Rod Building

[JakeRamsey]

I would really like to build a fly rod this winter. Does anybody have advice on this? I started watching videos on youtube, but there's nothing like personal guidance- especially for something as detail orientated as this. I'm thinking a 9' 5wt glass or graphite. Thank you.

 

[TimRobinsin]

+1 to that. if anyone in the harrisburg or lancaster area is into showing some newbies how to get started it would be much appreciated! I want to start working on my Nymphing rod, got the blank but need the rest. plus I would like to build my own switch rod before next fall.

I'll bring a case of beer with me!

 

[DJBerg]

it's too bad you guys are so far from me, my fly tying group is starting a branch off night of rod building here in the next few weeks.

check out the 9 part series on batson enterprises web site, that's all i used to get me enough info to build my first rod.

 

[TimRobinsin]

thanks for the tip

 

[hbgbswanson]

Tim...I'm building a jig. Well it's almost done.

Oddly enough, end goal is a switch rod too.

 

[Fishidiot]

Jake,
Welcome to the Paff forums and our online community.

By all means build a fly rod this winter. I've built every one of my fly rods for at least the last decade. For what it's worth, my personal advice would be to start with price point blanks/components and build a rod that is functional - don't sweat the artsy details like fancy wrappings and high end reel seats. Go into your first rod building project as a learning experience to get a functional rod. Although I'm capable of doing fancy wrappings and such.....I still don't bother as I don't care what my guides look like - merely that they're functional and solid. On occasion, I'll build a rod as a gift and will take a bit more time but, for my rods, I don't sweat wrappings. Modestly priced blanks are available from Cabelas as well as complete kits that include glue, cork, fitted reel seats etc. One of these kits would be a good way to start because you'll know that the components will fit together and you shouldn't have to do much drilling or reaming to get the handle together (this is one of the biggest headaches in rod building). To get the guides correctly spaced, you can lay your blank on the ground next to a finished rod and simply put tape marks on the blank to mark the spots for your guides. Much is made of finding the blank's "spine".....however, I haven't worried this much. In fact, some of my better casting rods were ones in which I forget to locate the spline and the four sections work fine together.
Perhaps I should point out a disclaimer that I'm not picky about the performance/castability of fly rods. Other rod builders, I'm sure, will advise you take much more care over details.

 

[TimRobinsin]

Thanks Dave.

BTW the avatar is gorgeous!!!

 

[laszlo]

Fishidiot,

How is it possible to find the spine on a 4 piece rod when the only piece that has any flex to it is the tip section? I'm getting ready to start my first rod, a 6'6" 2 wt.

 

[afishinado]

Here is a link to a recent thread about rod building.


I Googled up some info that may be helpful:

http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building-101/Step-3

http://www.hookhack.com/html/rodbuildinginstructions.html

http://www.rsff.org/uploads/info/Fly_Rod_Building_Instructions.pdf


Good luck.

 

[DJBerg]

Fishidiot, How is it possible to find the spine on a 4 piece rod when the only piece that has any flex to it is the tip section? I'm getting ready to start my first rod, a 6'6" 2 wt.

i'm not him but a trick i use is my washer and the concrete floor beside it. and a piece of paper towel on the floor to not hurt the rod. but that's two solid sides, and i find my palm can be to soft sometimes.

 

[JakeRamsey]

Fishidiot,

Thank you for the advice, as I will use it when buying my supplies. Unfortunately, I'm getting the itch to fish now, so my first rod won't be one I make, but the Orvis Clearwater 4wt I bought today at Bass Pro. It's last year's model, not the Clearwater II, so I got it for $90. I'm very excited to catch my first trout on the fly! I feel an addiction coming on

 

[TimRobinsin]

This would be fun to go to. anyone interested?


http://www.icrbe.com

 

[bigslackwater]

