Rod building

I’m thinking about dabbling in rod building for my own enjoyment and sanity. Not exactly sure where to get started. If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right and I’d like to use high quality materials. I really like TUCR blanks but no clue where I can aquire those or something similar in quaility and function. If anyone has any helpful info and could point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.

I built a few rods last winter. Here’s the thread I started then:
SR

Ice rods

TUCR blanks are proprietary, therefore not available for purchase. I think DH Sells blanks but I could be wrong. A lot of people talk about using Mud Hole.

Mudhole offers an excellent starter setup.The sky is the limit on what you can do.

Do some searching and practice.You will learn the dos and don’ts.

I build all my ice rods on DH blanks that I pick up right from his store. Great noodle rod and graphite panfish and walleye rods as well. Send me a message if you have specific questions on ice rods or components. I taught myself how to do it all off of YouTube and all my rods have turned out great.

Joe

Thanks for the info Joe, I just found the DH website and the prices aren’t terrible. I think I will probably start there. I did make one ice rod back in high school and found it to be tedious work but very satisfying when you have a finished product, so I think I could get into it. At thia point I cant think of any specific questions, although i’m sure I will later. I appreciate the info and assistance!

Check out Bass Khang blanks.

Thorne brothers also sells blanks, I started building rods a few years ago and I started with their blanks. I have 2 walleye sweethearts and 2 quiversticks and I love them all. Price in total when I made them myself was around 70 dollars per rod

For blanks Thorne makes and sells some great ones but they also charge a premium for them too. I just bought a 36″ Noodle and Perch Pounder blanks from DH rods. They seem pretty nice at mid range prices. For my tastes the DH noodles are just a bit too stiff in the tip for smaller tungsten jigs for panfish but many do like them for that. I bought mine for a walleye deadstick and think it will be great for that. Very stout backbone.

I’ve made several rods from Sportsmans Direct Extreme Taper blanks. Mostly panfish noodles. They turn out wonderful but I spend a lot of time sanding them down to fine needle tips and getting the taper how I want it. Then using powder pigment and rod finish to color them. Good results but painstaking and maybe more than you want to bite off for your first couple builds.

I will say this though. If you can’t find what you want pre made, you can use sandpaper and an electric drill to sand down solid carbon or solid fiberglass blanks to tune them how you want. Take and record measurements with calipers so you can replicate it later if you want.

I get most of my guides and cork at Janns Netcraft, but Mudhole and Get Bit tackle are good options. Janns seems to be one of the few that stocks cork with a small 1/8″ bore in the cork rings. Most are 1/4″ which is much bigger than many ice rod blanks.

Have fun. It’s addicting!

Tucker

This will help! https://www.facebook.com/groups/190324618191051/

I build rods myself. I started out because nobody made a panfish noodle with backbone, as long as I wanted, 44”. Love it for hole hopping and being able to get the tip down to the ice and out of the wind. That first rod looks a little rough but it does the job and I’ve much better at it. I have built several on thorn brothers walleye sweetheart blanks and love them. I’ve also built many on blanks from sportsmans direct. My suggestion would be don’t start with a noodle rod, its a pain learning to put guides on for your first one. Best part of building your own rods is that the sky is the limit. You can get as fancy as you want or just keep it simple. But be careful it’s addictive, my rod bag keeps getting heavier.
Ive found the cheapest place to get cork is ebay. No tax and usually free shipping.
Have fun.

James wrote:

Thorne brothers also sells blanks, I started building rods a few years ago and I started with their blanks. I have 2 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye sweethearts and 2 quiversticks and I love them all. Price in total when I made them myself was around 70 dollars per rod

You answered a question I wanted to ask.

I was also wondering what the startup cost to build rods is. All the equipment, materials, etc… to build your first rod.

I seriously appreciate all of the info guys! As I have been shopping around online I’ve ran into a few things holding me up from buying anything. Since I’m kind of picky I don’t just want to order a kit and I’ve found certain things from different websites that I want. For example I’m gonna start with a Bass Khang carbon walleye blank because they are very economically priced, however I found a nice handle kit from Netcraft I’m not 100% if they will fit together. The handle bore is .250 inches and the blank is 5mm at the butt, so roughly .197 inches. Smaller but is there something i need to do to make them work or just epoxy would be fine? Nextly, as far as guides go I really don’t know what I should be looking at for sizes, if any of you guys have input from personal experience with the guide sizes I’d love to hear it, also do I need a tip top? Or can I just tie a smaller guide on at the end of the rod? Thanks for any help!

I understand the hobby part of it but for $70 per rod I’ll just let the pro’s do it for me. Everybody’s gotta get paid

YouTube rod building, it really helps. I started with a home made wraper I made out of a few 1×6 pine boards. As for a dryer a 2 speed hand drill and a zip tie is a cheap way to start. I have since built one i can dry 8 rods at a time on out of a couple motors from mechanical reindeer lawn decorations

Build up an arbor with tape, guides start with a 10 or 12 then to a 5,4,4 then a 3 to start.

Jesse Thomas wrote:

I seriously appreciate all of the info guys! As I have been shopping around online I’ve ran into a few things holding me up from buying anything. Since I’m kind of picky I don’t just want to order a kit and I’ve found certain things from different websites that I want. For example I’m gonna start with a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Bass Khang carbon walleye blank because they are very economically priced, however I found a nice handle kit from Netcraft I’m not 100% if they will fit together. The handle bore is .250 inches and the blank is 5mm at the butt, so roughly .197 inches. Smaller but is there something i need to do to make them work or just epoxy would be fine? Nextly, as far as guides go I really don’t know what I should be looking at for sizes, if any of you guys have input from personal experience with the guide sizes I’d love to hear it, also do I need a tip top? Or can I just tie a smaller guide on at the end of the rod? Thanks for any help!

bigcrappie wrote:

Build up an arbor with tape, guides start with a 10 or 12 then to a 5,4,4 then a 3 to start.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jesse Thomas wrote:</div>
I seriously appreciate all of the info guys! As I have been shopping around online I’ve ran into a few things holding me up from buying anything. Since I’m kind of picky I don’t just want to order a kit and I’ve found certain things from different websites that I want. For example I’m gonna start with a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Bass Khang carbon walleye blank because they are very economically priced, however I found a nice handle kit from Netcraft I’m not 100% if they will fit together. The handle bore is .250 inches and the blank is 5mm at the butt, so roughly .197 inches. Smaller but is there something i need to do to make them work or just epoxy would be fine? Nextly, as far as guides go I really don’t know what I should be looking at for sizes, if any of you guys have input from personal experience with the guide sizes I’d love to hear it, also do I need a tip top? Or can I just tie a smaller guide on at the end of the rod? Thanks for any help!

Pac Bay Match guides in size 10 for the stripper and then a size 8SV, with #3,4, or 5 WIRE fly guides for running guides (regular fly guides and wire fly guides have different numbering systems and a #3 regular guide is way too small for an ice rod) and either a glue on tip top or fly guide wrapped on for the tip guide (I prefer wrapping on a fly guide.)

Drywall tape or masking tape to build up the difference in blank and handle size, but Jann’s, Sportsmen’s Direct, Mudhole, etc. have handles that should be closer to the size you need. You can also wrap thread around the blank for small differences.

Mudhole has some class coming up and you should look at attending one if you want to get your feet wet without spending months researching, watching videos, and reading.

Rodbuilding.org forums all the information you will need is there, also you tube.