How long should it take to build a rod?

[Lawdog47]

Just curious, how many hours should it take to build a fly rod if you start with the blank, reel seat, cork grip and all guides? Figure in using color preserver when finishing the wraps. I've haven't built enough to hazard a guess. Seems like any build I've done has been spread out with days of the rod sitting on the bench with no time to work on it. Just wondering

Thanks

[mr. blur]

a week would be plenty of time.

[WarrenP]

Lawdog47,

I have never built one, but, from what I have read on it and listening to others who do build rods, the actual assembling of the rod is not the time consuming factor. Allowing the adhesive and finish coats to set and dry properly does take time. If you hurry either one of these, you will not be happy with the results.

[tedshuck]

Do you mean wall clock time from the start of building the rod to when you can fish it, or how much time you will need to dedicate to assembling and finishing the rod?

I have built several rods and find that I need to dedicate about 6-8 hours of time to the task. About half to two-thirds of that time is wrapping the guides. I do two coats of finish and count on an hour for each one, including the set up and clean up time. The rest of the time is for prepping and gluing on the grip and reel seat. The adhesives for the grip and reel seat should set in 2 hours or so, so that should not add much to the overall elapsed time. You need to let the first coat of finish set for 12-24 hours before applying the second coat, so there is some dead time there. You also should wait at least 48 hours for the last coat to set before using the rod. If you add up all that time, 4 days is about the minimum time to fish a rod after starting to build it, most of that time waiting for the finish to set.

Ted

[fishbum]

Takes me from 90 to 100 hours to make a rod. However, I make everything except the guides and sometimes I make them. This does not include drying time for glue and finish.

Bamboo is king for eating up a lot of time.

Jerry

[Betty Hiner]

My initial thought was, "Until you're finished". Time will vary from the wrapping, to the unwrapping, to the re wrapping, to the epoxy, to the removal of the epoxy, to the unwrapping of the guides, and the rewrapping, to re epoxy, to sticking your finger in the almost dry epoxy to see if it's dry, to the re epoxy .... well, you get the idea. However long it takes ... remember, have fun, and enjoy the learning process (yes, I'm still learning after 14 years of builds and how many dozen rods). It's not rocket science, nor is it a race.

[Goduster]

There are a lot of variables concerning this question.
Grip: Custom turned= glue up, shaping, inletting, sizing to blank
Reel seat: turning and finishing of insert if skeleton style
Guides: prep if necessary
Assembly: Final fitting and glue up
Rod: Initial spacing and stress testing of guide layout
Wraps: Complexity of the wrap to be be used
Finish: CP applied ? Finish applied and # of coats used
All the above plus the allotted drying time have to be taken into consideration.
Also as Betty stated, this does not take into account any necessary re-do's on the possibility of any of the unsatisfactory steps above.

[cheffy]

my best time was 3 days.
started monday morning with gluing the grip and reel seat. while that was drying I wrapped the tip section. Break for lunch. wrapped the butt. applied CP. later in the evening applied second coat of cp. next morning before work did 1 coat of perma gloss. second coat of perma gloss after work. third coat next morning. after work sewed up the bag and ready to go.
granted i used a preformed grip on that one and there were no trim wraps.

[herefishy]

And more and more, I'm seeing no CP used - controversial subject. Did that on my last one and liked it fine. That really speeds up the process. Assemble, glue, wrap, finish.

[biker1usa]

I take my time taking at least 2 weeks to complete the rod I build. I'd rather wait for a good quality rod that I build than to hurry it and have a messy looking rod that does not perform the way I want it to. As I used to do when working as a carpenter: measure twice, cut long, and question yourself as to whether it is done right or fast, erring on the side of done right.