Fishing Forum

So who out there is into building fly rods? I've put 1 together, a 7 1/2 ft 4 wt for small streams. My question is: do most of you guys order your blanks and components online or buy from local shops? What shops in northern Utah have a good selection of building materials? I got my 4 wt as a kit from cabelas (wanted to put together a cheapie to see how I did) but was unimpressed with what they had on hand.

Thank you.
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Try this link,

[url "http://www.hookhack.com/"]http://www.hookhack.com/[/url]


I've dealt with them several times for rod building supplies (blanks, reel seats, grips, guides... EVERYTHING!).

IMHO, $600 flyrods are a huge waste of money. I can build a beautifully casting flystick for around $200 - struble seat, flor grade cork, unique wraps... the works. Of course there is some real crap out there, but you reach a point where the difference in equipment is miniscule.

It all comes down to simple mathematics. I'd rather have six $200 rods than two $600 rods. You can either cast or you can't - skill and experience cannot be purchased.

W2D
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Thanks for the link W2D. Have you built rods from the hookhack blanks or from the other blanks they sell? I definetly agree with you about spending too much on rods. I have 5 rods, all are less than 200$. I want to have a high end 5 wt but don't have the budget for it, so I'm looking to build one this winter.
Thanks again.
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What you say is exactly true. If you build a few rods a year for yourself you can save money. If you build rods for other people you'll be selling them for maybe close to the same as the rod makers themselves. Time is money unless you build rods strictly for yourself and friends. I will respectfully disagree with you that the blank on $600 factory rod is the same as a $50-$150 IM6 blank. A lot of thought goes into the taper,design and materials of a higher priced rod. Another thing you'll get on a factory rod is a good lifetime warranty (you should get a good warranty on a blank depending on the brand. When you build on a blank whether is a Sage or Rainshadow , and it happens to break, you send back the broken piece, and they'll send you a new section and your guides, unless you've already cut them off. Then you have to spine it, set the guides and wrap and Flex coat them. Factory rods you'll get back built. I do think you'll get a better looking and more customized rod if you build it no matter what blank you use, and you use good components. Shop around and get what you want.
W2D is right with Hooked handling rod building supplies. Better check them out before most of the good stuff is gone.
Here's some online links
[url "http://www.shofftackle.com/"]http://www.shofftackle.com/[/url]
link for Sage kit at $395. [url "http://www.shofftackle.com/sage-xp-kits.html"]http://www.shofftackle.com/sage-xp-kits.html[/url]
St. Croix kit is $227 [url "http://www.shofftackle.com/sc4f-2006-kits.html"]http://www.shofftackle.com/sc4f-2006-kits.html[/url]
Rainshadow blank is $84 [url "http://www.shofftackle.com/rainshadow4pcfly.html"]http://www.shofftackle.com/rainshadow4pcfly.html[/url]
All are 4 pc.
Read the warranties. You may be very careful with a rod, but it only takes an errant chuck and duck cast with a weighted nymph to ding a section and next thing you know you're wondering why your rod looks so strange-and shorter.[unsure]
The more you build, the better you'll get.
Another I and other builders have used is Hook and Hackle
[url "http://www.hookhack.com/"]http://www.hookhack.com/[/url]
For the rod building kits [url "http://www.hookhack.com/rodbuildingkits.html"]http://www.hookhack.com/rodbuildingkits.html[/url]
Pretty good prices there.
See James or Reggie at Hooked Tackle in Kaysville. HFT on this site.

EA
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I agree with Ash on being sure what you are getting. I bought a Silver Label kit (Orvis) for $149.00. No warrenty on the rod however, but the price at the time was right. I asked a friend if he would put it together for me (Lone Palm). He builds alot of rods. He said that the guides and the tip were junk and replace them with good ones (cost about $35. ). Plus I bought another blank kit for him in payment of building it. I am not saying that I paid full price for the kit, but, joe blow off the street would have.
For a good name brand blank you are still going to be paying for it.
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
However, the rod he made for me is beautiful and customized. I feel that, that is why most people build rods (customized and personal) but to think of building one to save money needs another look. Cost might be less but, don't forget time.
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Another question: When I put my first rod together, I used a cardboard box and a fly tying bobin. I learned how to make wraps from a couple of websites and the instructions that came with the kit. I spined the rod and placed the guides with masking tape. The wraps turned out pretty good I think. I applied the flex coat according to the instructions and did the quarter turn per 15 minute deal to dry it evenly. My question for you rod builders out there is am I missing something? Would my rod have turned out noticeably better if I had all the cool stuff I've seen in the rod building equipment sections on websites and catalougs? Any thoughts are welcome. (Some of you elitist snobs are probably thinkin I'm pretty ghetto right about now[])
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Scotty, on rodbuilding.org they have a small library you can click on. [url "http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/library.html"]http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/library.html[/url]
Click on the Easy to build rod wrapping jig. You'll be out of the ghetto and into the trailer park[].
Good luck bro.

EA
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Another question: When I put my first rod together, I used a cardboard box and a fly tying bobin. I learned how to make wraps from a couple of websites and the instructions that came with the kit. I spined the rod and placed the guides with masking tape. The wraps turned out pretty good I think. I applied the flex coat according to the instructions and did the quarter turn per 15 minute deal to dry it evenly. My question for you rod builders out there is am I missing something? Would my rod have turned out noticeably better if I had all the cool stuff I've seen in the rod building equipment sections on websites and catalougs? Any thoughts are welcome. (Some of you elitist snobs are probably thinkin I'm pretty ghetto right about now[]) [/reply]

First of all, St. Croix blanks rock - way underrated. A few of the Cabela's blanks also make excellent sticks.

Secondly Scotty, you're not ghetto (although some others do actually consider me an elitist snob). You're learning the same way as the rest of us.



Top 10 hints to building a great looking rod that you're proud of:


1) Build four simple wooden Vee-Blocks to support your blanks while wrapping, applying flex-coat, and curing the finish. At the very least, cut down a couple of heavy cardboard boxes and notch the ends. The coffee cup/book thread tensioning set-up will work fine if you only build the occasional rod.

2) Screw the "quarter-turn every 15 minutes" crap and get a cheap BBQ rotisserie motor - worth every penny. Nothing looks worse on a "home rolled" stick than a sagging, uneven finish job.

3) Wash your hands - often. Oils and dirt from your skin will discolor the thread and affect the way the flex-coat adheres to the blank.

4) Clean you rod building room. Vacuum and dust (or get her to do it) a day before you apply the finish or it will all end up on your wraps. Pet hair is the worst - keep Fido out of the room while the finish is curing.

6) Burnish your wraps - it make a huge difference. Alot of beginners skip this step.

7) Grind down the guide feet. I grind the sides on a bench grinder then sand the bottoms to a very thin and sharp taper on #400 wet/dry sandpaper.

8) Mix the epoxy on a small sheet of aluminum foil. This makes it easy to stir thouroughly and the bubbles come out faster than a mixing cup. Wait 10 minutes after mixing before applying. Bubbles still in the mix after 10 minutes? Exhale over the surface of the epoxy. Also, if you're the "can't leave well enough alone" type you can check the progress of the cure by poking at the foil as it will end up about the same thickness as the wrap coats.

***8.5) One coat of hi-build (regular) flex-coat beats the crap out of multiple coats of the thin stuff.

9) Unless you're the reigning 8th grade penmanship champion, consider dry-transfer lettering instead of attempting to write direstly on the blank.

10) Read Dale Clemen's book, "Advanced Custom Rod Building". An older publication but full of timeless techniques.

FWIW,

W2D
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And then there's the next step, although not really applicable to fly rods.

I've built several saltwater jigging & tuna sticks as well as heavy freshwater casting rods utilizing chevron/double chevron and diamond/alternating diamond buttwraps. These can involve well over a hundred separate wraps, a dozen or more metallic and non-metallic colors, and look VERY classy/artsy-fartsy with the whole 3-dimensional effect coming through. This technique a lot of fun to experiment with. It's not rocket science and anyone can do it. I learned it right off the pages of Dale Clemens' books.

On fly rods, I still can't resist bold colors and metallic trim bands.

Brown wraps on a brown blank - how boring is that?!?!

I'm thinking purple with candy apple red trim bands. Or maybe bright yellow with metallic gold...


W2D
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Wades and Scotty, here's something
you won't see every day
I agree with W2D on the practicality of this stuff on a fly rod. But it's kind of fun.
[url "http://www.fishingphotos.net/"]http://www.fishingphotos.net/[/url]
Check out Jim Uptons, and Doc Ski Labanowski galleries. True artists.

[url "http://www.fishingphotos.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=5868&limit=recent"][/url]This might not look to bad on a fly rod. Brown trout rising by Doc Ski Labanowski, another artist.

EA
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Wades2Deep, thank you for the advice. What do you mean by 'burnishing the wraps'? Also, what is a good way to ensure that my guides are perfectly lined up?

EvilAsh thank you for that link. I should be able to build one of those jigs pretty easily. Trailer park here I come!!![sly]
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[size 2]Scotty, Read this:
[/size][url "http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/part10.html"][size 2]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/part10.html[/size][/url][size 2]
As a matter of fact, read all 12 chapters as it's pretty educational (plenty of helpful illustrations, and I know how you trailer park boys like pretty pictures with your stories).

Seriously, rubbing the completed wraps with a burnishing tool (usually hard, rounded plactic) evens out the threads and fills in any small gaps in the wraps. It also gives the completed wrap a "one-piece" appearance instead of the individual threads.

As for aligning the guides, here's my method - everybody has their own:

Mark the guide spacing on the rod with a pencil (easy to rub off).

With small pieces of masking tape, locate the guides and tape down one foot on each (single-foot guides are a bit trickier).

Sighting down the blank with the guides ON THE BOTTOM, make any adjustments and snug the tape.

Wrap the 1st 2 or 3 guides - just one foot.

Now sight down the blank - GUIDES DOWN - and make any adjustments that are needed. With only one foot tied down, you can move the guide quite a bit.

Continue on one guide at a time. Wrap one foot, adjust to match the others, then wrap the second foot.


For some reason, the guides seem to line up easier if your looking at the rod blank with the guides below (another Dale Clemens trick) the blank where you can just see the sides of the guides - give it a try as it may work for you.

FWIW,
W2D[/size]
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