Rod building tips?

[LeoB]

G'day raiders

Long story short I've got too much free time so to stave off the boredom I'm thinking of trying to build a couple of new rods. I've been doing plenty of reading on the web and I'm waiting on a book to turn up.

So was wondering if anyone with experience had any tips or tricks you would like to share? And also general advice on materials you use and why?

I'm pretty handy, have plenty of tools and patience so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Cheers Leo

[stevefish]

you will NOT save money, in the ol days money could be saved by building rods. with bulk production (china) and a near limitless range of rods available, buying the components will cost more than the equal rod pre production made.unless you really need your teams colours on the guides the rod you want is available somewhere.

if you go a bit expensive on your first rod dont epoxy the guides first up. let them sit for a while then take them off and re bind them, your second effort will be heaps better.

you will need patience.

you can shape your grips on a lathe with sandpaper, or get them on a dowell or rod of some sort and do the same in a drill.

learn about the spine and where to put your guides, i guess your book will tell you this.

you will need patience.

that said its prettty cool to have your own stuff, even cooler when someone admires it without knowing you built it. you will also learn heaps about rods and when you look at 6 identical rods at the store you will be able to look at them all and pick the best one, and some are better than others.

what style of rod are you looking at?

[LeoB]

Thanks Steve. Yeah not really about saving money. Just looking for a new hobby, and over the years I noticed a few things about a few of my rods I'd do a little different.

Yeah I have located the spine on the first blank, and am ready to start fitting it off once the rest of my parts turn up.

I have a blank for a little 1-3kg 6' blank and I've bought a Fiji kit for a 4-6kg 7' 1 piece. I have rebound (poorly) a few guides before but have been practicing on the blank I have.

Cheers Leo

[ncr]

Hey Leo,

Check out rodbuilding.org for pretty much all the info you need. On top of that, there is plenty of info on youtube if you do a search.

I've been rodbuilding for over 15 years and it is very satisfying, but you need bucketloads of patience, particularly during the learning phase.

[fisho_260]

By becoming a rod builder you are about to possibly develop a new addiction.

For me it started about 15 years ago and now well over 500 rods later i suppose its an addiction of sorts.

A few handy tools to have straight up are.

small scissors like braid scissors

a craft or hobby knife

tape measure

ruler

masking tape

white pencil

this will get you started but other tools may come along if you get into it.

A couple of tips before you start that might help are.

always have a few small squares of masking tape handy to hold down thread if you have to release pressure at any time

don't use anything like metho or turps anywhere near your epoxy

try and find brushes that don't have animal hair as they produce bubbles when mixing.

and the best tip i was ever given was to mix your epoxy on aluminium foil over a coffee cup then throw it away so there is no chance of contaminating your next mix.

hope you have fun

[gretsch]

LeoB,

Fisho_260 has hit the nail on the head!! You will become addicted. Be prepared to live and breath the hobby!!

Mudhole in the US have great How To Videos on their site and You Tube also has plenty of demos.

Good luck and feel free to PM if you need any tips.

[luderick -angler]

The guys have hit it all on the head a few products I recommend are Erskines thread presever and Epoxy, Gudebrod threads oh and a good rod rotisserie also when epoxying avoid humid conditions. The other thing is discovering blanks that are not avilable as factory builds theres boron, fibreglass, split cane, graphite its fun and even better finding old classics on online shop in need of a refurb and the nfishing them bringing them back to life I have redne a few old Sportex rods and its joy. I started rod building as a 10 yr old 26 years alter and countless rods I still love it just finished a a Mudhole 3 weight fly rod!!! Now to christen it!

PS don't overlook good spar marine varnish as a finish for your guides and its much easier to remove than epoxy 90 percent of my rods are finished in varnish.

[LeoB]

G'day

Thanks for the the tips guys. Yeah I've worked with epoxy before, so know the working area needs to be 100% clean for a good bond. And I'm waiting on an order from mudhole. I will post a few photos of the new blank when I finish it and will be asking for comments. Thanks again guys.

Cheers Leo

[macman]

Keep all of your chinese takeaway containers, they are handy for mixing expoxy, especially the little sweet and sour ones, look for cheap paintbrushes in 2 dollar shops, you will need heaps of them, best to use once and throw them out.

Barbecue rotisserie motors are good if you want to make your own spinner for drying epoxy, I just use the one from the bbq when I need it and have it mounted on a home made rod lathe. I don't build too many rods, so I turn my by hand, but you still need something to turn it on. Made mine using wheels and timber etc.

Practice by doing guide replacements, until you can do them well without people even realising they were done by hand, don't build your own, or at least don't epoxy the bindings.

Be very carefull if filing feet before binding, best to repaint and then make sure you properly cover with epoxy to stop rusting. Learnt this the hard way.

Forgot, get yourself some hotwax to set feet before binding, very handy stuff generally when rod building.

Edited February 13, 2012 by macman

[ncr]

Have to totally with using Erskine epoxy - there is much, much better products out there than that. I currently use Flexcoat. And I rarely use colour preserver, there are plenty of good NCP threads out there now. Gudebrod is great if you can get it - their factory closed down for a while and they've only just started operation again and product is entering the market slowly. At the moment, I'm using prowrap, but Fishhawk is another good one that you can get locally. Avoid speed thread - way too many problems.

I mix my epoxy on a doubled-over sheet of (clean) aluminium foil that I drape over a little plastic cup, forming a little shallow cup on the foil. Never use medical syringes from the chemist to measure your epoxy, they are lined with a silicone-based lubricant that will play havoc with the epoxy. Only use syringes made specifically for rodbuilding. For brushes, I bought a bulk pack of disposable brushes from mudhole. You can buy brush cleaner, but for a rough cost of 25c a brush, it made a lot more sense to me to just throw it away and use a new one.

My rotisserie for epoxy drying is driven by a windscreen wiper motor from a 2nd hand auto parts store, while my rod lathe is made from an old sewing machine motor that is hooked up to a foot pedal. I do recommend getting a drying rotisserie, but a rod lathe is certainly not required to produce a professional product, it just makes the job faster and easier.

Rodbuilding is very much a case of trial and error, and there are thousands of little tricks that people have developed over the years for overcoming these problems. You will be fine as long as you can maintain your sanity after having to pull-apart and redo a job that you have spent the last 10 hours on. This will probably happen to you at some point.

[gretsch]

I agree with ncr. Erskine products are inferior to those being developed in the US. Personally, I use Threadmaster. It is very good.

[sharknett]

Don't take it up if you have pets that shed alot of fur. Recently started my first rod since getting married, but havng 3 cats in the house I just can't get a clean finish with all the fur floating around. Shame really as I used to enjoy it.