Super User David P Posted October 21, 2007 Super User Posted October 21, 2007 I've been looking through a few Rod building threads on here, and looks as if more people are starting to do this. How long does it take to build a rod roughly once the blank is purchased? Is it easy to mess up so bad that the blank goes to waste, or is it a pretty low risk situation? Is this something just about anyone can do, or are there many tools and such that go into properly building a rod. What are the lightest, most sensitive, below $150 blanks ? And how much can I expect to pay extra past the money of the blank? Links or anything would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again. Quote
Mattlures Posted October 21, 2007 Posted October 21, 2007 Building rods is about the easyest thing you can do. You dont need any fancy tools. Youl need a drying motor and a couple phone books along with your rod components. I have made a bunch of rods a long time ago. I would just watch tv with my thread going through one phone book and the other one on top of it for added pressure and just turn the rod by hand. I made some awsome complex diamond wraps this way. The hardest part was was getting a good clean clearcoat but even that wasnt that hard. There are a lot of little tips that I am sure the guys here can help you with like Always check the spline. Quote
dbass Posted October 21, 2007 Posted October 21, 2007 Brokejew, Quote I've been looking through a few Rod building threads on here, and looks as if more people are starting to do this. And even more are stopping after the first try... Quote How long does it take to build a rod roughly once the blank is purchased? I put no less than 30 hrs into each rod I build.... Quote Is it easy to mess up so bad that the blank goes to waste, or is it a pretty low risk situation? If you don't do your reading before you start I have seen some really messed up layouts...No such thing as low risk when a customers hard earned cash or even your own cash is involved.... Quote Is this something just about anyone can do, or are there many tools and such that go into properly building a rod. I would say anyone with a good sense of tools and layout can build decent rods. There are not that many tools on the market "made for" rod building. All of the tools in my shop I made with the help of the guys on the rodbuilding.org forum. Quote What are the lightest, most sensitive, below $150 blanks ? you will have to search on-line catalogs or get a hold of the different blank manufacturers catalogs and do a lot of research... Quote And how much can I expect to pay extra past the money of the blank? Unless you have a business license you will pay MSRP for all components of the build. Which can bring you upto just about what you would see for a finished stick in the rack... Read ... Newbies with rod building questions.... Good Luck & Tight Wraps!!!! Mattlures, Quote Building rods is about the easyest thing you can do. That's is funny & NOT TRUE!!!.. If it is so d**n easy why then isn't everyone doing it? I have been rolling rods for 15 years professionally and some 10 years practicing prior to that. To this very day I still learn something new every time I start a new rod... Just my .02¢ Tight Lines!!!! Quote
Super User Gatorbassman Posted October 21, 2007 Super User Posted October 21, 2007 If Matt's compairing it to making lures, I'll have to agree with him. But I popped a pizza in the oven yesterday and 12 minutes later it was done. Now that was easy. lol Quote
Mattlures Posted October 21, 2007 Posted October 21, 2007 Well let me explain why it is easy. You can do it without any special tools. My first rods I used a drill and a couple blocks of wood as a drying setup. I used two phonebooks, as my rod wrapper. It is easyer with a wrapping machine( I had one of those too) but to make a few rods you dont need it. My rods came out perfect the first time, there was nothing dificult. I will psot pictures later. All my wrapped rods are at least 7 years old but you will get the picture. I think I put maybe 8hrs at most into each one but I got faster as I went. When I say easy I mean, ANYBODY can do a basic wrap. There is nothing dificult about epoxing the real seat and grips , and wrapping some guides on. For me it is just not worth it to do anymore. I might make a repair but even then most quality components cost almost as much as a finished rod so I didnt save any money. I do have some baddass looking rods but I dont have the time or desire to do anymore. If I had to have custom I would probably pay for it know. Quote
dbass Posted October 22, 2007 Posted October 22, 2007 Sorry Matt, Ain't buying it. You speak of wrapping. On the average the 8" to 10" fore wraps you were doing average 8 - 10 hours. I don't care if you were hand turning or using power.... The quote you made was.... Building rods is about the easyest thing you can do.Fancy Wrapping isn't building. Rod layout, spine finding, guide foot prepping, static flex testing, guide spacing, test casting, guide wrapping, grip turning, grip and seat mounting, finding the proper balance points, etc. That is rod building!Learning that takes some time, and it is always being improved upon. Quote
Super User flechero Posted October 22, 2007 Super User Posted October 22, 2007 You can do it without any special tools True, and I can make molds with $5 worth of plaster and a popsicle stick. Doesn't mean my baits would even be worth the plastic they are poured with. You are a magician with soft plastic, I might screw up a straight tail worm. ...lol Not everyone can turn cork, wrap and work with finish... even if they follow charts instead of designing their own rod. Having said that, I think anyone can build or at least assemble a rod.... how it looks and fishes is a result of what you are willing to put into it and how handy/artful you are. You can make almost all the tools you need/want to use. If you have money to spend, you can buy them as well. Cardboard boxes and phonebooks aren't sexy but you can make a 1st class rod with them if you take your time. Same for grips... I still use a homemade drill lathe for all my grip work. I have less than $20 and an old drill in the set up but it works as precisely as a high dollar lathe. Components are not that expensive.... even at retail, you can build any rod you can buy for the same or less $ but you can always ( I guess this depends on your skill) build something nicer. If you just want another rod, buy one, there is a learning curve for quality. If you are interested in something more, better or different, take the plunge. But remember that this is a time consuming hobby- great when the weather sucks but when the fish are biting, it takes FOREVER to make a rod. ...lol Quote
