New project | 6 piece hiking/travel rod

[BenzoV]

Drumroll.......
Ladies aaaand gentlemen!!!
For four long years you have been holding your breath in anticipation.
You have been looking at this bookmarked thread when you log into Flytalk in the morning,
and again when you silence your phone before saying your good nights.
For four long years you have been searching the interwebs for an update, for any possible glimpse or clue of what might come,
wondering and pondering,
asking the question,
"Will he really do it?",
"Is this even possible what he is trying to achieve?"

Well ladies and gentlemen,
After four years you can finally rest your head in peace,
You can again be productive and undistracted in your daily tasks,
because tonight,
the wait is finally over.
Tonight!
on this very night
the 13th day of June 2016
I present to you....

(drumroll....)

Seven - Four - Seven !!!!!!! (insert fireworks, electric guitar, cymbals)



(insert disappointed "aaaarg" from the crowd...)


Gee whiz, it's really been that long. Things just came up, and quite frankly I was out of blanks for a while as the first bunch got damaged. I decided that this is it, I'm done with this one now. If I figure out decals one day I might add one to this build, but for now I'm done.

I'm calling it the "747 Imperfect".
Length 7'4"
7 piece rod
Fast action
No paint. I'm doing all my frankenstein rods this way now. I really came to believe it has a positive influence on the feel of the blank (or rather, paint has a negative influence), plus it's way less headache to deal with.
It loops a DT4 nicely, but think it might do better with a #3 weight forward.
The skeleton seat is a simple black no-name I got from Ebay a few years ago, and I turned the reel seat insert from leadwood.
Grip of course, courtesy of JC Le Roux sparkling wines.
Guides are a Pac-Bay Minima Model-T stripper and light wire snakes in black for the rest of the rod, all wrapped in black with a couple of dull gold trims around the stripper and bottom ferrules.
Black coloured epoxy for the butt-cap.

I'm pairing this rod with a Shakespeare 2529. Nothing fancy about it. It's my first fly reel I got as a kid so it has sentimental value, but most importantly it's small enough for this rod, and it's black.









Rod tube is 98% recyclable



P.S 10 guides?!? WTHeck? I only noticed that now. I have no idea what my thinking was behind that decision. No wonder it took me so long to finish this rod .

Next frankenstein I'm busy with is a 12ft spey. Looks like it may be a 7/8/9about weight, but understanding the spey system has me scratching my head a bit.

[dollar]

wow BenzoV the 747 ozzes character, love it.
10 guides, looks 11 but short one for 12

[Korrie]

Knap gedaan.
Sien uit na die Spey, hoe lank gaan die LAAAANNGG STOK neem?

[BenzoV]

Knap gedaan.
Sien uit na die Spey, hoe lank gaan die LAAAANNGG STOK neem?

Thanks guys. Who knows about the spey. I have the blank cut and finished, but now got completely absorbed in trying to understand spey lines and thinking of building my own from normal single hand lines.
images.jpg Story of my life.

[Circus]

Lekker rod!
I'm a firm believer in matt finishes and the black is great.
What's the thought process behind the upside-down grip?

[BenzoV]

Lekker rod!
I'm a firm believer in matt finishes and the black is great.
What's the thought process behind the upside-down grip?

What do you mean upside down? The way grips are put on nowadays are upside down, hence it being called "reverse half wells" :tongue:

Anyway, this grip I did turn a while back, more as practice but with the possibility that I may use it one day. It was meant to be used in "standard configuration". However, I was toying around with it and decided I like the colour of this grip with this rod , and it just turned out to be super comfortable "upside down". If possible, everyone should try a grip this way. It's nothing new, it's like the fenwick style grip, just with a flat front. Also, I inevitably slide my hand down all the way towards the reel when fishing, this way I don't have that awkward ridge. I think I will do more grips this way in future, especially with long nymphing rods. Perhaps I won't use the exact same front end (perhaps I will?), but definitely I'll be tapering down smoothly towards the reel seat.

I suppose millions of other rods must mean something, but I'm a little perplexed by the popularity of the reverse half wells. It's fine I guess, but other grips just feel a lot better to me. On a previous build I used a fishtail style grip. It's fantastic.

[Michael]

Nice Ben, will make a great compact travel rod. Only four years to complete hey? :tongue:
Well, don't feel bad, or alone...
I currently have the following rods that I'm still trying to complete for myself, my own use:
- Sage Z-Axis 7wt
- CTS Affinity MX 5wt
- Sage ONE 5wt
- CTS Affinity MX 3wt\
They were all started about 3 years ago... :frown: