Building your own fly rod questions

I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:41:57 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

Assuming you mean "finishing" rather than actually "building" a rod -
meaning putting the hardware, etc. on a blank rather than starting with
raw material and a mandrel (or the case of bamboo, planing forms, etc.),
finishing a blank isn't particularly difficult for a reasonably handy
person who takes their time. The few tools aren't particularly
expensive (unless you buy a rod lathe, which you really don't _need_ for
an occasional finish), and a wrap stand can be made fairly easily - it
is little more than three boards, two of which have notches.

The advantages are that you can save some money (although there is the
"value of time" to be considered) and have exactly what you want. OTOH,
you gotta know what you want, and if you attempt to make an exact
duplicate of a particular commercially-offered rod, you'll find that
your savings won't be all that great and the results for a first-time
finisher will likely (but not absolutely) be less than simply buying the
finished product.

The "disadvantages," such as they are, are that it is moderately
time-consuming (which may or not be a "disadvantage") and the
aforementioned possible lack of any monetary savings. There are no
"dangers" involved - IOW, you're not talking about going out in the
garage and trying to cobble together your own airplane to fly or
something that could be truly "dangerous." About the biggest
(potential) disadvantage I can think of would be monetary - going out
and spending a bunch on tools, blanks, fittings, etc., and either
deciding you didn't enjoy it or didn't wish to put the time into it.

If it interests you at all, maybe finding a used fiberglass rod on the
cheap and refinishing it might give you some idea, at moderate cost, of
your interest level in getting into the hobby. And I suggest fiberglass
purposefully - if you nick a graphite rod "unfinishing" it, you have
probably ruined it, whereas the FG rod will probably survive.

TC,
R

mdk77 wrote:
I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

Richard summed it up pretty well, I'd only add that you
rarely save money rolling your own because the price of
the blank is set so that by the time you buy the blank
and all the components you're in the same ballpark pricewise
as the factory rod. Another thing to consider is the warranty.
Almost all of the quality factory rods come with a warranty
of some sort so if you do something stupid to your fly rod
you can get it fixed or replaced for a nominal charge. Break
a home built and you're s***-out-of-luck.

Having said that, it's rewarding to have a nice tool that
you built yourself and it's not at all difficult to turn out
a really pretty fly rod. Then too, if you have weird tastes
in grips or if you just have to have silicone carbide guides
you can do that on a custom built.

The best reference I know of is the Skip Morris book:

http://www.amazon.com/Custom-Graphit.../dp/1558210113

--
Ken Fortenberry

On Aug 13, 7:41 am, mdk77 wrote:
I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

It's not rocket scinece. There is skill involved and it takes a
little practice. Appearance of the final product is a reflection of
your skill. All the rods I ahve built are ugly. I have friends who
have works of art they fish with. They go for things like $50 reel
seats and wrap guides in elaborate patterns with muti-colored
threads.
Shop the internet for components, there is a wide variety of prices.
There are seconds and "surplus" balnks.
Build your first rod out of cheap components. The techniques used on
cheap components are the same ones you use with a $400 blank.
Start lookng for a low rpm motor like the one in a washing macnie
timer ( getting rare as more washers have solid state timers).
Turning the rod as laquor ( epoxy etc. ) on the guides dries is
important. Lumps in the finish of the guide windings is IMO the most
common error.

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:21:24 -0000, BJ Conner
wrote:

On Aug 13, 7:41 am, mdk77 wrote:
I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

It's not rocket scinece. There is skill involved and it takes a
little practice. Appearance of the final product is a reflection of
your skill. All the rods I ahve built are ugly. I have friends who
have works of art they fish with. They go for things like $50 reel
seats and wrap guides in elaborate patterns with muti-colored
threads.
Shop the internet for components, there is a wide variety of prices.
There are seconds and "surplus" balnks.
Build your first rod out of cheap components. The techniques used on
cheap components are the same ones you use with a $400 blank.
Start lookng for a low rpm motor like the one in a washing macnie
timer ( getting rare as more washers have solid state timers).
Turning the rod as laquor ( epoxy etc. ) on the guides dries is
important. Lumps in the finish of the guide windings is IMO the most
common error.


If you want a good source for a cheap turning motor, I would recommend
using the motor from an old fax machine as your turning motor. I have
one from the submarine (retired Navy) I used to be stationed on. It
works great. Turns about 7 RPM. We had a power supply die on the fax
machine while on board and I tried to fix the thing (electrician by
trade) and when we realized the power supply was completely shot,
stripped it for parts. I kept the motor since I saw it was perfect for
turning rods or drying epoxy coated flies. If you can find an old one
that somebody is throwing away, this will save you a bunch of money on
a turning motor. You could also use the motor from an old printer (dot
matrix works best, slower). Works just as well.

Both take a little bit of ingenuityand framing to make work as a rod
turning motor or as a fly drying motor, but you can get anything you
need from your neighborhood hardware store.

