Rod crafting.

[Royal]

I have been reading a lot of threads on here and on westfly about rods, and a lot of people have mentioned building rods. I was just curious if there were any class's offered around portland, and if its usally a spendy hobby.

Btw. Happy Tday, keep us all posted on your turkey day fishing trips.

One of the ifish good guys, Bait'O Eggs offers rod building classes.
Here is a link to his website Trask River Tackle

[wade]

Royal,
If you want to take a class, seems like it would be pretty interesting and worthwhile. If you're wanting a flyrod though I'd highly recommend the teacher being a flyfisher.
There's not a whole lot to it though, just make sure you're not in a hurry and it'll work out great. I'm saying this as a newby to rodbuilding, I'm finishing up on my first project and am already making plans to acquire the materials for my second one. I got my education from a rodbuilding book, and since you've been watching westfly you may know they were a great resource as well, mainly helping me decide what to build. The one I'm finishing up is a 9'0 9 Wt that will total $100 when all is said and done. I used kinda cheap components because I didn't know how it would turn out but the finished rod normally retails for $280. You generally should be able to make a rod for a 30-50% savings, depending on the brand and what components you choose.

Kevin

[Chromaflage]

Royal, there is a small tackle shop in Clackamas - Great American Tackle Shop - Talk to Gary Waterhouse. He has classes in there pretty frequently. You can also find materials for a good price at Angler's Workshop in Woodland, WA. Sometimes you can get high end blems, seconds and discontinued stuff pretty cheaply.

ORS

[ 11-28-2003, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: OregonRedside ]

[greenbuttskunk]

Royal, yes, take a class if you can, then start with some spinning or casting rods, till you get a bit dialed in. Building is alot of fun. I've built about 20 rods over the years and it's rewarding to build just what you want. You don't really save any money, but you get a rod, wrap color, and action just how you like it. Last flyrod I built was for my wife for valentines day while we were just dating. Did her name in gold and everything. She loved in and it payed off, she married me! :grin: I have a few books on rod building I could donate to you if you end up really pursuing it, let me know.
GBS

[Riverkeeper]

I built my first rod this summer, and it is a lot of fun. I checked out a helpful book from the library and got some advice from angler's workshop. It takes a little bit of investment in tools, so your first rod will probably not save you much money, but if you follow the above advice you can find some good deals on blanks. I borrowed some equipment and build a loomis GL3 5wt and ended up saving about 50 bucks on the finished rod cost (not counting tube and sock). I'll do it again for fun or to build a customized rod, but I don't know that you're gonna save a whole lot of dough. Thats probably not the point though.

[wade]

This could turn into a great thread, I hope some of you builders will keep checking it out.

I just finished wrapping my first rod and I'm ready for the finish. I had a booger of a time getting the guides all lined up, I had to rewrap two that were misaligned and one that was measured wrong. My book said to mark where all the guides go with tape, but tape the guide on only when its time to wrap that particular one. I think it would be easier to align them by taping them all and eyeballing them, then wrap them all at once, that's how I'll do my next one.

Regarding saving money or not, my next one won't save me much money because the finished rod is on sale now and the blank isn't. I don't think a person should count personal time or cost of tools as part of the cost of a rod, but if you do it'll obviously drive the cost up. My friend that makes rods says in general you can buy a reel and line with the money you save building your own, and I think that's accurate if you're careful. The downside is, if you break the rod the warranty is only for another blank.

Kevin

[Bait O' Eggs]

Ifish has a fly board? :whazzup: :tongue:

Royal - Building rods can cost as little as $5 in equipment or you can spend thousands on fancy machines. I build a lot of rods each year because I enjoy to build rods. I dont really care how long it takes me, because I like the process and have no desire to mass produce them. Personally I use less than $40 in equipment with my wrapping set up and find that the only thing more money would do is save maybe an hour a rod.

If you want some help in building a rod, let me know. I need to get a class scheduled before the end of the year, which I charge $35, but give a one time credit of $10 on your first kit should you purchase from me. If you dont want to wait for a class (I never seem to have enough time to schedule these as often as people want) let me know and I can walk you thru the process and get you pointed in the right direction.

Since most people built one or two rods a year, I try to direct people to where they can save some money on materials, and how to set up a wrapping stand without refinancing the house. In my opinion the book by Tom Kirkman is a great book for the beginner to read and then build a rod without any other help. Questions can be posted on rodbuilding.org if you have something specific that you need help and cant find the answer. I frequent an east coast rod building site and it is interesting in the fact that it is kind of specific for the style of fishing they do in that area and it is mostly surf fishing from the beach with 10 foot or longer rods. I suppose a rod building board in Oregon would be mostly salmon steelhead fishing.

