About how long on average to build a rod hours wise...No fancy thread work

Surf, steelhead, bass, inshore, blue water, ultralite? Spinning, conventional, center pin, fly?

Depends on your level of expertise. I expect I could do it in a morning, excluding the set and cure time for the epoxy. On my first attempt many years ago, it probably took a couple days.

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Depends on the rod-building equipment you are using also.

It also depends on how hard you go at it. If you are leisurely and don't press, it can take a day easily. If you keep your nose to the grind it can be done in a few hours...

Ken,

I am more concerned with quality than speed, (quite trying to figure an hourly rate a long time ago). It normally takes me two days allowing for epoxy drying time. On the third day the rod is ready to be picked up.

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

You never want to base your rod building labor rates on an hourly rate - if you do then you'll make less and less money as your skills and equipment improve. Base the price on the job itself. There are various formulas for doing this and there has been a great deal of discussion here on this forum about it. Do a search under something like, "pricing custom rods" and see what turns up.

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These are for me and my fatherless boys only not selling any
Bass,Sandbass,Catfish/Carp rods 6-7ft split grip
Will be buying the best complete rod building kit Mudhole.com sells



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2016 01:04PM by Ken Strahan.

Then pricing is not an issue. Just figure a couple days per rod, or perhaps every evening for a week per rod, and enjoy the hobby. Each subsequent rod will be better than the previous one as get more proficient at the various tasks involved.

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Ken,
For a simple rod, I figure 2 hours. That is after building many many rods.

But I normally build my rods in a production line style. I will select a batch of rods to make. Prep the grips. Glue all of the grips and reel seats in place. Mark the guide locations on all of the rod. Tape all of the guides on the rods.
Wrap all of the guides. Coat and dry all of the rods. Box all of the rods. Ship all of the rods.

It is just a lot more efficient to do the same task at the same time on a batch of rods, rather than taking a single rod from start to finish.



Be safe

If you're going to be building rods with a bunch of kids, I'd advise you to build one on your own first. That will give you an idea how long it will take. If you're planning to do the first one in one morning, pack a lunch.

Lynn,
X10 on your comments.

If you were going to have kids building rods, I would figure at least a week - likely 3-4 hours each day

Be safe

LOL Lynn ...... a lunch and have a pizza parlor on speed dial just in case you go into dinner time.

I wouldn't set an expected time. IMO, doing so will lessen the enjoyment of learning the art of rod building. As Tom said, enjoy the hobby.

During the St. Croix gathering this year, my wife built her first rod in 8 hours, not including epoxy.

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

Do these time estimates include slicing,glueing and shaping a cork handle. drilling out the cork. setting up reel seat and final fitting ?
I bet I had 20 hours on my last rod which was a 2 pc. salmon rod. this was probably my 20th build. I guess I'm slow but I enjoy every second!
Will be at show with my brothers.