say 5 wt 9' graphite

When I was wrapping rods for a production house (one of our sponsors), I could do 14-15 rods in an 8 hour day. This did not include epoxy on the wraps and only doing one color with no CP. We had all the production equipment necessary for large scale production however: machines to ream cork grips to size, stations to glue up reel seats, grind guide feet and find spines. We used charts to measure guide spacing, marking 5-6 rods of same length/weight at a time, glued up all the seats and cork at once, then once the seats were on solid (5 min epoxy for them, Rodbond for cork) used powered wrapping machines and bulk thread spools. For myself? It can take a week to ten days if I'm moving fast because I have a job teaching and papers to grade, home chores to do, bedtime stories to read...

Tim

This discussion will help

[www.rodbuilding.org]


Chris Richer
Iroquois ON



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2005 02:01PM by Chris Richer.

Very difficult question to answer!! Depends on the quality that you want to put in to it. You could use preformed handles, generic guide placement charts, no embellishments, etc and probably throw one together in a few hours. You can do it right with static testing and test casting to get the ultimate performance. Custom make your grip to accommodate the user's hand size/preference, etc as well as being esthetically pleasing and do many other things that set apart a custom rod and make it superior to one that can be purchased at a store.
Like Tim, I have taken weeks or more to build a rod.

I'm curious to see the replies to this post.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I'm working on one now as time permits ( I have others that have to get done before Christmas) that will have 90 hours or more just in the weave. It will take another 3 or 4 months to complete.

I like to build intelligent fly rods. They easily outfish the simple ones. 8^)

Like the other guys say, it depends on what you and your rod recipient want but here is what I can come up with on the fly and what I tell my customers for a flyrod with no embellishments on it. Which is what so many fly guys want.

Clean the blank - 10 min
Fit and glue reel seat - 1 hr
Ream Cork rings - 30 min
Fit and glue rings - 1 hr
Shape handle to users desires - 2 hr
Figuring guide placement and test casting - 1hr 30 min
Wrap guides on rod - 2 hr
Coat guide wraps X3 - 1 hr 30 min
Polish rod - 30 min

So I probably have about 10 hrs of "Hands on" time in a fly rod. Granted this is off the top of my head and may be different depending on the rod and components. I may be kind of slow but I do not do it for mass production and I wrap all my guides by hand - no power. I turn all my handles from rings and I do take my time with everything. I always go by the saying - "If you want it bad, you will get it bad". If someone wants a weave or cross wrap, that just adds more time. If you want to do a nice one just take your time and do it right and it will turn out great. Hope this helps.
Greg

Depends. If the seat and grip are preformed and all I have to do is assemble the rod, figure the guide spacing and wrap and finish it, then I can easily do it in one single day. If I have to make the seat insert and turn and shape the cork grip then it's going to be at least two days. But I rarely work straight through on a rod anyway. Most times I work a couple hours in the evenings and get one done over a week or two.

Simple fly rod, single color wraps, pre-formed cork grips, reel seat insert purchased not turned myself.....4 hours.