I posted here a week or so ago, for the first time, regarding a Winston Stalker, two Sceptres, and a Fenwick I built from blanks in the mid 1970s and now want
to completely refurbish. So, I started on the 8 ft, 5 wt Sceptre. I stripped the rod down to the blank, and although I'm not completely happy with how
the blank looks, I think it'll be OK after a bit of very light wet sanding and refinishing, as per past posts at this site. From that point forward, having
built many rods in the old days, I have a good idea of what's ahead of me and see no problems, except . . . .
I wanted to use a wood-insert reel seat, but does anyone make them for big-butted glass blanks (I've nothing against big butts, by the way). The seats I've seen on various websites have bore diameters (usually) maxing out at about 0.470 inches, yet the Sceptre is just short of 0.500 inches at the butt. I suppose I could ream the seat, or, as I saw in another posting here, cut off about 4 inches of the butt and insert what sounds like a "reverse spigot ferrule" to accept the narrow bore reel seat. As they say in Vegas, there's got to be an easier way to make the point. So, 1) is there a source of larger-bored wood-insert reel seats for fiberglass rod makers, and if not - - why not? and 2) if larger-bored wood-insert reel seats are not available, is there an easy (I have minimal tools at my disposal), dependable way to make use of the smaller bored seats that are available? This should not be a problem on the other blanks, as the butts are a bit smaller (quite a bit so on the Fenwick) and I should be able to make use of commercially available seats. The alternatives, such as aluminum seats or graphite inserts, are not esthetically appealing to me (shoot, that's what I put on them back in the '70s and what I wanted to replace when I started this venture). Help!
I wanted to use a wood-insert reel seat, but does anyone make them for big-butted glass blanks (I've nothing against big butts, by the way). The seats I've seen on various websites have bore diameters (usually) maxing out at about 0.470 inches, yet the Sceptre is just short of 0.500 inches at the butt. I suppose I could ream the seat, or, as I saw in another posting here, cut off about 4 inches of the butt and insert what sounds like a "reverse spigot ferrule" to accept the narrow bore reel seat. As they say in Vegas, there's got to be an easier way to make the point. So, 1) is there a source of larger-bored wood-insert reel seats for fiberglass rod makers, and if not - - why not? and 2) if larger-bored wood-insert reel seats are not available, is there an easy (I have minimal tools at my disposal), dependable way to make use of the smaller bored seats that are available? This should not be a problem on the other blanks, as the butts are a bit smaller (quite a bit so on the Fenwick) and I should be able to make use of commercially available seats. The alternatives, such as aluminum seats or graphite inserts, are not esthetically appealing to me (shoot, that's what I put on them back in the '70s and what I wanted to replace when I started this venture). Help!
