I have been asked to build "matching" rods to be given as a gift to a young man who will be attending West Point. The school colors are black and gold and I would like to stick with black rods. The issue is finding black 4 piece blanks that match when finished. They want these to break down to fit in a travel case. Four piece fly rods aren't a problem. Does anyone have any experience with four piece spinning rods? Maybe a three piece will work if we pair them with a different case.

St. Croix offers multi-piece spinning rods and I know they have them in the SCII (black) series.

Other companies may offer similar.

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A 7 foot 3 piece and a 9 foot 4 piece will have approximately the same section length. Now, matching blank finishes is probably going to be a big problem unless you consider repainting, or stripping the finish from one or both of the blanks.

Why not build 1 rod that will acomplish both tasks? It's been discussed here recently, do a search. That would solve your problem of matching rods.

Bill in WV

The St. Croixs Tom suggested will probably be as close as you can get with available blanks. Satin Black (SCII fly) and Gloss Black pearl (SCII cast/spin).

I looked on-line at suppliers web-sites and I looked at St. Croix.. I will check their catalog. The suppliers were not showing much, if any, 4 piece spinning rods so if they show up in the St. Croix catalog maybe they will special order. I would pursue the idea of one rod except the family is asking for two. I want to read the thread on the single rod for personal background. Any clues on what to search for? I really appreciate the ideas guys. I am about a dozen rods into this now and this is the first time somebody has asked me to make something for them. Mostly I have been building rods that end up donated for silent @#$%& at fund raising events.

In the St. Croix lineup, there is only the SCII 2S60LF4 as a 4 piece spinning blank. I mentioned before that a 7' 3 piece spinning rod will match a 9' 4 pce fly rod for section length, so they will fit inside the same case. You will have to look at 3 pce, either 6'6" or 7'.

Batson also make a few travel models, as do American Tackle.

Try a search here and on the photo page - spin fly -. One handle that turns around -used as a fly then a spin.

Bill - willierods.com

I have built a couple of rods on 3 piece tip over butt spinning or casting blanks. I do not think you really want a 4 piece spinning blank for a general purpose rod. Maybe with spigot ferrules and a soft, slow action rod. I think St Croix does offer one.

Bryce,
Depending on what kind of fishing is going to be done with these rods, you could choose two ientical fly rod blanks and adapt one of them to be a spinning rod. The St Croix SCII line of blanks might do it for you.

Mike Blomme

mudhole stocks the st croix blank mentioned above, i just picked one up. Also, i batson makes some 4 piece 6 footers, i have one in 2-6 lb line rating. i belive they also make them 4-8lb. they have a clear finish i believe though, so more of a dark charcoal than black

Batson has a Rainshadow RX-7, 7 foot, 3 piece spinning rod blank - ISP843-3 or ISP844-3. This would match with the RX-7 9 foot, 4 piece fly rod. Both are Matte Clear and should match up well. The spinning rod pieces are about 29 inches and the fly rod pieces should be around 28 inches.

I would also suggest you use spinning guides and ceramic insert fly guides from the same guide series. For example you could get all Fuji Alconite guides for both the fly rod and the spinning rod. There are other guide series that containg both spinning and fly guides.

Thanks to everyone. I think I also found a pair from American Tackle although after doing the searches that bill boettcher recommended I have to say that the idea of making a reversible handle has a lot of appeal. I am trying to get more information on that as well. I assume that you have to cut a length of the blank to build the handle and real seat on so you can get a metal ferrule in each end. I think that maybe the June Rodmaker may have an article coming out on something like this. Very intersting stuff.

Bryce Abbott
Go & Do Likewise

I had used scrap blank sections to make two female ferrules connected with another piece of scrap. Glued together and then glued into the handle. The pain is getting one mail and two females to fit each other nicely.

Bill - willierods.com