Rod building: mission accomplished

[jayL]

The mission was, indeed, accomplished.

:::strolls out onto aircraft carrier in full flight suit:::

For those of you who remember, a few months ago, I posted a thread on rod building. Many questions were answered and pieces of advice were given.

I bought the G Loomis GL3 Fly Rod Kit from Cabelas. 9' 5 wt. I thought this would be a good nymphing and globugging rod for some bigger streams that I fish.

I also bought the cabelas rod building kit. Not that all of the homemade advice wasn't appreciated, but I had giftcards to spend.

The rod turned out... well, it turned out. And it looks pretty fishable to me.

I'll post some pictures later, but for the benefit/ammusement of others, I'll post some lessons learned.

mistake #1.
Getting impatient while cork reaming. I tried to do too much too quickly and got the reamer stuck in the cork. When I pulled it out, some of the sand came unglued and I had to fish it out of the handle.

mistake #2.
I didn't ream the handle enough. It fit like a glove, but when I put the reel seat on, sliding the ring up under the handle caused it to split. I put some glue in there to seal it up and I'm going to look into repairing.

mistake #3.
Wrapping is a little harder than I thought. I had trouble a few times, but got better with practice. Wrapping the female end of the joint in the blank was difficult as the loops kept coming off the end. I think I got lucky to get it when I did.

mistake #4
I should have been a little more patient in making sure my wraps were tightly packed in a few spots.

mistake #5
A wrap began to come undone as I was putting finish on. I smoothed it out as best I could and finished over it. It now looks fine.

mistake #6
I didn't trim some of the tag ends of the thread as close as I should have causing minute dimples in the finish.

mistake #7
finishing it in the winter during a rainstorm. How am I supposed to try it out then!?!

mistake #8
i left a little air in under the label which is on the blank down near the handle.



in all, I made my mistakes and took my lumps. I had fun with it and it turned out about as well as I thought it would/should.

I plan on getting better and look foreward to getting some more rods!

If you all promise to be nice, maybe I can ya guys cast er at the jamboree.

Jay

 

[MKern]

Congrats Jay. Just curious, what color/s are you wraps and is your blank a deep mahogony. If so, I did a 7'6" GL# about a year ago. It is probably my favorite rod. So much so I would like to buy another kit from cabelas, in a large size and before they all sell out.

 

[jayL]

Thanks.

Its deep mahogany, and I wrapped it in a burgundy reddish brown color. I have a versitex rod with the same color scheme and I like how clean it looks. Its close to seamless.

If I do another one in the same color, I might look into some gold trim wraps but not sure yet.

 

[tomgamber]

First of all, congrats...feels pretty cool, huh? Feel even better if it weren't 20 degrees outside. Here are a couple of cures for some of what ailed you...

jayL wrote:


mistake #3.
Wrapping the female end of the joint in the blank was difficult as the loops kept coming off the end.

You don't have to get right up to the edge...the epoxy will build up and dome out and reach the end for you. If you wrap too close you risk the epoxy running over the edge.

mistake #4
I should have been a little more patient in making sure my wraps were tightly packed in a few spots.

This is what a burnishing tool is for...you can really pack them close by using it. Also, tension while wrapping very important.

mistake #5
A wrap began to come undone as I was putting finish on. I smoothed it out as best I could and finished over it. It now looks fine.

It'll probably be fine but the easiest thing to do would have been to fix it before finishing it. Just do everyhting else...when you're done, go back and just redo the one wrap.

mistake #6
I didn't trim some of the tag ends of the thread as close as I should have causing minute dimples in the finish.

If I get tag ends I go ahead and put a thin coat of finish on the wrap...when that has dried, it is very easy to shave off that dimple with a razor and after applying a second thin coat , you'll never even be able to tell. I like 2 thin coats better than one thick one. This is only one reason.

mistake #7
finishing it in the winter during a rainstorm. How am I supposed to try it out then!?!

SeeAbove...

mistake #8
i left a little air in under the label which is on the blank down near the handle.

You should see some of the crappy penmanship on my, what are other wise, nice looking rods.

 

[bigjohn58]

I am thinking of purchasing one of the kids from Cabelas also but I want the best I can get for around $100 from Cabelas. I have about $70 saved up on my Cabelas card but I don't want to really put more then $50 more dollars into this if I can help it. I want to get a 9' 6 weight for big nymphs and some streamers. I thought about the Fenwick HMG. This will be my first rod to build also. What blank should I get?

