Banty Project Status

[Joshua Field]

Well - I've officially started my banty rod project. Bought a cheap 9'6" on ebay and have stripped it down (scrape and light wet sand) and dipped it. I thought I'd figured out a clever dipping tube (1/2 copper pipe with 1" flange to give it some room at the top) but it ended up overflowing due to the added volume of the rod... what a mess. The dips came out fine but I'm going to have to add another PVC section at the top to increase the volume for insertion. Might switch to 3/4 copper as well and fit a drain in the bottom.

Used Man o' war spar in gloss which was a bit glossier than I wanted. I wonder if I can cut it 50/50 with satin to get it a bit less glossy. Thoughts?

I ordered a couple of reel seats from J. Stockard Fly Fishing which had the best deals I found for quality hardware. www.jsflyfishing.com/

I also bought a set of 5 superfine grips on ebay for $14 which are perfect for this size rod. Now I'm waiting for guides and thread to arrive in the post...

[AgMD]

Satin varnish is made by adding small particles to break up the surface, these particles will settle in the can/dip tube. You will note instructions on satin varnish will recomend frequent stirring. I have heard it said that these particles adversly affect the hardness of the finish but have no personal knolledge here. The traditional method of killing the high gloss is by rubbing w/ a slurry of rottenstone and oil. I use boiled linseed but I understand light machine oil will work too. Modern folks use any one of the products used to rub out automotive finishes. Aparantly these are available in a fair selection of "grit". There have been a few threads on "Clarks" on this. I have rottenstone ( hey I'm a traditional guy) and would be happy to bring you some at the next meeting.
I know what you mean about the dip tube overflowing. I keep my varnish in the tube, and I top it off before I cap it off to avoid oxygenation. I keep meaning to get a turkey baster to suck out a bit of varnish before I dip, but do I ever remember? NO! I do set my tube in a plastic bucket tho. I have recently bought a can of Bloxygen - compressed nitrogen, argon, and CO2. You spritz a bit in a partially used can before you seal it up-- 'sposed to displace oxygen and prevent setting up of the varnish. We will see.
BTW if you decide to keep the varnish in the tube, you might avoid any capping system which threads on. Any little bit of varnish on the threads and you will never get it opened again.
My tube is metal electrical conduit with a flange threaded on to the top end. This flange has 4 bolt holes which line up with bolt holes I bored in a slab of 1/4 inch aluminum. A gasket of polyethelyine plastic goes in between. NOTHING sticks to polyethelyne. Even with varnish just globbed on the bolt threads they will come undone with a bit of wrench twisting. I'm not shure I like the conduit and I am thinking of going copper in a slightly larger dia. I do want to keep the same style of cap though. I need to design a simple collapsable stand ( like a music stand tripod maybe). Right now I just clamp it to sort of saw horse sort of thing. Not elegent , and a pain in the neck.
Sounds like you are having fun.
AgMD

[FishinCane]

Joshua,

If you want to avoid the mess and complexities of dipping the rod in varnish as well as the cost (lots of waste if your only doing a few rods per year) then try a product called Tru Oil. www.birchwoodcasey.com/sport/index.html

Its was developed to finish gun stocks but there a quite a few rod builders who are starting to use it. A 3oz bottle costs less than $6.00 and you rub it on with a cloth or your finger (about 10-12 coats - about 2 hours drying time between coats). I've used it on the last few rods I built and it was so much easier than dipping the rod.

[Joshua Field]

Thanks for the tip - I like the idea! I just ordered some and will try it out. Shipping was $5 (ouch) bringing the total to $10 so hopefully it will work out and last a while.

[Joshua Field]

The project generally went well... here are some notes on the process:

Removing the old reel seat - used a heatgun to remove the old reel seat. This can be a bit of a hassle if it sticks... welding gloves and some gentle twisting did the trick.

Stripping the rod - carefully used a blade to remove wraps and then used a thread burnisher to scrape off the old varnish. A quick back and forth with some steel wool finished the job.

Varnishing the rod - this was a bit of a fiasco due to my poorly designed dipping tube. I'm going to change my methodology for this step for sure. Used Man-o-war marine spar.

Fitting the cork and reel seat - this was a breeze. Hardly had to ream the cork at all - nice tight fit. Epoxied everything right up... no sweat.

Wrapping the guides - black is not a very forgiving thread color but it was the original color of the rod and I wanted to stick with it. In the future I want to make a precise measurement for the thread distances (probably template based). This time I eyeballed it.

Lawn casting the rod - I'd say it is a 4wt. Pretty fast action for a bamboo rod with most of the flex in top of the tip.

I'm already ANXIOUS to start my next one which is stripped and waiting. I needed to order a tip-top and ferrule set. I found this company offers reasonably priced ferrules: www.shofftackle.com/ferrules.html
When the Tru Oil arrives I'll get rolling with the next one.

I want to say a big 'thank you' to kim (rod building thread moderator) for all the help, advice, varnish, etc!

Here are some pics of the product:

[AgMD]

Looks mighty nice! Hope you bring it to the next meeting so we can get a closeup look. And you are ready to start on another. Yup it is all over for you. You have started down the rabbit hole. At this point there is Nothing to do but enjoy the ride. ;D
AgMD

[Joshua Field]

You know what the real killer is re: heading down the rabbit hole? I bought a stack of old rods for like $65 bucks and ended up with material for 4 or 5 banty rods... and its all a big mystery. Until I build them, I have NO idea how they will cast and as they say, curiosity killed the wallet, er, cat.

The first one I did throws a 4 or even a 5wt nicely. It takes a bit of line out there to load. I'm guessing this next one will be a lot lighter and so I'm psyched to try a 2 or 3wt line with it... as soon as the thread arrives in the mail (doing this one in red) I'll wrap it up and check it out.

Now if I just had a nice pond in the back yard...