Well, I just finished my 2nd wood-strip rod. Some of you may remember, about a year ago, I made a 6 strip rod out of ash. That rod turned out reasonably well. Casts a 4 wt. line pretty nicely. A little too much of a “noodle” but overall didn’t turn out too bad.
This time around I made a 4 strip rod out of Purpleheart. (In his book, John Betts said he has found no difference in performance between the 4 strip and 6 strip rods he has built.) In addition to the 4 strips instead of 6 strips, I made a few other changes as well. The forst, obvious change was to use Purpleheart instead of Ash. I fussed with the taper to try to build a stiffer rod. I used epoxy to glue up the blank instead of wood glue and used double foot guides instead of single.
For the most part I think it all worked. The rod is certainly stiffer with a faster action. It seems to cast a 5 wt. line very well. I can cast 40-50 feet without much trouble. And it looks nice too!
It turned out a little heaver than I would have liked. About 5 1/2 oz.
Very interesting Royce…can I ask the length of the rod and
also the diameter at the butt? I have a lot of curious questions
but I don’t want to overwhelm you !
This one was supposed to be 8’ long but due to some miscalculation actually ended up 8’2" long. The diameter at the butt is .55" under the reed seat and .5" under the grip.
Ok, so it’s fairly thick in the butt section for a 5wt…have you tried it with say a 4 and a 6wt. line I’m wondering? What I’m driving at is what would a 4 wt. design wind up with for a butt section. Also, without a reel on it and while you’re holding the flyrod parallel to the floor, does it feel tip heavy or tip light? I really like the looks of the rod and the weight doesn’t bother me all that much.
I’m sure I’ll think of other questions but for now…
A 4 wt. line definately will not load this rod the way I’d like. I have not tried a 6 wt. It feels a bit on the “tip heavy” side to me.
The diameters at various points along the rod were driven by the sizes of the various pieces of hardware such as the tip top, male and female ferrules, reel seat, etc. The author of the book I use as a guide actually makes his own ferrules, guides, etc.
The way I calculated the taper was to start at the tip (known diameter) and figure out the rate of taper to the ferrule (also a known diameter), calculate the rate of taper and then continue that approximate rate of taper to the grip. This could certainly change based on the diameters of the tip top, ferrules, reel seats, etc.
My goal with this rod was to end up with a rod with a much different action than the first one I did. That I did accomplish. My next one I will fuss with the taper some more. I’m really just starting to learn how to adjust the tapers to get aa action I’m after. I have a ways to go in that regard.
Good morning Royce.
Most people will never understand the thrill, the inner feeling when you design and build a fly rod, yourself, as its rather like making a fly to trick a fish but 100times !
And as your breaking down ideas of what a rod can be, it must surely be by 1000times
I noticed this,
"A little too much of a “noodle”
Could it be, the rod’s design and thinking of the required action came from a time where there were nymph and dry fly rods built in cane AND Roll Casting was just another cast, where as today, its a special cast most caster never reach out to in their lifetime ?
Therefore the noodle feel is in fact really a wonderful Spey type feel with its deep flexing, and as such this rod will Roll Cast to the other side of the stream with very little effort.
I would dare say, in your hands you have just built a magical single handed Spey casting rod, something some people would only dream of holding on a waterway.
Good to see your most recent build. I think I like the aesthetics of your first one better, but it sounds like this one will be a really fun rod to fish.
Sorting out the taper issue for the next rod will be another interesting challenge. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
I was also surprised that your “quad” appears to be round. Is it ?? If so, how do you accomplish that ??
I agree. I like the looks of my first Ash rod better than the purpleheart. Not sure I made the right choice with the grey thread.
Yes the rod is round. (So was the six strip ash rod.) The strips are glued up into a blank and then the blank is mounted on a wood lathe. As the lathe spins the blank the blank is sanded to the desired taper. The only difference in the 4 and 6 strip rods is that with the 4 strip the strips are cut square and glued together into a larger square blank. On the 6 strip rod the strips are milled at 30 degrees and glued into a hexagon.
