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Unground boat rod blanks.

The Third Earl

The Third Earl

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Right peopleses…

I am really fed up with boat rods that are made with highly polished, laquered or otherwise shiny blanks. Over time these rods chip and scratch and no matter how carefully you look after them they will need either a full rebuild or rings replaced eventually. I am not into re laquering blanks as it is time consuming and really not neccessary IMO.

I came to this conclusion with my beach gear years ago, and now if I wanted a beach rod it would be unground and plain carbon. They are available and I have some. I just want the same with a boat rod, so a blank would be great, no laquer, no shine, nothing . Just an unground blank, 30/50 prefferably . but a straight 30 would do. I am not bothered about high end stuff as my gear is for using not drooling over .
So long as the blank is unground, and serviceable that is all I want . I can build it to my own spec .

I obtained a couple of unground Connie beach rod blanks from them years ago they are great but now the company has folded it leaves me with an itch I cannot scratch.

So, any suggestions ?

Dave
 
Connie were the only ones I got unground blanks from. You could always give Century a phone they might supply. Failing that get the scratch paper out and a gallon or two of elbow grease. I`ve got the 30 and 50 blanks still but gloss
 
stan m said:
Connie were the only ones I got unground blanks from. You could always give Century a phone they might supply. Failing that get the scratch paper out and a gallon or two of elbow grease. I`ve got the 30 and 50 blanks still but gloss
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I had already considered getting in a blank and taking it back down to the bare bones Stan, I know its not difficult, but my feelings were that if the rod was rated 30 lbs, by the time I had removed the gloss and other crap that they are all adorned with it would be more like a 20 lb, maybe getting a straight 50 would take it down to a 30 ? I just dont know. Different manufacturers have different ideas of blank construction , some are thicker walled than others , different tapers etc as you will well know.

I guess I will probably just keep on looking around, I may phone Century but in the meantime I will just keep taping up the sections of my glossed rods with insulation tape to give them a bit of protection.

Dave
 
The Third Earl said:
I had already considered getting in a blank and taking it back down to the bare bones Stan, I know its not difficult, but my feelings were that if the rod was rated 30 lbs, by the time I had removed the gloss and other crap that they are all adorned with it would be more like a 20 lb, maybe getting a straight 50 would take it down to a 30 ? I just dont know. Different manufacturers have different ideas of blank construction , some are thicker walled than others , different tapers etc as you will well know.

I guess I will probably just keep on looking around, I may phone Century but in the meantime I will just keep taping up the sections of my glossed rods with insulation tape to give them a bit of protection.

Dave
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Removing the surface wont change the line rating in any appreciable way. It is normally only primer and paint or in a lot of cases Bondaseal.

If you rubbed down a 30lb then it might become a 29lb (I know there is no such thing)
 
stan m said:
Removing the surface wont change the line rating in any appreciable way. It is normally only primer and paint or in a lot of cases Bondaseal.

If you rubbed down a 30lb then it might become a 29lb (I know there is no such thing)
Click to expand...

I have a 30/50 Super Kenzaki so may give it the works and see how it looks . It is chipped to feck to so wont do it any harm 🤣🤣.

Dave
 
It appears that you probably can get an unground Century blank. You will need to go through one of there retailers like VMO or NETS and get them to contact Century for you.
👍
 
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Wee minor point, what you want is an unfinished blank, not an unground one. If you get unground then all the ridges from the shrink tape will be there, a pain to wrap over.
 
stan m said:
Wee minor point, what you want is an unfinished blank, not an unground one. If you get unground then all the ridges from the shrink tape will be there, a pain to wrap over.
Click to expand...

Hi Stan, thanksf or the tip, but I have done a few unground blanks in the past and have not had too much trouble with them, it was the unground blank that I wanted, ridges and pitting and all. I had the one from Conoflex, and did an underwhip on it which helped no end to smooth off the final overwhip. I did use a bit of wet n dry where the rings were positioned to smooth the blank off a bit .I seem to remember that I used a fine cut file to persuade a couple of particularly stubborn ridges that I was the boss. They were built for a friend in Cornwall, no idea where they are now,
The unground blanks seem tough as old boots compared to the ground finish . I am not precious at all about the finish of the blanks as they will not have any bondaseal, varnish or any other top coat on at all, just a two pack high build on the whippings, no fancy tippings or cross weave . I have been down that road on builds for other anglers and it is just a pain imo. They look nice but I am not one for concourse rods at all for personal use.

Its a bit different for split cane rods though , they only go up in value, boat rods seem to be like second hand cars ( Except Alba rods of course 😉) once over the dealership threshold they loose a percentage of their value as soon as the wheels touch the road.

Its all to be done yet though, I have a good deal of work on for myself and others atm so it may well be something to do later in the year.


Dave
 
The Third Earl said:
Hi Stan, thanksf or the tip, but I have done a few unground blanks in the past and have not had too much trouble with them, it was the unground blank that I wanted, ridges and pitting and all. I had the one from Conoflex, and did an underwhip on it which helped no end to smooth off the final overwhip. I did use a bit of wet n dry where the rings were positioned to smooth the blank off a bit .I seem to remember that I used a fine cut file to persuade a couple of particularly stubborn ridges that I was the boss. They were built for a friend in Cornwall, no idea where they are now,
The unground blanks seem tough as old boots compared to the ground finish . I am not precious at all about the finish of the blanks as they will not have any bondaseal, varnish or any other top coat on at all, just a two pack high build on the whippings, no fancy tippings or cross weave . I have been down that road on builds for other anglers and it is just a pain imo. They look nice but I am not one for concourse rods at all for personal use.

Its a bit different for split cane rods though , they only go up in value, boat rods seem to be like second hand cars ( Except Alba rods of course 😉) once over the dealership threshold they loose a percentage of their value as soon as the wheels touch the road.

Its all to be done yet though, I have a good deal of work on for myself and others atm so it may well be something to do later in the year.


Dave
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Each to their own Dave. I always found the unground and ridges a pain in the butt. Would mark the underwrap position (and butt wind if involved) stick on the rod lathe and smooth the areas.
 
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