Rod Build Thread

JimNovo

JimNovo

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2021
Messages
541
Location
Milford, NJ
Thought it would be fun to show off the progress of building a fly rod, so please show us your your builds…,

Mine is an 8’, 5wt, fiberglass kit from Proof Fly Fishing. It’s my first ever build and I wanted to keep it simple with a grey and black theme.

Today I completed the grip and stint install.
Next up guides…

IMG 4445
 
JimNovo said:
Thought it would be fun to show off the progress of building a fly rod, so please show us your your builds…,

Mine is an 8’, 5wt, fiberglass kit from Proof Fly Fishing. It’s my first ever build and I wanted to keep it simple with a grey and black theme.

Today I completed the grip and stint install.
Next up guides…

View attachment 1641233950
Click to expand...
Nice project Jim, I've only built one fly rod (glass) but have built 8 or 9 spinning and bait casting rods (graphite) over the years. It's the perfect winter activity. Please be sure to post some pics as your project progresses.
 
Good stuff. Putting the finishing touches on a 9' 5WT 7PC this weekend. Still needs a few more spar coats on the grip section wraps.

20240120 10100120240120 100919

Nothing crazy special about this build. I was intrigued by the blank - a matte green finish, decent quality. Went with single footers, a short snub nose grip and an unremarkable Alps all metal seat. Thread was a deep green ProWrap without color preserver that finished almost black.
 
7 pieces?!! So many ferrules to wrap!

Care to show a few close ups of your guide and ferrule wraps?
 
Best I can do considering my very overlighted work area. The glossyness of the spar is picking up a lot of glare and makes the wraps look less smooth than they actually are.

20240120 12385220240120 12392520240120 12434720240120 12490120240120 125142

Like I mentioned earlier, I have a few more coats to do on the handle section. After that, all wraps get a very close look, a few touches with 2500 grit sand paper to remove any roughness, and a final swipe of spar. Haven't done that on these wraps yet.

IMO that's one of the biggest advantages of using spar vs epoxy: easy to touch up or make a correction without adding a lot of thickness to wrap.
 
I've built only one fly rod, couple spinning rods, and one ice rod.

WRT the fly rod....All of my other fly rods (purchased) have snake guides, my home built fly rod was built with single foot Fuji alconite insert guides = way faster/easier casting. Now that I know the difference, I would never use snake guides on a fly rod unless I was trying to keep the budget down as there is night/day difference in casting/smoothness IMO. Single foot guides supposedly bring the weight down but if you can get single footers with inserts, it's even better. Get ceramics in ALL guides, not just the strippers.

My build was 8' 4wt, MHX blank (4 piece).
 
If you want to check out my builds go to http://hellbendercustomrods.com I started the business about a year ago. I really am not promoting it too much yet because of a few house projects but I still had fun making the business and doing the whole process. I'm hoping to produce maybe a rod or 2 a month down the road for some side income. Maybe enough to cover a new vehicle payment each month.
 
bigjohn358 said:
If you want to check out my builds go to http://hellbendercustomrods.com I started the business about a year ago. I really am not promoting it too much yet because of a few house projects but I still had fun making the business and doing the whole process. I'm hoping to produce maybe a rod or 2 a month down the road for some side income. Maybe enough to cover a new vehicle payment each month.
Click to expand...

Wow John! Some really nice work in your gallery. Love your thread finish quality! Good luck with the biz.
Millsertime said:
I've built only one fly rod, couple spinning rods, and one ice rod.

WRT the fly rod....All of my other fly rods (purchased) have snake guides, my home built fly rod was built with single foot Fuji alconite insert guides = way faster/easier casting. Now that I know the difference, I would never use snake guides on a fly rod unless I was trying to keep the budget down as there is night/day difference in casting/smoothness IMO. Single foot guides supposedly bring the weight down but if you can get single footers with inserts, it's even better. Get ceramics in ALL guides, not just the strippers.