Good luck building your first rod, and keep your wraps tight and smooth. :smile:

[wade]

I visited Angler's Workshop in Woodland today, and it became crystal clear why there is disagreement on cost. That is the go-to place for a lot of folks and they have good products, top of the line. Pretty expensive though. There are other places that have good products for way less, albeit not top of the line. The components for my next rod may go $125-150 at Angler's but $50 at Glenn Wicks in Creswell. Its all about what you want to spend. I'm going to buy from both places and save where I don't think it matters.

Kevin

[Royal]

Would you recommend for a beginner to get a cheap rod blank in case you mess up? Also what is the average ammount of hours that a rod might take?

[wade]

I think researching for which blank you want and which components to use and then looking around for the best buy is the funnest part. Most recommendations are to start with a cheap rod and components and I agree with that, but if $100 isn't too much to spend you can make a rod to be proud of. Its certainly possible to make one for $50 no doubt though, but it'd definitely be like your first rod when you started fishing, if you're already into the sport full bore it'd be hard to be happy with it. The component that sucks money fast is the reel seat, don't spend over $20 on your first one, you can get a good one for that. When the first one turns out good then find your dream rod to make, its great!

Kevin

[Bait O' Eggs]

In my opinion first time rods are kind of like a persons new born kid, only pretty to the parent/owner just kidding, I have seen some pretty nice rods from first time builders, and some that should have practiced on a broom handle a couple times

First time rods will have mistakes, and little blemishes that most people wont notice except the owner. I cant tell you how many times I have had a rod come back to me and the person wants to show me their rod and they say, "doesnt it look good!!! dont look at that (4th guide) I had some problems there, but doesnt the rest of it look good!!" :smile:

Most people know how crafty they are with their hands, if you typically do very detailed work and it turns out nice, so will your rod, if you think installing door molding is best done with a hatchet, your rod will probably not look like a factory rod

I have had guys tell me they spent 10 to 12 hours building a rod, I can tell you it takes me about 2 to 3 hours and I am wrapping them by hand much like the first time person. I figure it takes me about 30 minutes to ream the cork and put on the handle, about an hour to an hour and a half to tie the guides, and about 30 minutes to apply the finish.

[Riverkeeper]

Having built my first one not too long ago, I would advise that you don't spend $400 on a blank, but do remember that the idea is to have a rod that you actually like when you are finished. I put about 6-8 hours on it and it came out very well in my opinion, infact there is nothing to "hide". I am only a moderatly crafty person, so maybe I just got kind of lucky? I think the key is to be deliberate, think carefuly about sequencing the assembly BEFORE you get the epoxy out, and take your time. The 6-8 hours I spent were spread over two weeks.

EDIT: By the way BOE, my mom thinks the rod I built is pretty too :grin:

[ 12-02-2003, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Riverkeeper ]

[TillamookChinook]

Building a rod is kind of like tying your own flies: It is satisfying and another way to be involved with flyfishing even when you can't be on the water.

I recommend buying as nice a blank as you would want to fish with. Then you will enjoy the rod every time you go out.

[ESL]

I have taught several classes and many individual's rod building. If there is enough interest maybe we can put together a weekend clinic or several week night classes after the first of the year.

Todd Vivian

Lamiglas, Inc.

[will_e_fish]

I hope someone keeps me on their email list for a rod building class. Just not on a tues. night please. I promise to leave the roofing axe and framing hammer home only if I can bring a small ball pin to form cork around rod seat.
Seriously would like to be on class list.

[santiamflyguy]

the first rod i built was on a Scott STS blank, which normally retails for $300ish. i got it on clearance for $99. i had a great coach and got to work in a professional-grade shop, but stil had the first-time jitters.

like others have said, the first rod won't be perfect, so don't have too great of expectations. but after two or three, you'll definitely be turning out products equal to factory quality, and after five or six, you'll see all the flaws in mass-produced rods.

best advice i can give is find someone who's done it before, see if you can use their stuff, and go from there. it saved me so much pain and possibly hundreds of dollars in screwups i would have made.

and, while i didn't consider it lucky when it happened last week, i broke my first rod, that STS, and i'm getting a replacement from Scott. now i get to build it after having built ten or so, and damnit, it's going to look *HOT* this time around.

despite what some people say, rod building isn't cheap. see, 'cause if you're like me, you'll say

"oh, for $350 i could buy a factory st. croix legend ultra 9'9" 7wt. however, using this blank i got on clearance for $60, plus $40 in materials, i'll still have $250 left. looks like it's time to build an 8 weight AND a 3 weight too!"

[wade]

:grin: