First Build Fished!
Hi All,
Thank you all for the advice given, mostly this last winter, on rodbuilding, and especially to Kevin. My first rod has been fished!
Last summer I broke my 7'6" 4 wt., a length and weight I like a lot. About two weeks ago I suddenly realized that we were leaving for the mountains in six days, so it was panic time because I had not started on the rod. I rummaged around, found the scattered components, and set to work in the short amount of spare time I had.
The components are relatively inexpensive, a RX6 7'6" 5 pc Forecast pack rod blank from H&H, an American Tackle A7 reel seat, chrome snake guides and tip top, a chrome stripper guide with ceramic insert, and an inexpensive cork grip. I thought those to be good choices for one of my first builds, as I didn't want to mess up a truely pricy blank for my first attempt. I also thought that the quality would be good, it should fish pretty well, and it was exactly the action I wanted. I am very pleased with the components, and didn't spend a ton on them!
I had to choose between redoing thread wraps several times to get them "perfect" versus choosing to live with "acceptable to good", and similar other choices, in order to get the rod completed in time, and went with "get it done in time to fish."
I also ended up doing what may or may not turn out to be wise, as I used a water based exterior spar varnish on the thread in order to finish in time. (I like the old style rod varnished thread wraps instead of the modern epoxy.) The varnish looks fair to good, however, and held up great. The problem was that it is pretty thick, and I could not get it to lay down as nicely as I would have liked. The finish on the tread wraps is the least well done part of the rod.
In the end, I was pleased with the rod for my first attempt, and it turned out reasonably presentable but not a thing of beauty like many of the ones shown on this board. I love fishing with it though, and it casts beautifully. I believe it is going to end up as one of my favorite rods.
I did fish it without it being completely finished, however, as I couldn't find the rod check, and left off the hook keeper so that I can still add the check and keeper later to finish the rod. I hope either to find the check I bought for the rod, or to buy another one soon.
Now that I have fished one, I am ready to build the next. I have more components, and also have another rod that is well along because I started it last winter, but got tied up with other things.
When I get better at building, I have a nice pink 7'6" 4 wt blank for our first grand daughter, and look forward very much to building a rod for her. There is no great hurry, though, as she is only about a year and a half old.
I also bought and studied a book on rod building that was recommended by folks on this bulletin board, read and studied the rod building steps on FOAL by Al Campbell, and viewed some video on Youtube on fly rod building.
At any rate, the help from this board was the main reason that the build went well, so thank you again to all of you for your advice. It is much appreciated.
The next rod should be more fun, because I can take my time to do as nice a job as I can with no pressure to hurry up!
Thanks again and regards,
Gandolf
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