Good afternoon.

i am purchasing this blank from North Fork (F803-4m (classic)). its for my son's christmas present. he is 11 and we both love fly fishing. I have never built a rod before but we want to do this together.

the Problem.-- i have absolutely no idea what supplies and parts i need for this rod to build it out and am not sure where to buy them.

Can anyone give me some guidance. Need some advice even on spacing, etc.

Thank you all so much.

there's good news and bad news. good news is you can make a great rod. bad news is maybe not by Christmas unless you get some intervention and assistance.
i'll take a shot at it. for the rod you must have: guides(snakes usually with a striiper guide), a tip top,a reel seat and a handle(usually cork). sizing/sizes are critical, the more accurate the better, for you and the rod.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2022 09:56AM by woody osborne.

Things you'll need:
Blank, you've got this figured out
Guides; stripper, running, tiptop
Thread
Handle
Handle reamer
Reel seat
Masking tape
Thread finish
Small paint brush for thread finish
Mixing container for thread finish
Glue/Epoxy for handle
Glue/Epoxy for reel seat
Glue for tip top guide
Some way to handle thread tension
Some way to support blank as you work
Somr way to slowly rotate rod as the thread finish sets
Small scissors; helpful, not required
Razor blades

That's all I can think of. Some outfits will have all you need. I like Mudhole. You can make some tools yourself or buy them. I'm sure you can see that this can add up, especially if you and your son only make one rod. I suggest that you post your location to see if anyone nearby can help with instruction and perhaps help with some of the more off-the-wall stuff.

Guy Taylor
Lucerne Valley, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2022 09:40PM by Guy Taylor.

Josh,
One really important piece of advice.

Don't make this your first rod build.

Simply put, everyone needs to practice on building rods before one is proficient enough to really build an error free rod.

Fine that you are buying this blank. Excellent blank.

But, I would like to suggest that before you build this rod, purchase a rod build kit from Mud Hole or a similar source.

This will be a complete kit with everything provided that you need. The kit will answer all of your questions about what you need when you do the North Fork build.

Also, you are likely to make mistakes building your first rod. Just remember, any thing that you build, you can cut and or strip off - and do it again.

---------------------------------
Another thing to do, is to practice on an old rod with respect to making rod wraps for guides etc.
So, go to Good Will, salvation army, or a charity drop box at a fishing store and pick up a blank or blanks and then use this rod/s to do practice wrapping. Also, you can use a bit of gentle heat to first soften the adhesive or epoxy coating over the thread wraps and then use a razor blade to cut the wraps off the guides. Then, use the razor blade, scraping the surfaces holding the razor blade at right angles to the surface you are scraping. Clean up both the blank as well as the guide and then practice wrapping it back onto the rod. When you get done, use the razor blade to cut it off and do it over and over again, until you can do it perfectly and with some speed. You can do this - all with little to no expense, but you are developing good rod building practices so that when you move on to the North Fork blank you will be able to easily and quickly wrap and coat the rod with thread finish.

Best wishes.

For what it's worth , advice from another person with very limited experience ... The advice from Guy Taylor and Roger Wilson regarding starting off with a kit is something you should seriously consider . Having given yourself only 6 weeks or so to learn basic technique , decide on components , receive components in the mail ( with holiday mail delays ) , set up your equipment / work area , and actually complete the build would be , at least for me , pushing it . As far as basic technique , there are many on line videos that cover this aspect but you might find that there are subtle steps they omit which you will only discover once you're in the middle of your build . I have found that spending hours pouring through the archives of this forum is absolutely invaluable . So be prepared to take your time and think you're way through each step . I'm going to start on my third build with blank similar to yours ( F 906-2 Classic ) and ordered it close to 3 weeks ago and still have had no notification that it has even shipped - so I hope you at least have your blank in hand
Ron



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2022 09:10AM by Ronald Atchley.

If you plan to build more in the future...here is my go-to list after spending way too much and simplifying everything.

- Hand wrapper - no need for power and the CRB with tension rod is nice. You can backup easily.

- Finish/dryer - Flexcoat variable motor is awesome for sub 200. Comes with slip clutcha and can do it all. A little loud but who cares.

- tools - razor blades, burnisher (Amazon dental tools), embossing heat gun (doesn't get too hot), reamer (buy tape and use an old blank to save money. A Dremel is handy.

-supplies - thread and handle epoxies, thread, arbor material, tape, mixing cups, seringes...

The CRB kit is a pretty great value. You can put everything in your cart and see...IF you plan to make it a hobby though I'd piece it together to get some better stuff but it will cost you $100 more then the kit. I built 2 rods with the kit and one is my favorite I've made to date.

I got the deluxe kit from getbitoutdoors coming my way, it has a little less than mudhole kit, but better reamers and since I plan to biuld my first rod soon and then build for another 30-50 years I went with that one.

The hand wrapper it comes with looks less intricate than the mudhole one, but the pics on getbit seem a little lacking. It also comes with a dryer that seems to have a little more power than mudhole's - IDK if that makes a difference...

Can you use a dryer to wrap threads?

Honestly, I took on a workload that's crazy but that's how I perform my best and I often just stay up til midnight-2am watching fishing youtube videos, so instead I'll be building rods so I think I'll have some time.

If you are worried about finishing the rod before Christmas, maybe get all of the components and have them all be gifts, then build it together (I'm not sure if that's already what you were thinking but that would be anawesome gift - to spend time together learning something new and building something). I know Getbitoutdoors has some pretty cheap full rod build kits to practice on.

Amen on the suggestions about practicing on inconsequential blank sections. Early on in rod building there can be many "what do I do now" moments when doing tasks for the first time. Best to go into actual rod component fitting and bonding, wrapping, and thread finishing steps - with confidence. Some things translate well from videos watched, some things don't. Like when your epoxy working time is counting down, there may be no turning back... Good luck Josh.

"The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge" - Daniel J. Boorstin

Thank you so much. Everyone. This is so helpful.

If you can take Roger's suggestion and practice with an old rod and guides. It helps a lot in figuring out which brushes you want to use and how to apply epoxy. After practicing on this way it makes it a lot easier when you get to the kit "practice" rod and you later builds.

Another way is to get some inexpensive guides in the sizes you are planning to use and wooden dowels to practice with.

Ray