 

[JackM]

mistake #6
I didn't trim some of the tag ends of the thread as close as I should have causing minute dimples in the finish.


Tom's tip makes sense. Another thing to do about tag ends is after putting the color cure on and stiffening the thread a bit in the process, take a small flame and move it closer and closer to the protruding tag until it singes just enough to "evaporate" the tag. Then just smooth over it with your finger. This usually eliminates it entirely.

 

[Coughlin]

JayL,
Congrats! Feels pretty good, doesn't it

"Wrapping is a little harder than I thought. I had trouble a few times, but got better with practice. Wrapping the female end of the joint in the blank was difficult as the loops kept coming off the end. I think I got lucky to get it when I did."

I had the same experience with my first. Can't tell you how frustrating it was at the beginning. Actuallly, just getting the wrapping started gave me fits, but like you I got better. I also bought a thread tensioner which worked better than the teacup and book. Anyway, I've built two more since the first and really enjoyed both.
Coughlin

 

[Padraic]

Congradulations. Sounds like you got a lot out of it. I'm sure the next half dozen rods will really cement those lessons in your mind and you'll be an expert!

 

[jayL]

Thanks guys. All of the tips really should help.... I'm gonna bookmark this thread now.

The next project is probably a spinning rod for my dad for fathers day. Not sure yet.

 

[tomgamber]

I built a great little ultra light for my father in law. One thing I realized while watching him fish is that he had trouble holding onto his factory rods because his hands are large and strong. I built him a custom grip from cork rings that was larger and not tapered toward the butt like factory rods. He really likes it. It was made from the top section of a 9' 5wt fly rod. I may have bought it from brad from potter (on this board). the guys name was brad and the address was NC PA somewhere so that's kind of an assumption but I think I remember asking once. Anyway, think about and ask him about what he likes in a spinning rod before you do it. He'll like it even more.

 

[jayL]

I've already heard him griping about his rods before so I'm gonna have to look around for something that will fit.

He likes how slow fiberglass is, but he likes the sensitivity of graphite. Every time he got a decently high end graphite rod for sensitivity, he would complain about how it was stiff as a board. I've seen alot of real noodly spinning rods before, but they were all a little long.... looking for something around 5' or so.

As far as the grips, that's a good idea. I've been meaning to have a go at making my own since I started kicking this rod building idea around. Is it hard?

 

[tomgamber]

Its not as hard as you think. I went to lowe's and bought a threaded rod about a foot long and 2 large washer and two large wing nuts. Put epoxy between the rings and stack them and screw it really tight. they will bulge but it doesn't matter. They will uncompress when its dry and you release the pressure. The I just mounted the rod in a drill and the drill in the vise and started with a fine file and then went to sandpaper. Just be patient and be precise. You can mark the higher points on the cork with a marker and kind of sand between them as a guide. Just make sure the threaded rod you buy is smaller then the butt of the blank. You can ream it out when you mount it. I've made a couple this way. Some turned out better than others. Of course if you have access to a lathe, thats preferred and makes keeping the grip even and level a bit easier. My drill has a lock switch on the trigger so that helped too.

 

[Joe]

Congrats on your new toy/weapon. I just finished building a new 8'9 5wt 3 piece, matte black with black wraps. I used over sized single foot guides. My only complaint in building this is the matte black rod with flex coat. It is very unforgiving. Any mistake in applying the flex coat shows up if you do not remove it fast. Unlike gloss finish rods the lines are noticable where the flex coat stops and the rod begins. Just a warning to those that plan to build a matte finish rod take your time and get that steady hand out on the finish. I hope the rod performs as good as it looks!!

 

[bigjohn58]

Do the Cabela's kits come with good instructions or are there some good sites here on the net and if so what are they? This thread really has me in the mood to start building my rod!

 

[JackM]

Have a look here also:

http://www.mudhole.com/docs/r101.html

 

[OhioOutdoorsman]

The Cabela's instructions are generic an dleave something to be desired. The CD that comes with their rod building kit (not their blank kits) is good.

look at rodbuilding.org

 

[afishinado]

I too just started building fly rods. I am starting with cheaper blanks and components and will work my way up. Here is a link that you may find helpful. Click on each menu item for each stage of building. This info is fairly comprehensive, and may save you from buying a book or dvd. Good luck.

http://www.flyfisherman.com/rodbuilding/index.html

 

[jayL]

I used the dvd that came with the kit as well as the links above.

Once you lay it all out in front of you, it begins to make sense pretty quickly. It sounds overwhelming on paper, but it's really not that bad.