Hello rodbuilding community,

I’m building my first rods for me and my grandpa, and I picked up a few of the iconoglass blanks from North Fork Composites while they had the sale going.

My grandpa lost my grandma after 70 years of marriage last year, and Christmas is an especially hard time for him. She was the matriarch and took care of everything. I live in Europe now, and I haven’t been able to make it back to the states since the funeral. Since I finally have the chance to go home for Christmas, I thought it would be nice for us to do a project together. So we’ll be building a couple of matching rods. He loves projects. Restores vintage cars, built his own house (that she designed), and has every tool known to man.

I’ve been digesting as much material as I can. I’ve read advanced custom rod building by dale clemens, watched countless videos, and read enough articles and the posts in this forum to know that there’s so much I don’t know.

My problem is that I don’t know what I don’t know. There are so many resources out there, and every time I look at one there’s something new that I didn’t know about before. So I thought I’d reach out to the community for help.

It would be amazing if anyone would be willing to spend a little time helping me outline a plan for the rods and be available to talk when problems or questions come up. If anyone has some time to help out, it would mean the world to me.

Thanks so much for reading this.

My Best,
Zach

Okay, let's start with where and what you will be fishing for. Next would be how.....private boat, live bait, etc. Spare no details.

Edit, I'm thinking you bought iconoglass saltwater blanks and you may have bought fly rod blanks.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Hi Russ,

Thanks so much for getting back to me. You're right that I bought the fly rod blanks. I got a couple of the 8' 5 wts. We'll mostly be doing trout fishing on some of the local rivers (in Arkansas).

I live in Denmark, and the streams are ridiculously small, but we have lots of coastline with plenty of sea trout. I'm not sure I'll be able to make a rod that suits both conditions, so I'll be focusing on where he'll be fishing in Arkansas. Mostly small to mid trout with small streamers, I reckon. He does have a small lake out back, though.

Did I give enough details? Please let me know if I need to add more info.

Thanks again for your help.

Best,
Zach



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2020 07:21PM by Zach Helms.

Zach

Best option for you is hands on assistance from a builder in the town where the rods will be built. Failing that there is a wealth of fly rod experience represented on this Forum. And my e-mail address is not blocked but my responses might not be immediate.

Contact Schneider’s Rod shop, it is in Mountain Home, Arkansas. They are a sponsor here and he should be able to get you in touch with local rod builders. He can also supply everything you need for building fly rods. If necessary. I’m also more than happy to help via email.
Norm

That is how I got started building my own rods was a local shop that offered classes. They did it in 5 classes x 2 hours. I agree with Donald that if you can find a local builder that would be the way to go. I am willing to bet he would be thrilled to help you and your Grandpa out. It is surprise you that it will only take about 10 hours to do your first build if you keep things simple. This is such a cool gift to share with your Grandpa. Good luck.

Zach, little out of my wheelhouse so I thought I'd wait for others to chime in. I have only built one 5 weight fly rod in my life.

You have not mentioned budget. That has a lot to do with choices. Especially on the handle and seat.

I went with a Pac Bay UL3 seat and a full wells cork grip. I would buy an already made grip with the correct size cutout for the recessed hood on an up-locking reel seat. I would add a short fighting butt (but it isn't necessary). I used Forecast part# CEVAFB1. The UL3 seat has a wood insert so you can decide if you like light color, like maple, or darker, like walnut. Or you can use an all aluminum seat like an A7. These days you can get a carbon fiber fell wells grip (NFC just had those on sale). If you have deep pockets you might want a nickel silver seat? Struble and REC are names to look at for the high end stuff.

You will need to ream these parts to fit and Baston dream reamers are a solid choice. You will need a gel type epoxy to glue them up. RodDancer and U40 are solid choices but there are many.

For guides I'd suggest a size 12 double foot casting style guide, (I think I used Alps LXN)...size 5 single foot wire guide... and then the rest all size 2 single foot wire guides. Count on a total of 9 guides plus a standard size loop top. Others like snake type guides. I wanted to go low weight and have half the guide wraps. You will need a thread finish. I used Threadmaster lite. Today I might pick Gen4.

Compared to what I normally build, I found a fly rod quite easy to build. People want simple/elegant/understated. For me the maple insert reel seat with black hardware....the chrome single foot guides....with simple black guide wraps with a gold metallic trim band....all went very fast and easy came out nice. My blank was matte black.

Spend your time finding the seat and grip you like. This is the hardest part and makes the most difference in looks and function. Be prepared to buy a few different fly lines/weights to find the best match. In my case I bought a 5 weight line to go with a 5 weight blank. I did so dismal I had to go for a lesson. I was thinking to use it for small pan fish. The instructor laughed and said, " this isn't a 5 weight fresh water pan fish rod, it is a serious saltwater 5 weight bone fish rod". I bought a SA brand 6 weight line that is actually 6.5 weight and the rod came alive.

Get in touch with [www.schneidersrods.com] and they can put together the whole package for you. You just need to know rod tip size (don't trust NFC and measure yourself).

Best of luck to you and your Grandpa.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Thank you all so much for getting back to me and for all of the advice. I'll reach out to shcneiders rods as everyone has suggested and see if we can work something out. I really appreciate all of you.

Hi Donald,

Thanks so much for the advice. Some people have suggested a local shop, and I'll reach out to them for support. I will also email you if I have any questions.

Thanks for offering to help, Norm. I'll reach out to Schneider's.

I'm really excited to get started. That's also what I've read is that it's around 10 hours of work--which is the reason I thought it'd make a good project. I'm also not terrified of completely messing things up, so I think I'm in a good position to learn some stuff. Thanks for the tips.

Hi Russ,

Thanks for getting back to me, again. For the budget question, I've got quite a bit saved up to make these projects work. As far as the seats go, I think we're going to turn some wood on a lathe. Same with the cork for the handles. So I think I'll have a little wiggle room in the budget for some nicer parts--not sure if I need to go all the way to nickel but they sure do look great.

Also thanks for outlining the rest of the supplies. I'll reach out to Schneider's and see if I can pick everything up from there. Since I'm already in Europe I may just grab the cork from Portugal before I head to the states. Might save a few bucks that way.

I'll update when I've got all of it done. Really appreciate your help.

--Zach