New Rod

So, December 22nd I get the great idea to do something nice for my brother and put together a fly rod kit that I had bought 7 months before (or so).  The rod was a Pacific Bay 9 foot, 5 weight, 3 piece fly rod with a reverse half wells cork handle and black aluminum up-locking reel seat.
Quickly I set to work finding the spine and attaching the tip-top.  Unfortunately, (at least in my opinion) the handle was not countersunk to hide the top portion of the reel seat. Fortunately, with a little improvisation, I was able to carve out the handle.  After that I set to reaming the handle to fit the blank.
The next morning I epoxied the reel seat and handle on to the blank, then set to placing, and wrapping, the guides.  I wrapped all the guides in blue, then went back and did a nice gold trim to each wrap.  Word to the wise, when aligning the guides turn the blank so the guides are facing downward.  This allows you to easily see which guides need to be adjusted.  A quick signature (plus a sweet trout sticker) and this was really coming together quickly.
Next, with the help of Del, I threw the rod on the dryer and epoxied each wrap.  With nothing left to do, and it being really late on the night before christmas eve, we left the rod to dry and went to bed.

Finding the spine

Good looking handle

Don't use the drill bit! It just tears cork, but
it worked as a gauge for depth and uniformity.

Working on the reel seat and handle

A little extra glue, it scraped off easy enough.

Most nerve racking part?  Applying the epoxy.

Such a nice looking rod!

The next morning there was a good looking rod ready to be given to my brother.  Surprise!  Amazing how good it feels to give...Merry christmas everybody.