Switch Rod - Step by Step Build

Equipment Rod Building: Cane and Graphite
1

Hello. I’ve been wanting to photo document one of my builds for a while now for my own purposes and am finally getting around to doing it. I thought if there was interest that I would post the step-by-step process on the board as I go along. I thought it might be neat for others to see.

Anyway, I am building a 10’8" 7wt switch rod for myself. This will be a new addition to my steelheading arsenal to replace a rod I broke last year. I’m not a super fast builder so dont expect this to go at lightening speed. I basically only work on it after my son has gone to sleep and a bit on the weekends. I already have a bit of a jump on the build so I hope you enjoy the photos. Stay tuned for more as I make progress on this rod.

Heres the complete set of starting materials. Batson 10’8" 7wt Switch rod blank, American Tackle Braided Window reel seat, TITAN titanium stripping guides (size 16 and 12) REC recoil heavy wire snake guides, Cork (regular, burnt, copano and dalmation rubberized)

Here is a closer look at some of the components

The first step for me was to work on the handle. I normally turn handles out of exotic hardwoods on my lathe so it has been a while since I have made a custom cork handle. I like the wood handles but it just wont work for this rod as the handle will be pretty large.

I had an idea in my head of what I wanted for a handle and it involved some thin trim bands of burnt cork. Time to make a jig…Here is the scrap piece of wood I used to make the jig…

Using a Forstner bit of the appropriate size I drilled out 4 shallow holes of varying depth…each hole would be for a different thickness cork trim band (assuming I will want different thickness trim pieces for different handles in the future).

Next thing was to get the jig lined up on the bandsaw. I wanted the blade of the saw to run flush with the surface of the jig…

Here’s a photo of the jig in use. I use a push stick to hold the cork square into the previously drilled holes. The bandsaw slices off the body of the cork and you are left with a nice thin ring the depth of the hole…

As you can see the jig works pretty well yielding trim rings 3/32 inch thick and all uniform. Not bad for a jig that didnt cost me anything but a few minutes of time…

Next step was to ream out all of the cork and make sure it fit well on my gluing mandrel…

Next was to play with different orientations of the cork and arrive at a design that I liked. This is what I ended up liking…

I glued the butt piece together first. This piece is about 5 inches long so I just used a threaded rod. Apply painters tape first to the areas where the cork will be and then rub with parrafin wax to make sure the epoxy doesnt stick to the mandrel.

I’m hitting my limit now for # of pics in a post so thats it for now, I’ll post more very soon.
Hope you enjoy.

Yonks

2

Ok…here’s some more of the build I have done so far…

I’m using U-40 Rod bond for the glue up. I applied a thin layer of epoxy to each mating surface to ensure a good joint…

Here’s the bottom part of the grip all glued up and in the mandrel. I will add one more piece to this after it has dried. This will be another piece of the rubberized cork however with no hole in it to form the very bottom piece of the grip.

I used to always just use threaded rod as mandrels when gluing up cork, but since this foregrip is pretty long (12 inches) I was worried about the straightness of the threaded rod. Easy solution, make up a cork clamp with steel mandrel. I had some scrap pieces of purpleheart laying around that I cut to size. Only had to buy the threaded rod and steel mandrel as I also had the washers and nuts left over from other projects…

Here is the final product. Cost me less than $5…beats the $20 they want for the same thing from Cabelas.

Next step was to glue up the foregrip. I underestimated how long this would take. All the little trim bands and extra length of the handle sure make for a lot of surfaces to put glue on. I felt like I was gluing forever! Anyway here is the handle all glued up and in the new cork clamp…

Thats all I got for now. I did those glue ups yesterday and so I want to give them plenty of time to cure. Probably turn the handles on the weekend. In the meantime there are other things to do…like pick out colors…oh man too many options…

Hope you are enjoying following along. I’ll try to post updates as soon as I make progress.

Take care.

Yonks

3

I think I am as tickled with tools that I build as I am with what they help me make sometimes. :slight_smile:

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Yonks -

Great job with the pics and the narrative. And a very creative approach, both with the tools and the grip.

Really looking forward to watching this step by step all the way through.

John

5

I want to build a rod soon and have not found a menter yet or a confidence builder.Perfect timing.Looking forward to your build.Ray

6

Great pictures and descriptions - I’m really looking forward to your next installment!

Cliff

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Thanks for taking the time to post your pictures and document the build. This will be fun to see it all come together. I like your idea of the trim rings of burnt cork. I went steelheading last week and ended up doing a lot of single handed spey type casting with the 9’ 6" 7 weight (the new Scientific Anglers steelhead line works good for that). It made me want to build one of the Batson swich rods, too.