Making your own rod, even if it is ugly, is great once you get on the
water with it. I made a small 7 ft 6 inch 4 weight for panfish and
small brook ttrout fishing. Doesn't look great, but it is nice to
catch a fish on something you created (other than the fly).

Good luck in your endevour.

On Aug 24, 1:33 am, gordo wrote:

Making your own rod, even if it is ugly, is great once you get on the
water with it. I made a small 7 ft 6 inch 4 weight for panfish and
small brook ttrout fishing. Doesn't look great, but it is nice to
catch a fish on something you created (other than the fly).

Good luck in your endevour.

Thanks for the help. I realize I probably won't save money building
my own rod, and it may not be perfectly built, but I do like the idea
of having the satisfaction of fishing something I made myself.

mdk77 wrote:
On Aug 24, 1:33 am, gordo wrote:

Making your own rod, even if it is ugly, is great once you get on the
water with it. I made a small 7 ft 6 inch 4 weight for panfish and
small brook ttrout fishing. Doesn't look great, but it is nice to
catch a fish on something you created (other than the fly).

Good luck in your endevour.


Thanks for the help. I realize I probably won't save money building
my own rod, and it may not be perfectly built, but I do like the idea
of having the satisfaction of fishing something I made myself.


It really depends on how many rods you build. The first one or two might
not save you much, because of the initial cost of tools, and such.
Still, considering a new, high end graphite rod is getting dangerously
close to $700, you can save on the very first rod you build. You can get
complete rod kits for well under $200.

brians

On Aug 24, 1:11 pm, briansfly wrote:
mdk77 wrote:
On Aug 24, 1:33 am, gordo wrote:

Making your own rod, even if it is ugly, is great once you get on the
water with it. I made a small 7 ft 6 inch 4 weight for panfish and
small brook ttrout fishing. Doesn't look great, but it is nice to
catch a fish on something you created (other than the fly).

Good luck in your endevour.

Thanks for the help. I realize I probably won't save money building
my own rod, and it may not be perfectly built, but I do like the idea
of having the satisfaction of fishing something I made myself.

It really depends on how many rods you build. The first one or two might
not save you much, because of the initial cost of tools, and such.
Still, considering a new, high end graphite rod is getting dangerously
close to $700, you can save on the very first rod you build. You can get
complete rod kits for well under $200.

brians

I like the idea that I can build the rod with the exact components
that are important to me. If I would be able to save a bit of money
too, then all the better.....but I'm not doing this for the savings.
And as I said in the earlier post, it will give me satisfaction to
fish with a rod (and flies) that I made myself.

On Aug 13, 4:41 pm, mdk77 wrote:
I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

If you are not very good at DIY, then it is best to leave it. One can
now buy very moderately priced rods of excellent quality. Saving money
as such is not likely on the cheaper blanks. You will "save" some
money if you buy an expensive blank and build the rod yourself, but
only if you completely ignore the time and effort involved as a cost
factor. Also, if you use the very best fittings etc, then the rod may
be even more expensive than a factory finished blank.

It is not really very difficult to do, but there is a learning curve
involved, and although you can do it without any equipment, things
like turning motors etc are of advantage. For most people, it is not
worth it.

If you want to see what is involved, have a look here;

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/

http://globalflyfisher.com/rodbuildi...rod/part-1.php

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en

On Aug 13, 12:17 pm, Mike wrote:
On Aug 13, 4:41 pm, mdk77 wrote:

I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

If you are not very good at DIY, then it is best to leave it. One can
now buy very moderately priced rods of excellent quality. Saving money
as such is not likely on the cheaper blanks. You will "save" some
money if you buy an expensive blank and build the rod yourself, but
only if you completely ignore the time and effort involved as a cost
factor. Also, if you use the very best fittings etc, then the rod may
be even more expensive than a factory finished blank.

It is not really very difficult to do, but there is a learning curve
involved, and although you can do it without any equipment, things
like turning motors etc are of advantage. For most people, it is not
worth it.

If you want to see what is involved, have a look here;

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/

http://globalflyfisher.com/rodbuildi...rod/part-1.php

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en

Mike those are both wonderful links. Thank you VERY much for your
help, and thanks to everyone else who responded on this. This is a
really nice newsgroup for newbies like me. I think I understand the
downside and risks to building a fly rod. If I would try something
like this it would mostly be for the satisfaction of it and not to
save money. One of the previous posters mentioned that you don't get
a warranty this way, and that IS a good argument for NOT building your
own rod. But I've always been a DIY guy and usually do ok with my
projects. The satisfaction I get doing it myself usually makes it
worthwhile.

Also Mike, thanks for helping me in the other thread regarding a 2nd
fly rod. I'm still thinking all of that through (I was pleasantly
surprised by the number of people who took the time to help).

- Dave