single leg CCKTAG guides, or a Titanium KTTG Torzite ring.

So I have ordered the guide (CCKTAG), some black thread (grade A), and some epoxy for the whipping.

My question is ............ to take the old whipping off, I assume that I carefully cut through it with a scalpel, or Stanley blade ?

The rest of the repair looks pretty straightforward, or is there a minefield to watch out for ?

TBF, Temple Reef were pretty good, and said if I could get the rod to them, they would repair if for free, but rather than risk carriage to foreign lands, I will have a go myself. I was impressed that they had all the guide information to hand.

 

[Andy 7671]

Whereabouts in Devon are you, got a rod turner, burnishing tool you can borrow. Blade at 90 degrees to scrape . good sticky on erm , on erm sshhhh WSF !!!

 

[JLD]

No need for a scalpel. Sounds dangerous. I use a very blunt Stanley knife and it works fine. Just cut against the foot of the guide to protect the blank.
You have some sort of turner for once you've applied the epoxy?

 

[Topwater]

Yep cut along the guide foot itself not on the bare blank! Unravel using the thread end/s to pull it all off the blank as clean ad possible. Any tricky epoxy ends or blobs can be softened with a quick rotation/flash of a lighter flame, use a blunt object to scrape these off at 90° to the blank. DO NOT SCRAOE WITH ANY SHARP OBJECTS THAT COULD ENTER INTO THE BLANK SURFACE, NOR HOLD ANY STATIONARY FLAME TO THE BLANK FOR MORE THAN A FEW (2 or 3 max) SECONDS. The resin in the prepreg is not all that different to the epoxy used on the threads so be sure you DO NOT cut into it, burn it or compromise it it in any way! Once off just use a fine W&D paper briefly to smooth the area and then re wrap accordingly. Other than that rod building is not so difficult (hard to make a good business out of, but not that hard to do given patience). Full rebuilds are far more taxing than building on new blanks. Take your time and practice makes perfect (or near enough)

 

[stan m]

Lot of the above will work. I can only say what I do / did and have never damaged a blank yet,

Cig, lighter, turn the blank with lighter under the resin. Two three quick turns, couple of seconds. I always used sungle edged razor blades. I know that cutting the resin / thread above the guide foot is a tried an tested method, I could never be arsed with all that unwinding. I heated the resin, blade pretty flat against the blank/resin and a single slice to the side of the guide where the hollow is caused by thread rising over the guide foot, peel off with nail (normally in one go) job done except for a light clean up to rfemove old resin. I rarely used scratch paper, just synthetic wire wool.

If doing it that way makes you wary go with the other methods above. Remember I was replacing often 50 guides in a week or more so did not have the time (or patience) for the slow unwinding.

 

[jackjock]

Take it to a rod builder because they know what their doing

 

[GPSguru]

Lot of the above will work. I can only say what I do / did and have never damaged a blank yet,

Cig, lighter, turn the blank with lighter under the resin. Two three quick turns, couple of seconds. I always used sungle edged razor blades. I know that cutting the resin / thread above the guide foot is a tried an tested method, I could never be arsed with all that unwinding. I heated the resin, blade pretty flat against the blank/resin and a single slice to the side of the guide where the hollow is caused by thread rising over the guide foot, peel off with nail (normally in one go) job done except for a light clean up to rfemove old resin. I rarely used scratch paper, just synthetic wire wool.

If doing it that way makes you wary go with the other methods above. Remember I was replacing often 50 guides in a week or more so did not have the time (or patience) for the slow unwinding.

Thanks Stan, I will go with that.

I will have to buy a lighter as I haven't smoked for also 25 years , and my small flame blowlamp might be a bit fierce.

I am just waiting for Hopkins & Holloway to deliver, and I will give it a go.

Does the ring need just one wrap, or go back over for 2 wraps ? ......... I will be using Grade A black.

 

[stan m]

Thanks Stan, I will go with that.

I will have to buy a lighter as I haven't smoked for also 25 years , and my small flame blowlamp might be a bit fierce.

I am just waiting for Hopkins & Holloway to deliver, and I will give it a go.

Does the ring need just one wrap, or go back over for 2 wraps ? ......... I will be using Grade A black.

Grade A I normally used for light fly and nymph rods. Saltwater was either C or B. Whether you need to do it twice depends on how tight you get the wrap (tight as in close together not tight as in pulling hard). Burnish it well to close up gaps and you should be OK with 1 wrap.

 

[stan m]

Take it to a rod builder because they know what their doing

I`ve actually got a fair idea how to do it.

 

[GPSguru]

Grade A I normally used for light fly and nymph rods. Saltwater was either C or B. Whether you need to do it twice depends on how tight you get the wrap (tight as in close together not tight as in pulling hard). Burnish it well to close up gaps and you should be OK with 1 wrap.