Find the spline of the tip top piece first....it should be the easiest/obvious one to locate. Mark it. Then do the next section. Mark it. Put the two pieces together. Check to see that they find the same spline working together. If they don't, recheck the larger piece. Keep working with it until you have it, move on to the third section...check it with all three....and work your way down. the butt section is the hardest but when checked with the whole rod or the second section it usually becomes more noticeable. In the end you want it "popping" to the spline for the whole rod. If it feels iffy or hitting a few places when fully assembled you probably have one or two of the sections off. The idea is to work off of the piece you are certain about the spline, which is usually top... it's a trial and error process. If you want to get a feel for finding the spline. Try it with your store bought rods and take note where it "pops" and where the guides are aligned. Also, I use an old bathroom vanity mirror as my smooth surface. It doesn't get much smoother than that.

 

[azjackstraw]

how critical is guide spacing? The layout for the guide spacing puts one of the guides almost over the end of the second section. How close is too close to the end the section?

 

[azjackstraw]

after looking into this in more detail, it has done nothing but make me more confused. I have looked at several charts for rod guide spacings, and they all vary, some by 2-3 inches. I laid out the few rods I have and they are all different. 2 of the rods, both Cabellas, same length, 8 1/2, 5 & 6 wt, the guides are different. I am starting to wonder if I am putting more thought into this than is needed, or am I missing an engineering/science thing that is over my head? Are the discrepancies with the rods I own, an issue with mass production, or is there a rod weight to line to rod length to action ratio/formula I am missing? And if spacing is not spot on critical, why are the charts in 1/4 inch increments?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[Fishidiot]

azjackstraw wrote:
I am starting to wonder if I am putting more thought into this than is needed,

Yep, just tie 'em on. It won't make much difference.
Generally, guides tend to get closer to each other further out toward the end of the rod at the tip. For most of the trout rods I've built the strip guide(s) and lower snake guides are usually about a foot apart and gradually diminishing to about 3-5" apart at the tip end. There's no magic formula for this arrangement. With respect to guides being at the ferrules: this is more critical at the male end of the section than the female. If you put a guide too close to the end of the male section, the next female section may not have enough room to settle on to the male and this could cause your sections to separate while casting. I'd recommend you not have any guide wrapping closer than about 4" from the tip of the male end. Down the section at the female end, you can put the guide wrappings right down to the edge of the blank. To get a feel for these guide spacings relative to the section ends - assemble the blank and use some white tape to mark the spots where you want to put the guides. The light tape will allow you to see how well they're spaced out.

 

[JackM]

Guide spacing:

Use a chart to approximate. Tape down with a thin piece of masking tape on each leg (two legged guides). Then string line and pull tension to flex rod. Observe the way the line passes through the guides. Adjust so the line curves smoothly without sharp angles.

This won't help with instructions, but may provide inspiration:

My thread about helping GoodFortune start his self-built rod

 

[azjackstraw]

Thank you very much, Fish & Jack! I'm glad I waited to read this and didn't cut off the guides I already had wrapped! I'll post a pic when the rod is finished.

 

[stal42]

Finishing my first build tonight. 7'6" white Kabuto fiberglass 4wt. I'll try to post some pics when I'm all done, but it's been crazy fun and I plan to build a bunch more from here on out.

 

[Chaz]

azjackstraw wrote:
after looking into this in more detail, it has done nothing but make me more confused. I have looked at several charts for rod guide spacings, and they all vary, some by 2-3 inches. I laid out the few rods I have and they are all different. 2 of the rods, both Cabellas, same length, 8 1/2, 5 & 6 wt, the guides are different. I am starting to wonder if I am putting more thought into this than is needed, or am I missing an engineering/science thing that is over my head? Are the discrepancies with the rods I own, an issue with mass production, or is there a rod weight to line to rod length to action ratio/formula I am missing? And if spacing is not spot on critical, why are the charts in 1/4 inch increments?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Forget charts, go to a shop that caries your rod and take your rod with you, match your rod to what the manufactured rod has for guide spacing, and mark the spacing on your rod.