Where do you get those great lightweight blanks that I sometimes come across but don't know where to buy? I saw a couple of rods a few weeks ago in Sportsmans Warehouse. A 3/4 and a 4/5 wt for only $37 each. Wish I had bought one of each. Light as a toothpick and already built! For that price.....a bargain. Where in the heck can I buy such a light blank to build rods on?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2009 05:57PM by Jim Williams.

No, not all bargains when you can get first quality blanks much better than that from a dozen of the sponsors to the left.

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Last time I bought one of those CHEAP rods , first cast and the tip broke. Think it was made of cardboard ???

Bill - willierods.com

Cardboard.. don't laugh I saw a broken cheapo surf rod at a store that I swear had some kind of paper product on the inside! You get what you pay for!!

I have not had a very easy past few years. I say that to explain why I haven't built any rods but keep talking and asking about them. A lot of things got...and still get in my way. I still want to though. I bought several cheap blanks when I first learned it could be done. So I have plenty to learn on. But they are all cheap. My friends 5/16" rat tail file on a lathe was not even big enough to ream out the cork so the butt section would fit on a 5wt! Yup. A cheap blank with a big diameter. I will practice on the cheapies....I can on a lot on them. Then I can get some good blanks from the sponsors at the left as recommended. By then I should have great confidence and not fear ruining an expensive rod. It's all good. I am lucky to have cheapies to play with.

The sponsors have good selections of quality blanks for inexpensive prices. There is little reason to buy cheap blanks when better blanks can be had for the same money.

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Jim, take Toms advice and look to the left at the sponsors. Many of the Batson RX-6, Tiger Eyes, Pac Bay Tradition II are priced in the same range as the $37 blanks from the box store or maybe cheaper. I've built fly rods on all three of the ones I mentioned above and for the money they preform very well and have held up great, and most of them are backed up by the manufacturer.

Lance has a lot of new castaway blanks just in over the weekend.......I picked up a few of them today :)

Roy

Oh don'tthink I never use the sponsors. I do. I look to them first. I have several Batson blanks in RX6,7,and 8. I have a Tiger Eye, a Beulah, and I don't remember what else. I just looked and I have purchased at the very least from ten of the vendors at the left. So don't think I don't favor the sponsors because I do. It's just the first blank I decided to build on the butt diameter was sooooo much bigger than the light one I saw in a big box store. Caused me to wonder and ponder. I do a lot of that. It seems I do not understand everything I know. You know what I mean? Of course some of the diff is in the fact that the 3/4 wt in the big box store was probably a 7' and my blank is for a 3pc 9' 5wt. But what a big difference. I'm ok....I'm ok. Thanks for the replies.

A small diameter blank doesn't make it lighter or better, sometimes it's just the opposite as thinner means heavier walls to get the stiffness, which adds to the weight as more materials are used to get where you want to be. Thin wall, large diameter blanks can actually be lighter in weight, they just won't take the knocking around of the thicker walled blank.