Thanks Stan,

Using your method, I have removed the old leg and whipping. Instead of a lighter, I used a long match and gave it a couple seconds whilst turning the rod, and it came away easy with a stanley blade

The ring is quite tiny (size 6) so I will go with your suggestion of one tight wrap.

I will be using ‘one rod repair’ U40 epoxy, so that should be easy enough, I will put it on and turn the rod over the top of a infrared heater, to keep the temp in the high 20’s C.

Thank you for your help, it makes life easier and instills a bit of confidence

 

[stan m]

Thanks Stan,

Using your method, I have removed the old leg and whipping. Instead of a lighter, I used a long match and gave it a couple seconds whilst turning the rod, and it came away easy with a stanley blade

The ring is quite tiny (size 6) so I will go with your suggestion of one tight wrap.

I will be using ‘one rod repair’ U40 epoxy, so that should be easy enough, I will put it on and turn the rod over the top of a infrared heater, to keep the temp in the high 20’s C.

Thank you for your help, it makes life easier and instills a bit of confidence

Remember to grind the guide foot properly to give an easy transition of thread onto the foot. Not really sure about the heater thing, my dryers were always left at room temperature, never any heaters and they accounted for around 3-4000 rods since polymer resin became available, prior to that, copal varnish and still no heaters. Up to you

 

[GPSguru]

@stan m & @Topwater

Thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction.

The job is complete now, and I am pleased with the result. I wasn't looking for factory finish, I was looking for an acceptable functional finish, and that is exactly what I have. TBH unless you look very closely, it does indeed look like the other factory finish rings.

The ring being tiny, well, tiny to my sausage fingers, was a bit difficult to hold in place whilst I did the whipping. I tried hot glue, but that wouldn't adhere to the blank, So in the end I used just a tiny spot of superglue, and that did the trick. Doing the varnish without a rod turner is a bit of a soul destroying task, turning the rod 180 degrees every minute for 45 mins.

My wife asked why I just didn't go out and buy a new rod, as life is too short ! .......... I explained to her that my rod supplier (Terry at Jigabite) is on holiday and I need the rod on Sat as the weather is looking promising for the 9 mile wrecks.

 

[Kine262]

Really interesting thread. I have about five rods that need single ring replacements so I will have a go now but can anyone advise on what type of apoxy to buy for varnishing and where to get it from?

 

[Topwater]

Kine262 have a look at the 'Guides n Blsnks' website for Flexcoat epoxy

 

[Kine262]

Have a look at the 'Guides n Blsnks' website for Flexcoat epoxy

Cheers Topwater!

 

[stan m]

Really interesting thread. I have about five rods that need single ring replacements so I will have a go now but can anyone advise on what type of apoxy to buy for varnishing and where to get it from?

Flexicoat as mentioned. Just don`t misread what you are buying (has happened often) "epoxy" is adhesive, like araldite. Resin for coating threads is a "polymer resin" not an adhesive in any way shape or form. It`s a casting resin. G & B do it but a much better selection from Anthony Fordham as he is flexcoat importer / distributer in UK.

Flex Coat All Products

Search all products.

fordhamandwakefield.co.uk

 

[Kine262]

Flexicoat as mentioned. Just don`t misread what you are buying (has happened often) "epoxy" is adhesive, like araldite. Resin for coating threads is a "polymer resin" not an adhesive in any way shape or form. It`s a casting resin. G & B do it but a much better selection from Anthony Fordham as he is flexcoat importer / distributer in UK.

Flex Coat All Products

Search all products.

fordhamandwakefield.co.uk

Cheers Stan.

I have done a complete rod now onto split cane and am in the process of varnishing it (Thanks go to The Third Earl for all his excellent advice on that front) but I have never used epoxy resin before. I have had a look at the link you posted and it all seems to come in two parts that I assume are mixed together, There are also lots of different sizes, from 1oz up to 32oz. I have about eight eyes to do on different rods, can you give any indication of how much I am likely to need for that and how to apply it to the whipping once the eye is on?

 

[stan m]

Cheers Stan.

I have done a complete rod now onto split cane and am in the process of varnishing it (Thanks go to The Third Earl for all his excellent advice on that front) but I have never used epoxy resin before. I have had a look at the link you posted and it all seems to come in two parts that I assume are mixed together, There are also lots of different sizes, from 1oz up to 32oz. I have about eight eyes to do on different rods, can you give any indication of how much I am likely to need for that and how to apply it to the whipping once the eye is on?

Depends how much you think you will waste Except on very light rods (nymph etc) I always gave two coats min. The stupid high build up in one coat and then even stupider UV lights to cure it serves only one purpose, crazing down the line as the resin goes brittle. See picture, a Penn surf rod churned out some asian country on high build and UV curing, ready to fish an hour after coating, yeh right. This was it 8 months later.

2 oz high build kit should be fine, apply with brush. I`ll se if I can find a wee video I did a few years back.

 

[stan m]

Did this for you know where a while back

 

[Beach]

Did this for you know where a while back

Hope the rod works are better than the cable around the door frame