Fears of Rod Building
I am very interested in building my own rods...I am a very creative and imaginative guy and think that I would do well building rods. My friends have asked me to build rods for them and I have studied rod construction. These are just a couple of my biggest fears:
1) spacing and placing the guides
2) wrapping the guides since I will not have the money for one of those fancy power rod wrappers.
3) Can I really do this???
Please help!!!
Raiderhunter....Always In Search Of Water and Fish....
The only fear you should have is the addiction that comes after you build your first rod, and the fear of your wife thinking you totally lost your mind when you spend hours on the internet every night looking up rod building supplies.
You do not need a fancy rod wrapping machine. A cardboard box with V's cut in it will work fine. I built a hand wrapper with scrap wood I had laying around and I have absolutely no skill in wood working. I can take a picture later and show you what my wrapper looks like.
There are many spacing charts out there, so definately do not worry about that.
Ask a lot of questions and have fun.
You can do this...
Hi raiderhunter,
On the Home Page of FAOL, click on Flyfishing Basics, then onRod Building. There's a ton of info there.
Also, Mudhole & others have several good videos on YouTube. In the YouTube search box, type either "Mudhole", or "Guide Wrapping", or "rod building" . Lots of videos there...
If you can get to any of the fly shops here: (http://findflyshops.com/texas_62.html ), I'll bet they can show you all the "how-to's".
Good luck and have fun! Keep using the board here to ask questions, get opinions, etc.
Whether you think you can, or think you cannot, you're probably right.
--Author unknown
Don't be afraid ... be totally terrified. Rod building is more addictive than crack. You will NOT ever escape the grasp of the hobby once started.
As far as a power wrapper ... total waste of money for light rods, IMO. I have designed and built well over 1,000 career rods. I do own a nice power wrapper, it collects dust. I only use it when resurfacing grips on finished rods and a few other odd tasks. When it comes to building new rods - a Sully hand wrapper is the tool of choice.
DO get yourself one book, Tom Kirkman's Rod-Building Guide, and read it 2-3 times before starting. In addition, it won't hurt to also watch the DVD entitled, The Graphite Fly Rod.
The video is a bit more expensive than most, but well done IMO. IF you are anywhere near a professional level builder, ask them for an "apprenticeship" of sorts. I have taught many over the years and never mind teaching someone that REALLY wants to learn to build a quality product. You will find plenty of good craftsmen that will share the knowledge.
It is a GREAT hobby/craft. However, it WILL be more expensive than just buying rods off the shelf. It will also be more rewarding. Make sure to NEVER EVER leave the component, tool and equipment receipts around to be found ... your rod building will suffer.
Have fun and best of wishes.
Raiderhunter -
Regarding your fear of "wrapping the guides since I will not have the money for one of those fancy power rod wrappers," the first rod I built, just last year, I wrapped the guides entirely by hand.
Held and turned the rod with one hand and held and controlled the wrapping thread with the other hand. It wasn't easy, and the results weren't perfect, but I think I learned more doing it that way than using any equipment available, fancy, powered, or other. And that should be the point of building your first rod - learning as much as you can.
There is an excellent twelve part series by Al Campbell in the archives on building graphite rods. It is everything you NEED to know about building one. It is good to know more than what is covered in that series, but not necessary. The niceties can come later, when you know that you want to fish the rods you build, and keep on doing it. For the addiction that it can become.
Follow the link for Al's series.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/
John
The fish are always right.
raiderhunter,
Don't be afraid of wrapping a rod. I still don't use one of those fancy wrapping machines. For the longest time I would put the spool of thread on a spindle about 2 feet in front of me. Then I would run the thread between the pages of an old book. For more tension on the thread I would put more books on the pile. Works great. Here is a link to an article about building rods that I did for another website. It also has a chart for placing the guides. Most of the information in my article I credit to the late Al Campbell.
http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReadArticle.aspx?id=216
Go for it. Have fun.
U do not need power!
I have made my own rods for years and have never owned a power wrapper. I'd probably get my fingers and all my thumbs in the way anyhow. I have a Dale Clemens hand wrapper that extends to about six feet and is adequate for all my needs. In fact I have not bought a rod in ten years at least. Get a decent hand wrapping jig, it's the best way to learn. IMO.....
Dan
the fear of understanding and wrapping guides is understandable. Like others I looked at the wrappers and bujilt one of my own from a pallet LOL. Total cost with thread tensioner is less then $20.00. Next I built one on my bench that is part of the bench. No extra cost just used the afore mentioned wrapper and materials I had laying around. there are so many charts and programs for spacing guides it is unbelievable just google guide spacing.
Back in the day I used a cardboard box with v notch cut in it a tea cup to hold the thread, and the Boise phone book for tension on the thread. Everyone is right it is addicting. I started out going to just build a rod for my self. And now there are times I don't have a free moment for months on end.
My advise on power wrappers is don't waste the money. when you have wraped one by hand and you look at the final job and reconize there are very very small mistakes you will take a lot of pride in that rod. Next thing you know you will be devising ways to turn cork, and reel seats. It never stops. As previously mentioned it is more expensive to build a rod then to buy one but what a nice rod it will be when you build it your self.
think about this. You are on your favorite body of water and you have a leader you furled yourself, a fly you tied, and a rod you built and that fish hits and you land it. Now think about the same situation and you bought everything instead of building it. Which one to you is priceless?
I totally agree with everything everyone above has already said, all good advice!
It's already been said but just to add my .02.... A power wrapper is not needed at all unless you plan to build mostly ocean casting rods where you have super long very thick wraps with underwraps. On most fly rods, spin rods and freshwater casting rods a power wrapper is not faster than just spinning the blank by hand. So don't worry one bit about power wrapper.
Far as spacing guides goes- as someone else mentioned above theres a ton of guide spacing charts out there. Just find one you like and stick with it. I personaly use one Chris carlin posted over on RBF years ago myself. Mainly because its downloadable and I can click it on my desktop, enter the rod size and it spits out a spacing that is above perfect every time. So as long as you go with a well known chart theres nothing to worry about, theres no black majic envolved
You bet you can, there's no reason at all that you can't. Being a bit timid of the first rod or two is perfectly normal. But once you get it done and take it out the first time and cast something you made with your own two hands you will be hooked for life and if like most of us, will never buy another factory rod again in your life."Can I really do this?"
So jump in and have fun. I'm sure everyone will be more than happy to help with any questions you have along the way. And when you do have a question don't be afraid to ask someone for help, thats how you get better at this.
Steve
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