My build was 8' 4wt, MHX blank (4 piece).
Click to expand...

I still think snakes have their place but I agree, I'm wrapping more and more stuff with single footers . . . especially the lighter line builds. Less weight, half the wraps to do, and so on add up to a lot of positives.
One thing I've noticed is there's a lot of junk single footers out there so I typically stick with one or two offerors when I'm buying my single footers. That, along with I like finishing with a relatively small running guide size (1/0) and sometimes sourcing a nice 1/0 single foot guide isn't always easy.
 
bigjohn358 said:
If you want to check out my builds go to http://hellbendercustomrods.com I started the business about a year ago. I really am not promoting it too much yet because of a few house projects but I still had fun making the business and doing the whole process. I'm hoping to produce maybe a rod or 2 a month down the road for some side income. Maybe enough to cover a new vehicle payment each month.
Click to expand...
Beautiful work!
Gonna make my grey and black rod look pretty boring!
 
JimNovo said:
Beautiful work!
Gonna make my grey and black rod look pretty boring!
Click to expand...
I say if you are going custom make it look CUSTOM! Why make it look store bought? If ya want store bought look just go buy that. Make it special! Make it your own! On that note I've seen some amazing looking black and grey rods that really pop in the end! There really is no such thing as a boring color if you do it right!
 
T
bigjohn358 said:
I say if you are going custom make it look CUSTOM! Why make it look store bought? If ya want store bought look just go buy that. Make it special! Make it your own! On that note I've seen some amazing looking black and grey rods that really pop in the end! There really is no such thing as a boring color if you do it right!
Click to expand...
Thats why you don’t just see a plain cork grips on mine.
 
bigjohn358 said:
I say if you are going custom make it look CUSTOM! Why make it look store bought? If ya want store bought look just go buy that. Make it special! Make it your own! On that note I've seen some amazing looking black and grey rods that really pop in the end! There really is no such thing as a boring color if you do it right!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice.

This is my first build so I just wanted to see if I can build one first and if I’d enjoy making my own rod. I’ll go crazy on the second build.
 
JimNovo said:
Thanks for the advice.

This is my first build so I just wanted to see if I can build one first and if I’d enjoy making my own rod. I’ll go crazy on the second build.
Click to expand...
My first rod was as plain jane as you could get! I just built it to fish and it saved me a ton of money. It was a G Loomis GL3 and I built the rod for $160 with the kit. A store bought GL3 was a $440 rod at the time which was considered pretty expensive back then. Thats when Cabelas offered kits. Most important thing is at the end it fishes well!
 
nice jimnovo! enjoy the process. i build my own cork grips then shape them into how i want them. pictures below are the stackable corks and the cork vise. you can have fun with it and truely make one of a kind cork handle with lighter or darker shades of cork. i just use alittle wood glue in between each cork disc. below are the cork files in different diameters.
KIMG1654

KIMG1656

KIMG1657

KIMG1659
 
bigjohn358 said:
If you want to check out my builds go to http://hellbendercustomrods.com I started the business about a year ago. I really am not promoting it too much yet because of a few house projects but I still had fun making the business and doing the whole process. I'm hoping to produce maybe a rod or 2 a month down the road for some side income. Maybe enough to cover a new vehicle payment each month.
Click to expand...
thats great. i hope it works out for you
 
this is the wrapper i bought years ago. looking back on it i didnt really need this much but i guess its still nice to have.
KIMG1660
 
Kyle said:
nice jimnovo! enjoy the process. i build my own cork grips then shape them into how i want them. pictures below are the stackable corks and the cork vise. you can have fun with it and truely make one of a kind cork handle with lighter or darker shades of cork. i just use alittle wood glue in between each cork disc. below are the cork files in different diameters.
View attachment 1641233975
View attachment 1641233976
View attachment 1641233977
View attachment 1641233978
Click to expand...
So I can enlist you to make my next grip?
 
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