Hi, Rod Building is addictive, last winter builds.

[Rich G]

Hi, I am new to this forum and wanted to say hello. I built a few rods last winter and have fished them all summer. I have began planning my next rods for the winter. A very addicting hobby. Have a great day, Rich.

[Alpster]

Rich G,

Welcome to the board! Very nice woodwork on those handles! There are a few rod builders with a lot of talent who hang around here.  Keep up the good work on those rods and feel free to jump in with any secrets you might have to share.

Ronnie

[Rich G]

Alpster,

   Thank you for the welcome to the forum, also for the compliment on my rod handles. I look forward to browsing through the forum and see what tips I can pick up, fishing and rod building. Have a great day. Rich.

[Guest DavidGreen]

Rich G,

Welcome To The Forum!!

Some really fine grip work you have there. Those are sweet!!!

Tight Wraps!!

[Rich G]

Hi ReelMech,  

 

Thank you for the welcome and the compliment, have a great day, Rich.

[ominousone]

Are those handles wooden?  If so, I would like to know how they feel in the hand, and what not.  My father turns wood all the time and I would love to see what he could do.

[justtrying]

hey rich,

let me add my WELCOME!!!!!

Good looking handles ...what kind of blanks??  do you spiral wrap them?  we just love to see/read, all the the little details

i bought a lathe a few months ago & am doing some little things on some rods & it's a lot of fun.   ...fact is, i've spent so much on lathe, etc., til it's almost a hobby in itself.. but, again, it's fun.

looking forward to hearing/sharing with you, glad to have you onboard

ronnie

[flechero]

Rich,

Welcome!  

Nice woodwork...  looks like maple on the fly handle and walnut (or shedua) on the dark halves with maybe ash?  (looks like a more open, porous grain, like ash or one of the oaks)

Look forward to hearing some of the details.

[Rich G]

Hi, the handles are made from wood. The wood used for the two tone handles are Wenge (Dark Hard Wood) and Che-Chen (Gold Colored Hard Wood). The fly rod handle is Cherry. The handles are turned around a expanding mandrel, the reason for that is I bore out the wood before I turn it to shape to make it liter. When the handle has been finished (Tru-Oil) I glue Flexcoat Arbors inside of them to give them a lite but solid surface to ream for final fit to the blank. The Blanks I used for these rods are, (Spinning) St. Croix V (Legend Elite) 66MLF, the guides on that rod are Recoil Spinning guides. The Bait Casting rod was built with a Rainshadow IP844 Inshore crank bait blank, I shortened it from seven ft. to six ft. six, for the purpose of making a heavy spinnerbait rod, large plastic finesse rod. The Casting rod is Bumper Wrapped with a DF #10 Alconite butt guide and all the rest #6 Alconites to the tip, including the Bumper guide. I used a #7 Alconite tip top, think the one size larger, lines up better to the rest of the guides. I have the most fun using the Bumper wrapped Bait casting rod, it will subdue large Pike and Bass like they are very much smaller, nice to be in charge when the big ones hit. The fly rod blank is a 8 ft. 4/5 wt. Tiger Eye blank, I think the Tiger Eye blanks are a excellent value, not expensive and cast really well. I have only built the 8 ft. 4/5,s and the 8 ft. 3/4 wt. blanks.

The wood handles are not slippery unless they get very wet. I think that if you go to the extent of boring out the wood handles and filling them with solid Flexcoat arbors they are a combination of lite weight and very comfortable. I like wood over cork for rod handles, wipe them off with a soft towel, they look like new and ready to go fishing next time. I will try and post another photo later today of the guides to show how I set up the Recoils and show the bumper wrap rod a little better, hope I answered a couple things. Thank you for your nice remarks and have a great day, Rich.

[justtrying]

rich,

cool reply

thanks for details.

ronnie

[Triton9]

like the rods, good job!

[Syfer420]

those rod's are absolutly gorgeous rare to see a work of art that funtions like you say. Are you selling those rods our are they just for your use?

[Rich G]

Hi Syfer420 and Triton9,

I want to say thank you for your compliments. These rods are for my own use, rod building is a very fun and interesting hobby. Rodbuilding.org is a great place to learn and ask questions about rod building. Building rods is almost as fun a fishing, almost. Again thank you for your compliments, have a great day, Rich.

[Grey Wolf]

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great  looking handles.