Yes I have little gods on the bench to help the process, but often they do NOT earn their keep. Still, there they are.
So yesterday, after a dismal failure at bluing, I pondered (again) the idea of making my own solution for oxidizing.
Now I've tried a bunch of oxidizers. I mean really.
I have never found, and expect to NEVER find anything that works as well as the product Dave LeClair made and sold. In fact, I love it so much that I drove a total of 4,000 miles to buy three ounces of this magic juice. 2000 miles round trip to northern California for one ounce and 2000 miles round trip to Denver for two ounces. Both trips quite enjoyable. It probably cost me $2000.00 after fuel (when it was five bucks a gallon driving an F-150 with the big motor,) motel bills, food, etc.
Anyway...I'm currently on a quest to find out just what the hell this juice is and how I can make it for myself.
The stuff last nights dreams were made of...and rats. I had rat dreams too. Don't ask.
So this mornings stuff was pretty much at a stand still. I have a blank that needs to go to a brother in Hawaii. The blank (a Dickerson 8013) is finished, bag made, and I needed to make the tube up for it.
Done. Now to obsess over the secret formula...enough obsessing for now and I get back to work.
Day before yesterday I think, I made up the bag and tube for the brother in NY.
I'm really finicky I guess about the fit of a rod, bag, tube. I never thought I was until someone pointed out that I seemed to go to a lot of trouble to make things fit properly. This was brought home by another rodmaking brother, Harry Boyd. Apparently Harry is as finicky as I am.
A few years back I actually had the pleasure of finally shaking Harry's hand in Colorado at the Colorado Rodmaker's Reunion. We swapped rods for a test cast. When he unscrewed the cap off of mine the first thing he said was "WOW, someone actually knows how to make a bag and tube!" Hell the rod was still, obviously, in the tube and bag and, unfortunately, I don't recall if he actually liked the rod itself, but he damn well liked the fit! Was that a run-on sentence or what? I'm still trying to pare my words, sorry.
Anyway...today...the topic is proper fit. I'll leave proper finish up to your discretion. To each their own.
But a proper fit of rod section to bag, imho, is a bag that "just" covers the rod sections. You don't want the bag too long. If it is other problems will rear their ugly head when you make the tube.
As for length of rod sections...the current train of thought is that all sections MUST be equal length.
Well I guess that shows attention to detail and if they aren't the same length, the maker was sloughin' and going through the motions.
But "what if" your maker had something else in mind? What if your maker wanted a stout butt section to protect a delicate set of mirrored tips? Would he maybe make the butt section just a smidge longer than the tips? Say 1/16" or so? So the butt would protect the tips? Maybe.
I do. Sure the rod still assembles at the prescribed length. An 8 footer is going to be an 8 footer not an 8' 1/2" rod.
But figuring this number out ahead of time takes a bit of thought and measuring and measuring again.
Then it's time to make the bag.
Most all tube maker's stick a little piece of neoprene on the caps, butt and tip. But, it's a skimpy cushion at best. Not much there really.
SO...I like my bags to slightly cover, be longer, than the finished rod sections. Since I make the butts of my rods to be slightly longer than the tips, I like the bags to be slightly longer than the longest piece in the bag. Just a smidge longer.
When the bag is in the tube, I like the bag to slightly fold over the top of the rod or, at the least, be even with it. I prefer the bag be just a bit longer than the sections so that when the bag is in the tube, the bag folds ever so slightly over the sections when the tube cap is screwed on. Friction does the rest of the job. The bag helps keep the sections from sliding much up and down in the tube and there is no slop between bag and tube.
In other words...I "think" it should look like this when assembled;
Mundane crap? Yep!
But I think you should know that your rodmaker is thinking of mundane crap regarding the rod he makes for you. You are after all paying through the nose for it.
Sorry my posts seem to always be so wordy...there's just stuff to write about and why one does what they do ya know?
There always seems to be a reason for everything.
I'll eventually run out of stuff to write about but for now, this place is new for me, I'm having a bit of fun, and if you don't wish to read it...well, screw me.
Mike
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