Rainshadow 1085XST casting: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

Just finished up this one. Same color scheme as the 1143 spinning rod that I built for myself with a couple minor changes. The XST phenom continues with another fun project.

Again, apologies for the photographic quality.. I cant take decent rod pics to begin with but then something happens when resizing uploading to make them even less attractive. Kinda frustrating but here are some highlights of this build:

14" grade A cork tapered rear grip with metal butt cap. The O.D. on the cork is a little big so once again I sanded the rear to more closely match the O.D. on the butt cap for a smoother transition. Some day I'll have a mini-lathe and turn handles with cool inlays, custom tapers and whatnot.

I put a little more "jewelry" on this one and added a trim ring between the reel seat and the rear grip in addition to the one between the reel seat and foregrip.

Textured graphite blank exposed reel seat with cusioned hood.

Clear label...this is the area that I scratched on the other blank. I have since learned that running a bottle brush through the cork after reaming will ensure that it is clear of grit. That was a costly, discouraging lesson that set the timeline back a few days.

Signature side of the label. Again, photographic quality sucks but you get the idea.

And now the guide wraps. Light blue with spring green trim and inlays. I think trim and inlays are more effective in metallic but Jim seemed to prefer a more subtle effect so thats what we went with. These guides have stainless steel frames and TIO blue rings...I love these guides! I really wanted to include that blue color in the guide wraps but it was just more flash than I figured Jim wanted so I snuck in a few electic blue metallic wraps on the ferrule, label and hookeeper just so it would sparkle just a little!
2 single thread inlays and a 3 band trim on each end:

Each single foot guide has the same trim and inlay pattern along with a forhan locking wrap. Notice the wraps in front of and around the guide frame. This effectively "locks" the guide foot in place. I think the guide frame would break before you could get it off the rod without cutting it.

Thats it for now. Tonight I'm putting one final coat of epoxy on the 1143 spin that I'm rebuilding and this weekend I'll be gutting my workshop area so I can start remodeling it. But before I can get too far into the remodel I have to get the next XST1085 done in time for Christmas.

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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
Keep fishin and keep smilin -Tooter