Hello all,

Yes, I'm just starting out and in advance I appreciate lots of patience here - but I promise I've done the work to not ask too many really basic questions and get a good idea what I'm getting myself into. I've found the Dave Clemons books to be really helpful (though the ones I found were pretty dated with materials, but still great) as well as others, but now that I've sourced appx 75% of my materials I'm getting into the time to start actually doing - and I just keep coming up with little questions and concerns in my head. I know that actually DOING it will allow all the mistakes to be made and learned from, but man it would be great to have a mentor that I could bounce ideas off of and work out problems as they come up to just learn from someone who has done the dang thing! I'm not afraid of making mistakes, just want to help shorten that learning curve. The resources on this site have been great as well - I just received my NFC FAF blanks and recent threads make it seem like I'm in for a frustrating start - but I am curious how many of you had a mentor, how you found a mentor, and if anyone would be even the slightest bit interested in becoming one. A few pertinent pieces of info about me/goals:

*I live in Northern California (Chico). My waters are mostly spring creeks in the spring/summer/fall and then smaller (wadeable) rivers in the winter. Blasphemy, I know, but Steelhead are a necessity to still continue to fish in the winter months not a focus of mine, I appreciate a brookie or a brown in a small stream infinitely more than a sea brute.
*I tie flies as well, as I'm sure you all do, and have a room in the house dedicated to do so an watch baseball games simultaneously with a golden retriever at my feet. She has willfully contributed to many successful flies with the swipe of a brush.
*I would like to ultimately build on glass 90% of the time. I love everything about it, and once I found this little niche I just can't get rods with the high quality/unique feel that seems to be offered everywhere else and decided that I want to dedicate my time to making these beautiful relics relevant again with my fishing friends that are clinging to their company tribes/materials. I would be ecstatic to produce a quality rod for a friend as a gift and show them the light to slow things down a bit with a glass rod, with custom wraps/colors/reel seats/etc. And if I can turn this into a small side-job just to break even (which I don't expect to and that isn't the goal here at all), then it's a skill to hone and keep my hands busy and out of trouble and that's a good hobby in my book. There will also be some very light-weight high-stick rods (I can't bring myself to call them euro...) to add to the quiver as well - but few and far between.
*I do plan on making my own reel seats and cork handles, a friend and I have woodworking nights together and it's something we genuinely enjoy doing together. He has a lathe that he's willing to let me use whenever. I know this is more difficult than it sounds, I'm not discounting that, but I am pretty handy and it's one more piece to point to that I can take pride in.
*If there is anyone even remotely close in N. California I'd be happy to travel to meet if they would be willing and walk through a few things - or even to do Skype/Zoom. I have tried emailing and calling a few local companies/asking the fly clubs and fly shops but struck out. Mostly anyone around us that does build is helping with Project Healing Waters rod courses, which is awesome! but it makes availability limited.

I know there are tons of videos online, and some are really helpful, but I know I learned how to tie infinitely better with an older friend in a short time than I ever learned on my own, and hoping someone can point me in a direction

Thanks for reading, all of the other discussions I've seen have been incredibly helpful and patient with each other which is amazing in today's age, and why I joined this forum.

Kyle

Along with being able to communicate with a large number of experienced rodbuilders here on the Forum, this site also has the Search function and Library articles providing lots of good information on rodbuilding topics. You already sound like you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. Go slow and enjoy the ride.

Ross
Unhide your email
Herbrb

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
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> Ross
> Unhide your email
> Herbrb

Herb, I think you want Kyle to unhide his email. Mine isn't hidden.

Unhidden! Thank you!

Kyle

Im still considered a newbie when it comes to rod building so Ill just share some of the experiences I have come across

I like to take old fishing rods and remove the grips and guides and rebuild them. This has shown me that most production rods have poor adhesive as a result. Use 2 part epoxy paste for the grips and reel seat and the 2 part finish epoxy for the guides. There are many different types out there, just get some and start testing out to determine what you like the best.

Get some bulk guides from Amazon to test the production rods on. You get enough guides in a little box for like $20 to build at least 5-7 rods. This will allow you to practice without breaking the bank. Make sure to grind down the guide feet to make wrapping easier. You may also have to bend the guide feet sometimes as they tend to not lie flat on the blank with the cheap guides.

Get some thread from craft stores/walmart to test out your guide wraps. This also to keep the cost done while learning. When you feel comfortable with wrapping then start purchasing some colors of the rod wrapping thread.

Get a bone burnisher for packing the threads. I found a bone one at the local craft store that is meant for making books. These are alot beefier than the plastic ones and wont bend with pressure.

Of course always search the archives here for specific info you are looking for. So many good people here who are willing to help out newbies.

One of the most educational experiences of rod building I have had to date is performing a full rebuild on a rod I refused to let go to the bin. The locking nut on the stock seat stripped out over time, otherwise on a healthy albeit almost 20yr old rod. I couldn't get anyone to rebuild it, was told it wasn't worth the money to do so, better off having a new one built on a new blank.

Now I thought about that really hard, but I really wanted to bring that blank back to life - it was a great glass cranking rod that even today I would say you are hard pressed to find. Many a person has told me how much of a piece of junk it was, but dang it - that blank landed a lot of fish for me and I just wasn't ready to let it end like that.

That was the beginning for me, and I still use that rookie-rebuilt cranking rod to this day. I learned more than I had hoped to learn stripping the guides & reel seat down and building it back up, on a free blank. It took me a full month and a half to complete in full, mostly because of mistakes & getting the original reel seat down to the blank itself, but it was the training wheel set I needed to understand how to put a rod together & how to take one apart. Invaluable experience, cannot recommend it enough. I was also able to give life to a blank that I had some faith in, now well over 20yrs old by my possession, and I'm still catching fish with it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2024 09:03PM by Ken Delbridge.