Billy 40

Here is the other Eagle I've done for the Ocean Eagle. THis one is complete with feathers. They look much better when sanded flat. 2 different shades of Tan & 2 shades of brown EVA were used.

One of teh Inlay's I've been working on for my friends who own a PArty Boat in Brooklyn, the Ocean Eagle. This has 3 different shades of Brown EVA. I was sent a huge bundle of EVA strips 1/8" thick (I mistakenly posted 3/16") and a lot of the colors varied from one sheet to the next. Gives me more color options. Wach when I sand it I'll find out teh outer layer was sun faded and it'll all look exactly the same, lol.

Here's a pic of the TLNSG10 which broke while grinding.

The Brown, Yellow & black grip is all Customgrip, as are the trim rings in the backgroud (which are for sale). THe "shaded" Blue grip is a mixture of CG & MErrick foam. TO my surprise it sanded evenly. Yellow grip is 45 degree cuts, teh Blue grip is 30, 45, 60 & 75 degree cuts. Fun stuff.

Much thanks to Talisman & Ray J. for giving me a ton of info on how to make these grips. ALso thanks to NYCMAN for letting me use his Band Saw. I didn't have time to make up jigs for these, I used teh miter guage & fence which came with the bandsaw, and I bored them by eyeball using a 1/2" Aluminum tube chucked in a lathe, and I just pushed the grip into it. ALuminum is a BAD choice for this as it heats up super quick and will melt the EVA.

Took pattern #61, split teh background into Blue & Grey. ALso shaded it, 4 colors for each side of the split. Final color to close was Black. From the side it looks like the Blue shades into the grey. The pattern itself started with 6 Sulky Holo Blue threads, then the layout threads were Silver metallic & teh darkest Blue in the background. After 6 passes, I stopped wrapping the Silver, and added a very Dark blue, to add some of my own flavor. Blank is a Calstar GFX800L trimmed to an 8.5 tip. Wrap took 4:52 to complete, and is 11 1/2 inches long, 195 threads used in teh pattern - circumference at the center was 47.5.

Recently Purple is a hot color in my shop. Purple reels (L to R) Purple Newell 332, Purple Avet EW Wide-2, Purple Pro Gear 251. Rod is a Purple GUSA 79 Mag with Purple grips (w/white & red inlays), there's 2 Purple EVA blocks, teh Madeira color chart strategically opened to the section with Purpes, a Purple Gimbal, and a loud Pink belt for goofs. Akuhed is not a lone in his addiction (not 2 of those reels & the rod are NOT mine)

This is the bottom of the rod, it was spiral wrapped with very short over/underwraps.

What caused this rod to break? It's a GUSA 665 (6'6) whichwas wrapped spiral with 9 guides (CLNAG 16, 10, 8(8)'s). Rod was 3 months old, and broke when the hook was set on a fish. The rod was NOT high sticked when it broke (I know this 90%), and there are no noticeable dings & the rod was well taken care of.

I've had a few people ask me how I keep track of where I am in a pattern, so I took pictures of my list behind 2 wraps I worked on this weekend. Each wrap has a shaded background (4:1 & 5:1) behind a main pattern (St. J's & #61), and the Blue one's background is shaded and split (shades of grey shades of Blue) I also keep track of how long I take for each step, how long I spend packing, I can count the total threads I use in the pattern & divide that by the center circumference to see how many threads I wrap per millimeter, a calculation I use in laying out my wraps.

Finished this up at 2AM last night, wounded myself with a razorblade (alcohol & sharp objects are a no-no). I actually like how this came out, I wanted the Metallix to blend with each other, & not to be seperated. Total time over a 2-day period was 3:45, not bad. CAn't imagine working for 18 hours in one day.. I might actually finish a rod if I did that, lol.

Definately not a rod you wanna use in San Fran or in the Village (which I'm actually on my way to right now). lol. No the rod will not be with me, and I won't be wearin any "manly" colored shirts.

Couldn't let the 360 Weavers have all the fun posting wrap around shots of thier rods. lol.This is pattern Number 140 in Clemens Custom Thread Art. Here is the script for this wrap: http://www.visualwrap.com/cgibin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=6;action=display;num=1091738006

Created this with VW, wrapped with Madeira 1695 Teal, 1838 Red, and 1800 Black. Came out exactly as planned. This is on teh basketball rod I posted pictures of a couple of months ago http://www.visualwrap.com/cgibin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=6;action=display;num=1091738006

I used GC CP on the left side of the wrap, Gudebrod on the right - same wrap. When I applied the GC CP I was highly disappointed that the thread turned such a dark color compared to Gudebrod. Prior to epoxying, there was a very noticeable difference between the colors. For whatever reason, once I applied the epoxy, the difference was toned down, and as you can see the GC is a hint darker, but honestly hardly noticeable.

I got halfway through a wrap, decided to cut it off. Once all the threads were removed, I could see the indentation in the finish of the blank. Seemed interesting enough for me to post it. I had no problems pakcin gthe threads, moving them around on teh blank, teh blank's finish hold's up just fine to fishing - I guess I wrap a "little" too tight, huh?

Looks somewhat like a Rose which has yet to open. At least I think it does.

Same guide, side view. Stripper guide = BMNAG20, rest of guides are BMNAG12's out to teh tip, including the transition. Rod is light, and has a ton of power - especially coupled with the Saltiga 40 which I have paired with it. First fish caught on it was a 30# Jack Crevalle on my first excursion to teh Tortuga's. Despite the power of the set up, I got a butt kicking, lol.

Here are teh guides to match teh basketball grip I posted a week or so ago. Red Nylon with Silver inlays over Teal & Silver underwraps with Teal & Silver trim with Silver inlats and Red and Silver center bands.

I can't hook up the background as fancy as you fly rod guys, graas, leaves, Macrame - but I sure can put something back there which is funny - at least to me.

If you look carefully, you can see the notes I took on this pattern the layout. I wonder if others do something similar? http://www.visualwrap.com/cgibin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=6;action=display;num=1089037322;start=0

Here is a wrap I designed for a Tuna jigging rod, Calstar 700H. As far as I know, this is a new pattern which I created using Visualwrap: http://www.visualwrap.com/cgibin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=6;action=display;num=1089037322;start=0

I like how this came out, except for the middle Inlay, where I should've put it on a red background. Hindsight. Rod is a GUSA United URS 80XH.

I'm pleased with how this came out, not as difficult as I thought, also not as perfect as I would like. The 45 degree White inlays look like a 3-point line on the bottom of the rod.

Gotta love free font sites. Simple logo, XL = Roman Numeral 40. Font = Brooklyn Kid, can't ask for anything better than that.