Rod Blank experience

**fishinhand** · 08-02-2009, 12:30 PM

With just finishing up college and funding being short, and time available, I was dabbling with the idea of picking up a rod blank and trying to make a rod to handle steelhead and more weighty species. Was wondering if anyone on here has had experience with this craft, or if they have their opinions on if it is a good experience, or a severe headache and waste of time. I would love to hear what members of this board have to say. Thanks.

**AaronJasper** · 08-02-2009, 12:41 PM

I made one rod once! It was a major pain in the a**! I loved the rod but when I broke it I never repaired it as all you get is an unfinished rod blank as a replacement! To me its more trouble than its worth. If you were going to do a lot of them and get good at it that's one thing, but to make one, it could be a disastrous undertaking.

**fishinhand** · 08-02-2009, 02:26 PM

i kind of had that feeling that it may be a severe undertaking. I guess maybe its comparable to fly tying, your first one may be a disaster, but the more and more you do it, the better you get. except this is exponentially more expensive than tying flies. Thanks for the input, if I decide to throw caution to the wind and tackle this project, I will keep the board updated with my results. Hopefully I can make up my mind and get this done before the steel season starts. maybe i'll love it so much I'll skip grad school and become a shut in just building tons and tons of fishing paraphernalia.

**wwelz** · 08-03-2009, 08:29 AM

Building fly rods is a labor of love. I have built ten or fifteen rods. Building just one is a waist of time. Some fisherman like the satisfaction of putting together and using a rod that is custom built . Aaron is absolutely correct about the warranty. The price of the blank is misleading because the cost of the components adds up ( reel seat,guides, thread,epoxy ,cork handle,glue) . You also need to invest in a jig to build your rod that will rotate while the epoxy dries.The way to begin is to find a shop nearby that sells rod building supplies. Most of these shops offer classes at little or no charge on rod building. In summary I would not recommend building a rod unless you have some idea that you may be interested in pursuing rod building as a hobby or business.

**nutman** · 08-03-2009, 09:00 PM

if you can find a class on how to do it ,it is just a fun as tying if your intoi it ,it takes time ,one thing you can say is it is your rod .You need a rod lath or something to hold the rod in place to do it right the more you lookinto it you will find out what you need there are videos out there .the epoxy is a bit hard to do .
It can be fun ,if you want it to be , i made a 600 dallor rod for like 250.

**Walshmiko** · 08-04-2009, 02:55 PM

I wanna take up rod building too, I have mastered fly tying and it just doesnt do it for me anymore, Plus Im sick of the gay reel seats sage glues on there rods!!! I was thinking about warming up on a cheap blank to get the hang of it then moving on to a real rod..Im so anal with fly tying im sure ill be just as anal with rod building so Im sure it will turn out just fine..I have a List of rods I wanna build and I actually picked up a nice blank off ebay, Its a loop gray series,9ft 3wt for 80 bucks shipped.. I need to get going with this project.. I really wonder what the rod casts like..