Mattlures Posted October 22, 2007 Posted October 22, 2007 David I corrected myself. It is not the easiest thing. However is was very easy for me. I just bought some parts and started wrapping. It was easy. Now I did get some basic tips and a quick rundown from the guys at the store where I bought everything. There are a bunch of little trcks that make things easyer. Most of these thing you only need to be shown once. Looking for the spline takes about a minute. Guide placement is simple and most of the other steps are to. I am not trying to insult you or your work. I just looked at your threads and your rods are beauitiful. Very impresive. The reason I said they are so easy is sombody asked how hard they are to do and IMO it is not dificult. Time consuming yes. Now Of cource I am only talking about basic wrapping. The diamond wraps and weaves are not basic. Matching componets to specific action or a specif customer need requires a lot of knowledge. Did you look at the pics I posted? those diamond wraps and some of the guides were put on using phone books. Once I bought a rod wrapper the guids became super fast and effortless. The diamond wraps were still done by phone book. I have no desire to build any more. If I was going to do that I would just have you do it for me. I like your work. After reading my post again I might have came off a little arogant. I apologize, thats not what I was going for. I was just trying to encourage the beginners to give it a try. It doesnt cost to much to get started and it can be a lot of fun. Quote
Super User MickD Posted October 24, 2007 Super User Posted October 24, 2007 For another opinion: David is an expert and knows what he is talking about. I agree that I learn something with every build, so if you stand where I am in my rod building progress and look back it leads to a conclusion that a $150 blank may not be the right place to start. I recommend starting with a much cheaper blank, and I'm told that Rainshadow blanks are a very good value. Don't do it if you are just looking for a cheaper rod. It's not about cheap, it's about doing it yourself and coming up with a rod you can really feel proud of. You can buy some very nice rods for $100, all built up and ready to go, especially if you follow the Bass Pro Shops sales. (Like David said) To me the reason for building is that I can, for the price of a good premium rod, (~$200) have a rod that is better than a factory rod, designed specifically for my type of fishing, for my particular reel and line type, better, lighter guides generally, better cork, that has my "brand" of winding schemes (simple, elegant, classy). I recommend you look at David's post at the top of the tacklemaking forum for an idea of what you are getting into. For first rods you don't need all the equipment he has-you can turn cork on a drill press with the proper "jigs," or you can just use purchased cork handles and sand them to what you want. You can make reamers fairly easily, and as others have pointed out, winding can be done with books for thread tension. You will need a drying motor and chuck (bought mine on eBay for about $12-cobbled my own V blocks for supporting the rod for winding and drying). Another great source of info is the library at http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/library.html Rodmaker Magazine is about as good as it gets for info, but costs about $27/year (worth every penny if you get into rodmaking). It is very important to understand that every aspect of designing a rod is flexible-you can do whatever you want- BUT you should understand why you are doing it the way you are planning to do it and understand the tradeoffs involved. For first builds you can copy existing designs, then work on your own designs on subsequent builds if you choose to continue. One of the most critical steps that was sort of glossed over as inconsequential in an earlier post is that of guide sizing and location. Read up on that in detail before starting a rod (before buying the guides). An idea for cheaply getting a feel for winding is to buy a few hook keepers and some thread that matches your existing rods that don't have keepers, and install some keepers on those rods. I'd practice on an old piece of blank or a dowel first. If you do your homework I don't think the risk of ruining a blank is that high. It may not be the same rod you would build if it were your 10th rod, but it will be a good, servicable, rod that you can be proud of. Mick Quote
dbass Posted October 24, 2007 Posted October 24, 2007 Mick, For first rods you don't need all the equipment he has-you can turn cork on a drill press with the proper "jigs," or you can just use purchased cork handles and sand them to what you want. You can make reamers fairly easily, and as others have pointed out, winding can be done with books for thread tension. You will need a drying motor and chuck (bought mine on eBay for about $12-cobbled my own V blocks for supporting the rod for winding and drying).Took me 15 years to accumulate the equipment that I have on the rod building side of my shop. It just depends on how much you have been bit by the rod building addiction.Tight Wraps All!!!!! Quote
Super User fishfordollars Posted October 24, 2007 Super User Posted October 24, 2007 If done right it may be easy for the ones allready doing it but I'm not buying that it is easy. Certainly was not for me. The first one I built I did not know you needed to correctly locate the spine. The wrapping left a lot to be desired also. Figured I would just pay the money. Quote
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