rod building-who does it here? show off your work to give me some inspiration

[thetonyage]

So im new to rod building and have gained a wealth of knowledge from such websites as rodbuildingforum.com. im always looking at the rod showcase and man those guys can build a beautiful rod. I was wondering if any of you on here do it? Show off some pics of your build(s), i need some inspiration as far as guide wraps and cork grips, i cant quite figure out what color thread/trimbands and what i wanna do as far as makin my own cork grip. Ive turned 2 grips on my homemade lathe but im not really satisfied yet. If you build your own rods lemme see what you have come up with.

 

[Love2fish]

I build rods but have yet to build a fly rod. That will come this winter when I build a 7'6" 3 wt for the brook streams. I will try and post a few rods I have done later tonight. Most are pretty simple but very fun to build and more fun to catch fish on.

 

[CPR]

http://mattdotts.zenfolio.com/cprflyrods

 

[jdaddy]

Red and blue wraps with a small SYF on the blank.

 

[JohnPowers]

You need hi build epoxy for the wraps and a motor to turn the blank while the hi build up. I built all my imx and im6 rods.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Heres some cork I turned down for some of my builds.

 

[NCPAtrtbum]

Latest build. Just something simple.




Sevier Manufacturing blank. 7'0 3/4 wt.

I've got a Spey blank sitting here, need to get on that.

 

[bikerfish]

I build a bunch every winter, I'll try to get a few pics up.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Glass and 'boo nice. I cant wrap my mind around stepin' away from faster rods. I got a 10wt. build this winter. I have a problem with cork grip on my echo 10wt. turning to mush. So I'm building a all rubberized cork or a cabon fiber grip.

 

[stevehalupka]

biker,

i like your work

www.laurelridgerods.com

my buddy adam builds the above... outstanding work

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear board,

There seems to be a number of skilled builders here on this site.

Anyone care to post a picture of their very first build so I'll have a better idea of what mine will turn out to look like? ;-)

Dear NCPA and biker,

You guys actually used downlocking reel seats. They used to be the norm and they are my preference. Unfortunately, they are rarely seen anymore on a factory rod.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[gfen]

TimMurphy wrote:
You guys actually used downlocking reel seats. They used to be the norm and they are my preference. Unfortunately, they are rarely seen anymore on a factory rod.

They also used grips that aren't reverse half wells which are designed to hide the reel foot for an uplocking reel seat.

i'm curious, tim, due to your monsterous hands, which grip you prefer? i intially thought it was a full wells, but i think cigar grips fit me better.

i actually bought a southbend rod to copy the comficient grip style.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear gfen,

Actually my hands aren't all that large, I can't palm a basketball for example.

I really don't have a preference for any particular style of grip. I have rods with western grips, half wells, full wells, reverse half wells and cigar and I use them all.

I do like the downlocking reel seats though and my reasoning might not be shared by many people. When I am fishing I don't always maintain good line control during a cast with my off, read left, hand.

Because of that I find that with today's factory rods that feature uplocking reel seats the line gets fouled around the butt of the rod during the cast more often than I'd like.

It doesn't seem to occur with downlocking seats mostly because there doesn't seem to be much exposed at the butt of the rod to snag the loose line. I never get the line fouled on my SB 290 or any of the old Wonderrods that I fish with from time to time. The reel seems to keep the line away.

I'm curious if my reasoning makes any sense to anyone else?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[gfen]

Makes perfect sense to me. I think the general reasoning you see them in Biker's case is that he's using fiberglass and bamboo blanks, so moving the weight further down helps to balance better.

Personally, I think they look better, as well.

 

[bikerfish]

Steve, thanks for the compliment. gfen and Tim, I just use them cause I like them. I have used uplocking on some graphites I built, but I like keeping the boo and glass builds kinda traditional.
I think gfen has a point, modern graphite blanks are so light that the makers try to move the reel as close to the hand as possible for balance, hence the grips with the relief to accept the reel foot.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear gfen,

I can also see the balance POV as well. In some cases the balance issue with an U/L reel seat is exaggerated when using some of the more modern reels.

It's kind of the "pfoot" issue in reverse. I just checked a couple of 5 and 6 weight reels I own against each other. I looked at a Gunnison 2, a Pflueger 1494 1/2, and a Sage 505L. Physically they are very close in diameter and capacity and the reel seats are only slightly different in length with the Pflueger being maybe 1/4 to 3/8's of an inch longer than the other two. The Pflueger seat is considerably thicker and heavier however.

When installed on a rod it takes 3, 4, or maybe even 5 more turns of the locking band to secure the Gunnison and the Sage in the reel seat. That makes that 1/4 to 3/8's of an inch a lot more like 1/2 inch in practice. The Sage and Ross reels shift forward considerably more in an U'L seat compared compared to the Pflueger.

In a D/L seat all the reels wind up in the exactly the same place, the very end of the rod.

I'm also all about the looks when it comes to a fly rod. I prefer something tasteful and traditional. I think NCPA's reel seat and handle is just about perfect in those regards. I'll bet biker's is as well, NC just had a better picture of his reel seat posted so it was easier for me to see and judge.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[bikerfish]

I built a couple brookie rods with dual slip ring seats, I notice when I fish them, I tend to mount the reel towards the rear of the seat. I suppose someone that is used to using an uplocking seat would slide the reel towards the front. either way, the fish don't seem to care!

 

[thetonyage]

Awsome guys, this is what i was looking for. Thats some real nice work you guys do. Im building a 9' 8wt on a pacbay rainforest II blank. I hope it comes out half as good as the pics you guys posted. I have a struble uplocking seat and have been trying to come up with a cigar style grip that i can get to hide the upper part. I think my next (3rd attempt at turning a grip) try will be something like a full wells, im gonna experiment and see what i come up with.

 

[eroc144]

@TimM:

Since you asked, here's my first build from a few years ago. I broke a 7'6" Loomis IMX 3Wt and they wanted to send me something lower end as a replacement. I had them send me the blank and got into building.

First pics are the IMX 7'6". I also posted a pic of the first bamboo rod I finished from a blank - Dickerson 7012 taper. I went with the downlocking reel seat b/c it was more "traditional" and b/c the reel balances the rod better further back from my casting hand.

EG

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear eroc,

Nice work, unfortunately you've set the bar too high for me so the blanks will remain leaning in the corner for the time being. ;-)

One of these days I'll build them though.

Regards,

Tim Murphy