8

Thanks guys. Glad you like the photos. I’ll do my best to keep moving along and keep posting photos in a timely fashion. Maybe posting on the board is good motivation to keep me working on it diligently.

Still waiting until the weekend to turn the grip but I did manage a little bit of work last night. Here are just a couple more photos…

I put all the pieces together and this rod is VERY straight. Normally I would just forget about finding the spline and just assemble in the straightest fashion, but since this was already so straight I decided to go ahead and find the spline. I was able to locate the spline on the two top pieces but the bottom two were too heavy and short for me to locate it…Heres a photo of finding the spline on the top piece…

Once I located the spline it was time to glue on the tip top. I never have been a fan of the “tip top adhesive” so I use epoxy. Use a toothpick to get some inside the sleeve of the tip top and apply a little onto the blank. Clean up with isopropanol…

I like to tape the blank down to the counter in the proper orientation and then tape the tip top in position so it doesnt move while drying. I’ve always wondered if others are doing a similar thing or if you have other methods…

Thats it for now. Take care.

Yonks

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Heres a little work that I did last evening…

Time to grind down the guide feet so they fit properly on the blank. The guides were all pretty good to start with but I figured I could get them even better…

Heres what it should look like when your all done…nice smooth transition…

Next I laid out my guide spacing and tweaked it until I like the locations of all the guides. I use thin pieces of tape to mark the center point of the guides on the blank. I took photos but they were pretty lame and hard to see so I didnt add them here.

Next was to tape down some guides and play with different color combos. Looking at spools is one thing, but you gotta see it on the blank to see if you really like it. My reelseat has some real olive colors in it so I wanted to use olive thread to match with that. Here is the wrapping sequence of my first guide. Colors are Metallic Steel blue (looks like TiCH in when in thin bands), navy blue, and olive. All threads are Gudebrod size A.

The guide is taped up in the proper position. Time to start the first color…

I want a 5 wrap trim band so I wrap it 6 wraps and tape off. This allows me to pull it back later to the very bottom of the wrap (so you cant see the transition point) and end up with 5 wraps.

Start the next color same as first one.

Make sure to wrap over the first color a few times before cutting off excess and pulling around to the bottom. I will be using the metallic thread very soon again so I leave it tailing under the blue wrap.

I transition back to the metallic thread for another trim band and then switch over to the olive thread for the main body of the wrap.

The wrap gets finished off with another metallic trim and everything pulled through as necessary…

Here is the finished wrap coated with one coat of CP…I think I like it. :slight_smile:

Thats it for now. I hope to turn my handle today or tomorrow. Its very cold out though and my lathe is not in heated space…

Yonks

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I think I like that wrap, too.

My garage is also not heated. However, I have one of those little propane directional heaters that sit on a 20# propane tank quite nicely. I fire that up and point it at where I will be working. I crack the big garage door an inch or so to let the CO out if I am going to me any more than a half hour or so. It doesn’t heat the whole gargae, just the area it is pointed at.

11

Kevin - I definitely need to get a heater in my garage. I have one of the really little propane heaters that I sometimes use in the winter, but unfortuntely it is still up in my deer rifle blind from this fall. Sun came out today though and warmed it up enough for me to head out and work on the handle. Photos coming very shortly…

Yonks

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Alright…even though it was pretty cold out today the sun shined down and at least gave the perception of warmth. I really wanted to work on the handle today so I bundled up and headed out. Heres photos of the whole ordeal…

Here is my new turning mandrel I just received. This is a custom sized threaded mandrel made for me by Lynn and Backlash tools. I got the threaded one because I also like to turn wooden handles and the threads are necessary to clamp the piece down tight. Not really needed for cork, but nice to have the option in case it starts to slip…

(PS…sorry this photo is vertical…for some reason photobucket keeps loading it that way even though I have tried multiple ways to flip it… oh well)

Slid the cork onto the mandrel. It was a little too loose for my liking so I took it back off and put one layer of blue painters tape on the mandrel. Slid back on with a nice tight fit. Heres the whole mess chucked up in the lathe…

I think for anyone turning (wood, cork, acrylics, etc…) the two most important things you can have are a respirator and a face shield. You owe it to yourself and your family to do everything you can to make sure you are as safe as possible when using power tools, this includes protection from breathing in fine particulates that can hurt your lungs (i.e cork or wood dust). Here I am wearing a Scott respirator with P100 cartridges (essentially HEPA grade). Ok safety rant over… .:slight_smile:

Here’s the handle spinning on the lathe. I am roughing out a cylinder using 40 grit adhesive backed sandpaper stuck to a flat board. The board is supported against the tool rest of the lathe to reduce “chatter” until I get all the high and low spots sanded even.

