Rodmaking

Any of you guys roll your own?

I've built a handful of graphite rods, including two of my favorites, an old Winston IM6 that I have fished the hell out of to the point that I'm thinking of replacing the stripper and the tiptop, and a Scott SAS in 6 wt that remains my go-to streamer thrower for fresh water. I've also made a few bamboo rods, including one that has been halfway through the planing for several years now. After moving to a new house last year, I'm finally setting up a shop for woodworking and rodbuilding (and the half dozen other tasks I might play around with in a given year), and just putting the tools got away got my creative side to come up to a low simmer.

Whole else has taken it a step beyond flytying, and actually makes stuff (rods, nets, packs, whatever) for fishing?

I don't build rods, but I do have a question that, as a rod builder, perhaps you can answer. I have an older two piece rod that has spigot ferrules. There is no longer a gap between the two sections. How can this be repaired?

I realize that this is somewhat of a noobert question

First questoin is "does it need fixd?" Don't attempt to fix it unless the rod sections come apart under normal use conditions. But if it does you hvae some options.

First, generous application of candle wax might give you years of additional use before you have to do anything.

Second, on most rods, if you cut the female rod section back (I'd start with about a quarter inch), you can effectively reduce the taper size and create new gap. To do this you'd want to remomve the thread wraps over the and of the section. Use a fine tooth hack saw, and when you are done rewrap the end, and apply new finish. It's a lot of work, and it's not difficult, but it's picky stuff that needs to be done right.

Third, I have heard rumors that spin fishermen use some kind of spray that adds additional layers of carbon to the ferrule, effectively thickening it so it will fit more snugly.

Fourth, you could add a thin coat of epoxy to the ferrule to make it thicker. And then, if necessary, you could use very fine sandpaper (600+ ) to smooth the ferrule and make it fit. For a cheap rod, this is what I'd try. For an expensive one, you should consider taking it to a rodbuilder.

made nets. it's pointless

have bamboo, maybe I'll get around to finishing the planing forms and make some rods.

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Originally Posted by that dude who did that thing

First questoin is "does it need fixd?" Don't attempt to fix it unless the rod sections come apart under normal use conditions. But if it does you hvae some options.

First, generous application of candle wax might give you years of additional use before you have to do anything.

Second, on most rods, if you cut the female rod section back (I'd start with about a quarter inch), you can effectively reduce the taper size and create new gap. To do this you'd want to remomve the thread wraps over the and of the section. Use a fine tooth hack saw, and when you are done rewrap the end, and apply new finish. It's a lot of work, and it's not difficult, but it's picky stuff that needs to be done right.

Third, I have heard rumors that spin fishermen use some kind of spray that adds additional layers of carbon to the ferrule, effectively thickening it so it will fit more snugly.

Fourth, you could add a thin coat of epoxy to the ferrule to make it thicker. And then, if necessary, you could use very fine sandpaper (600+ ) to smooth the ferrule and make it fit. For a cheap rod, this is what I'd try. For an expensive one, you should consider taking it to a rodbuilder.

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Thanks, I will try the candle wax route first

It is a VT made Diamondback, so kind of rare/special

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Originally Posted by dunfree

made nets. it's pointless

have bamboo, maybe I'll get around to finishing the planing forms and make some rods.

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Well, flyfishing is kind of pointless too, so. . . .

I've got a handful of semi-nice landing nets. One of them is starting to delaminate, so I might find some nice exotics and make a replacement, reusing the net. Probably end up donating it to TU or giving it to one of the kids.

Planing forms are a pain in the ass. Made mine with hard maple rather than steel. Was a good choice for me since my woodworking skills are vastly superior to my metal working. But four rods later and they need some serious tuning up.

yesturday I met Bob Clay at the coffee shop so I heard he made some really nice Bamboo rods and I googled buddy just for yucks ... it really suprised me they start at narth of 2K

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

yesturday I met Bob Clay at the coffee shop so I heard he made some really nice Bamboo rods and I googled buddy just for yucks ... it really suprised me they start at narth of 2K

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He made some attractive steelhead guide daughters as well.

yeah I know at least one of them ^^ last time I talked to her on a shuttle she had given up the guiding to teach school ... kids must be easier than trying to guide steelehead fishermen eh?

A kayaker, rafter & good skier too

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

yesturday I met Bob Clay at the coffee shop so I heard he made some really nice Bamboo rods and I googled buddy just for yucks ... it really suprised me they start at narth of 2K

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His work looks good. He's got anywhere from 60-120 hours into one of those. So a couple grand for a week's or two week's work (plus materials which aren't cheap) is pretty dam reasonable.

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Originally Posted by that dude who did that thing

His work looks good. He's got anywhere from 60-120 hours into one of those. So a couple grand for a week's or two week's work (plus materials which aren't cheap) is pretty dam reasonable.

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He's not getting rich on them, that's for dam sure.

nets were just a way to use up offcuts. the nettin is too expensive to buy to make making them worthwhile, unless there's some ninja secret source of cheap nets.

well just about everybody who lives up the kispiox is rich

but they don't have a lot of money

Hung out with Kateri on a few occasions back in the day. Now that I think about it on the Dean, Spey O Rama and I think the Thompson. I hear she can ski. Cool gal.

that Dude....
Fwiw...Back in the day I played around with different strip-guides on an old 8'6" #7 FG Shakespeare Wonderrod.
Found one that had a very small diameter with a little more longitudinal thickness to its loop...gave my line(what I thought at the time as) an incredibly smooth glide through...with
less resistance(via less distance) of line flopping around, hitting the guide. Beats me if that had a major effect or not but threw a long line with ease.... Don't know if any similar are
around these days..but might be worth a look.

Conventional wisdom is that a larger stripping guide will have less resistance. But conventional wisdom tends to be not all that wise when it comes to fly rod construction.

Probably not that much advantage, either way, to make much of a difference.....especially with today's rods...

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Originally Posted by that dude who did that thing

Conventional wisdom is that a larger stripping guide will have less resistance. But conventional wisdom tends to be not all that wise when it comes to fly rod construction.

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Now a lot of builders of spin rods are putting the first guide on "backwards" to eliminate resistance and the possibility of your line twisting or wrapping around that guide. I'm sure it has to do with Braided line, I'll grab a picture of how a few of mine are set up.

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Originally Posted by Sagamoron

Now a lot of builders of spin rods are putting the first guide on "backwards" to eliminate resistance and the possibility of your line twisting or wrapping around that guide. I'm sure it has to do with Braided line, I'll grab a picture of how a few of mine are set up.

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I think this would only make even a little bit of sense if you're using snake guides, which you should not use for your stripping guide. Here's the style (not necessarily this product) that I prefer for stripping guides. As you can see, there simly is no "backwards" or "forwards," the guide is symmetrical. there is another style that utilizes two wires to one foot, but only one wire to the other foot, and I suppose that might make some difference in terms of how you orient it, but it's hard to see how.

http://www.flyrodcrafters.com/green-...-frame-guides/