Rod building??

I have been thinking about building my own rod and would like some input. How easy is it and how long does it take to build one rod?

It’s not that hard to build a rod. It would be alot easier if you have a thread wrapper or at a minimum a tensioner for wrapping the thread.

It is also very helpful to have a cork reamer to fit the cork or eva handle to the rod blank.

I would say your first rod could take 3-5 hours to build at a minimun to do a nice job.

Many shops do give lessons to leartn how.

Midwest Rod & Reel in Prior Lake, Mn offers lessons and you will build a rod while taking the lessons for about the same cost as purchasing a new rod.

Get in touch with Thorne Brothers…I beleive that they offer a class for building your own rods and Lonnie does a very good job with the “411”

For help and affordable supplies, check with the guys at Midwest Rod & Reel. There are also a couple other good educational options. Rodbuilding.org is a great forum for all levels of rodbuilders. Mudhole.com is a great supplier, and they have several educational videos you can watch online.

I highly recommend you go the rod building class route…
Learn the techniques from the class, end up with a “special”
rod you will LOVE to fish, and then buy the components/tools you need to take up the hobby if you wish… Trumar is one of several rod builders on IDO!

I ordered some guides to put on old rods just to try my hand at it. Guides don’t seem to cost much.

i have built and fixed dozens of rods and can tell u everything depends on what u want to make. if you want a nice design in your wrap then u may have 20 hrs into the rod…or if you want a stock factory look to it. i have seen some nice things instead of thread used for a design like snake skin! i would recomend that thorne bros prolly has a good class. if you learned from them u would learn the right way. good luck and if you make a good 1 it’s worth it!

If you go the route of a class, I know Midwest use to have the private class as that is what I took and we worked almost all on my time frame.

Or the general class they run a few times of the year.

The class really does not run much when you figure for the price of the class you get a nice rod that you will build.

It’s worth it to learn how to build a rod correctly.

The problem for fishnkid is that he’s in LaCrosse, so Thorne & Midwest’s classes are likely out of the question. That’s why I directed him to some online education. Any other suggestions for him that I’m missing?

There are also books that are offered that could help teach.

Maybe a rod builder in his area could show him how to do a few things. I know I would be more than happy to show someone in my area how to do it.

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Get in touch with Thorne Brothers…I beleive that they offer a class for building your own rods and Lonnie does a very good job with the “411”

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I’ll second that. Best shop around and if you’ve ever seen Lonnie’s work, you know you’ll be learning from the best.

Check with community ED.
a lot of times they have a class on rod building
check out http://www.mudhole.com
lots of books and videos that can get you started
any more questions just PM me and I’ll do what ever I can to help

I would try to meet up with someone locally that builds and you can observe/help. You’ll see how easy it. Biggest factor is having patience to not rush through it. If you handy in wood working, building a wrapping machine is simple and quick. I’m not familiar with the LaX market for DIY stores. If there is one, they are usually very open to helping you out as much as possible.

Back when I helped some friends get their store DIY rod & tackle going, we had a bench and tools that we let begginners use while at the store. Then we could help them and answer questions between other customers. Even if you find that it isn’t a long term hobby that you want to continue, you will gain a LOT of knowledge on what is a quality rod. You would be shocked to see how many high end $300.00 rods are built with the guides 15, 20, 45 degrees or more off of the spine. Plus replacing guides is simple and easy to do for maintaining your rods.