Sage 99 take a start

[LyNcH]

So I started building my Sage 99 last night. I originally said I was going to try to take pictures every step of the way, but I just got going and forgot to. I'll blame it on the pain killers I'm on.

Let me first start off by saying that I am not a professional rod builder, I only play one on TV.

While I have to tools to turn cork on my own, I have yet to do so, and certainly am not going to experiment turning cork on a nice Sage 99 blank. So I purchased a pre-shaped cork grip and Struble U-20 reel seat. Some time reel seats come pre-assembled and glued, sometimes not. The Struble did not, so that was the first step. I used 5 minute epoxy for putting the reel seat components together. Next I used the Batson cork reamer to make the internal taper in the cork grip. This is somewhat time consuming and is something you don't want to rush in order to get a perfect fit.

Once the reel seat was dry, and the cork properly reamed. I mixed a small batch of slow curing (12 hour) epoxy and assembled them together on the rod. Here is a picture of the outcome. It is VERY important to line your reel seat up properly so when your reel is on the rod, the label is not upside down or on the bottom. Finding the spine on the remaining pieces is the next step. A quick tip - when messing with epoxy, always make sure to have mineral spirits handy to clean up any remains.

Picture quality not the best, still can't find my camera.


While I was at it, I also assembled the reel seat I am using on my 10' 4wt rod I am building. I will probably ream the cork later and glue them together as well.

 

[WBDluver]

nice, I havent built a rod in a while but maybe you started something here.

 

[Johnny Utah]

That's sweet your building your rods, but what are those candy canes for???j/k

 

[LyNcH]

I need the sugar to keep me going!

They are the reamers for the cork. They are worth every penny for that smooth internal taper so that every .mm of the cork has glue on it with no cork gaps between the blank and the cork. I have tried several different ways to do this since I started building and went to a buddies house once to do a spey grip, used his set and ordered one the next day. A good comparison is using vise grips instead of a fly vise to tie flies. It can get the job done, but why waste the time and material when you can do it right the first time?

That's sweet your building your rods, but what are those candy canes for???j/k

 

[Johnny Utah]

I need the sugar to keep me going!

They are the reamers for the cork. They are worth every penny for that smooth internal taper so that every .mm of the cork has glue on it with no cork gaps between the blank and the cork. I have tried several different ways to do this since I started building and went to a buddies house once to do a spey grip, used his set and ordered one the next day. A good comparison is using vise grips instead of a fly vise to tie flies. It can get the job done, but why waste the time and material when you can do it right the first time?

I agree why fool around. But you should ask rim chung that. hahaha

 

[Andy B]

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