blacksnake

This rod is not quite finished. It is a Christmas gift for a neighbor. He wanted an 8' casting rod for large lures and couldn't find one to suit him so I listened carefully and went to work (unknown to him). Its an 8' St.Croix blank, Titanium frame Fuji guides and fuji ECS reel seat. The handle is custom by me, Oak (mahogany stained) and carbon fibre tube that was painted with candy organic green catalyzed urethane

latest crosswrap finished yesterday. The crosswrap was nothing special but I painted the graphite blank with a catalyzed urethane candy "Rootbeer" transparent paint and when I placed the finished rod in the sunlight for photos it appears that there is a light "inside" the rod. The appearance in sunlight is striking I think. The paint is from House Of Kolor. It is a custom automotive type paint. The cured finish is incredibly durable and flexible.

This crosswrap is two tone green (lime and olive) with a black base and gold accent with a special green based multi color wrap included for additional color.

wood & carbon Fiber handle with metallic thread wrap and Pac-Bay rubber butt cap

multi colored guide wrap on st. Croix blank

used an RC helocopter carbon fiber tail boom to make the handle/foregrip along with wood tips. The carbon fiber is .020" wall, .875" O.D. The composite handle/foregrip matches cork weight and will be far more durable hopefully. Used micro baloons in the epoxy to minimize weight as well.

simple and saves weight (finished 103grams)

The weave required 6 hours start to finish

This is my first attempt at any sort of weave. I used dark and light blue metallics against a black rod finish with thin gold accents. I used D sized thread to decrease weave wrap time....I'll Never do that again. The bumps in the thread overlap locations is to high and hard to even out when epoxy goes on. I tried some A size metallics on an old rod and like the even finish much better

front wooden grip wrapped to match and epoxy coated

wooden handle wrapped with two-tone metallic blude thread with gold accent rings and black thread border against the wood. Many glossy layers of epoxy seal. Reel seat is Pac-Bay woven black fiber with Ti-Chrome medal on hoods to match guide frames

Two tone metallic blue guide wrap with gold metallic accent rings on black wrap. American Tackle titanium guides

Wife's "dragonfly" rod ready to fish!

Solid titanium guide works well and yields a light rod

hook keeper made of .040 Stainless safety wire. American tackel matrix blank, Sulky threads