Has anyone ever bought blanks and made up there own rod? I’m thinking about doing this for my old man for his up coming birthday and I’m just wondering how hard it actually is. Thank you, good fishing to all!!!
I have made probably 400 rods over the years. As with anything, once you do a couple it isnt hard at all. Having the right equipment for the job sure makes life a lot easier though.
As far as the actual construction of the rod goes its pretty straight forward.
Use a 5 min expoxy to glue to fore grip, reel seat, and butt seat on.
Measure out your guide placement and wind them on with thread.
Depending on the thread, coat it with color preserver
Apply epoxy over the thread
let dry on a spinner of some type so the epoxy doesnt run
It doesnt take much other than time and patience. I would suggest doing a few for yourself before doing one for a gift for someone. It will take a couple to get the hang of it.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do!!!
You wanna make me a custom rod!? That would be awesome!
Where do you live? Thorne Brothers has a rod building shop and for a minimal fee you can use it along with their expert help. They will pretty much walk you through entire rod building process.
Where are you located?
if you want to come to the Mankato area
you are welcome to use my shop and advice for FREE
I have built thousands of rods over the last 25yrs
pay for the materials and you can see if you want to keep building rods without the investment of the tools first
let me know
Frank 
sorry to hijack this post but I have an interest also but was wondering where to go for tools such as a spinner is there a web site somewhere ??
I made my own “rod turner”. I found a 24 volt gear motor at a surplus place here in the Cities (Axman’s) that I run off a 12 volt wall transformer. I used a PVC cap to make a clamp to hold the rod.It turns at about 30 RPM and works well for rod making as well as jig head painting and other stuff.
I live in Prairie du Chien, Wi. It is an hour south of LaCrosse
I like Thorne Bros., but want to spend a few less bucks(already looked into them), I’d be looking to get a spinning rod made…
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I live in Prairie du Chien, Wi. It is an hour south of LaCrosse
Chuckles here on IDO teaches rodbuilding classes and is from Manchester, IA. He’d maybe be able to help out, but like Eric said, the first rod you make may not look like something that you want to give as a gift.
Dan
I love Thorne Brothers, but they no longer have the group rod making classes. You can still make a rod there for $100 plus materials. I have made a few rods the last few years with a guy north of Cambridge. Almost finished with my latest.
Just have to finish off the butt wrap, and apply the expoxy.
Here is the pan fish rod I did last year.
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Where do you live? Thorne Brothers has a rod building shop and for a minimal fee you can use it along with their expert help. They will pretty much walk you through entire rod building process.
God that would be awesome to make your own!
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God that would be awesome to make your own!
It is a lot of fun, and besides the “bragging rights” you also can make exactly what you want. Here’s one of my favorites, a 4 weight fly rod with a hardwood handle. The handle was turned by Gary R. and it’s made out of African Zebra wood. It’s always a joy to string up this rod and spend a day with it.
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