I switched over to 80 grit, then 180, then 240 and finally 400 to end up with the final shape of the handle…

Next step was to cut out the recess for the reel seat…I use a dremel tool with a high speed cutting bit to do this. GO SLOW…or you’ll be sorry. :slight_smile:

Here is the front part of the handle with the reel seat fitted…

Hit my photo limit again for posting…to be continued…

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Continued from above…

I looked at and held and looked at and held and looked at and held this handle over and over and something was just off to me. I wasnt happy. I grabbed my fishing gloves and held it…it felt alright. I’m a big guy (6’6") with corresponding big hands so I tend to make my handles a little thicker than most. I thought maybe this handle was a little thicker than I wanted. So I was struggling with weather or not to put it back on the lathe, as it comes off easy, but sure dont go back on very well!! I trusted my instincts and put in back on the lathe…sanded down the middle portion a bit more and now I LOVE IT! Moral of the story…always trust your instincts. Heres the new handle…I dont know if you can see much difference, but to me it is way better now.

Now that the top portion of the handle is done it is time to work on the rear grip. You’ll remember that I glued that up previously but mentioned further gluing was necessary…thats whats next. I reamed out the rear grip so that it fit onto the blank in the proper location…

Next I grabbed two pieces of the rubberized cork I used however these do not have holes in them. I originally thought I only wanted 1 piece but decided on two as I can always just sand the extra part off later if I dont like the look…

I mixed up the rod bond and glued the rings in place. You may be wondering how I plan on turning this now that there is no hole in the end. Dont worry I have a plan.

Thats it for now. It might be a while before I can post some more photos. I will be heading to Florida for a little over a week to get out of this cold weather and maybe drink a beer by the pool. So not much work I can do before we leave other than tie on more guides (which i’ve already posted photos of) Bonus for me is that while in Florida we will be about 30 minutes from the Mudhole showroom…so I get to stock up on some goodies and not pay any shipping. :slight_smile:

Take care.

Yonks

14

Good day Yonks,
As someone who’s never built a rod or even thought of it, I am enjoying the h__ out of your series. As for those propane heaters, my dad picked up a Mr. Heater Li’l Buddy for fishing in the boat. It’s a catalyst job that puts out 9000 btus (I think) but they make a larger model. I could feel the heat at the other end of a 16 foot boat in a still wind. I look foreward to your next posting.

Jeff

15

If ya get to Mudhole, say hello to Bob McKamey…a buddy of mine. Tell him that you know Sully…and watch him bust out laughing.

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I never used one…much to my dismay!!! and I got poisoned from the dust from???..that I was turning. Talk about a real “SOB”. HIVES! All over my “petite” body. Looked like the Mafia had worked me over with baseball bats. Head ( scalp) , neck…chest…for A YEAR. I swallowed antihistamines like they were popcorn and had to see the doc every 4 weeks ( talk about another PITA!!) Doctors worry about them going into the throat and making it swell…basically choking you to death…:eek:

But…I recouped and was building my last rod anyway…but i still miss rod building.

(Jet lathe…I love it , I love it, I love it…:lol: )

P.S. Looking good guy…looking good!

17

Sully,

Actually made it to Mudhole yesterday before I saw this post. I may go back though as of course you always think of something you want as soon as you leave… :slight_smile: If I do I’ll say hi. Guy that was helping me was I think Brook?? Real nice guy. Even gave me a tour of the warehouse. Rod builders dream back there! Seemed like a bunch of real nice people there.

Sorry to here about the hives from turning. That must have been a LONG year! I’ve never had any troubles yet and hopefully wont. Good story and experience for others turners to use as much caution as they can.

Little cool down here by Florida standards, but I hear they got 10 inches of snow back home…glad I’m here!

Yonks

18

Yonks,

Great looking rod, can’t wait for the next installment.
What is that pattern behind you in the photo? Are you making landing nets, too?

Greg

19

Greg,

Glad you are liking the build. I hope to make good progress on it when I get back home. I’ve got the itch to catch some steelhead with it!

Yes the jig behind me in the photo is for making landing nets. I have made a couple of those in the past. Here is the favorite one that I built. The handle is birdseye maple and the hoop is purple heart and maple. Hard to see the birdseyes in the photo but the handle is a really pretty piece of wood.

Since we bought a driftboat last year I have been wanting to build a bigger boat net. I bought the clear plastic net basket but havent got around to designing a jig and the rest of the stuff. Maybe I’ll post that as a step by step build as well when I get around to it.

Take care,

Yonks

20

Yonks -

That is one good looking piece of artwork that you are calling a “net.” Here’s hoping you will do a tutorial on putting one together.

John