Building A Fly Rod – The Steps: Day One

A lot of the manufacturer’s expense in manufacturing a fly rod is the labor it takes to wrap the guides onto the rod. You can save a lot of money on a high quality rod by doing this yourself. The starting point is deciding which rod you want to build and then purchasing a blank. The blank is typically half the price of a finished rod.

The Spine

Once you have the rod blank you need to find the spine on each piece. This is usually provided by the manufacturer now days. When I built my first few fly rods 20 to 25 years ago this wasn’t the case. You would always need to determine this yourself. On the Sage blank I’m currently building, the manufacturer put white dots on the spine. This lets you know how to align the guides and reel seat on the blank.

If you do have to do this yourself, I will explain. Start with one piece of the blank. Place one end against a smooth surface and the other end on your open palm. Gently bend the blank. Rotate the curved blank back and forth. At one point you will notice the blank will pop or jump into a natural curve that is hard to roll out of. This point in the rotation indicates the spine. I usually wrap a piece of masking tape around the blank and mark this point on the tape with a pencil. The guides will be aligned along the inside curve of the spine (for a fly or spinning rod). If you were building a casting rod you would place the guides on the outside curve of the spine. Find the spine for each piece of the blank.

The Cork Handle

The inside diameter of the preshaped cork handle will need to be reamed to fit the blank. To do this I use a rat tail file and start reaming out the middle of the handle. There are also rod building reaming devices specifically made for this purpose that can be purchased.

The important thing to remember as you file is to keep rotating the handle so the hole stays perfectly centered. You want the handle to snugly fit on the blank so don’t overdo it. This process will create a lot of dust so don’t do it in the same room where you will be doing the wrapping and finishing.

The Reel Seat

The inside diameter of the reel seat will always be larger than the outside diameter of the rod blank. To compensate for this you will need to build up the blank to fit the reel seat so the reel seat will be centered. This is done by creating shims or arbors by wrapping masking tape around the blank in the amount that will fit the reel seat. Leave about 1/8 to ¼ inch between the ½ inch to ¾ inch wide arbors. This will allow the epoxy to cover all the surfaces between the blank and reel seat and provide proper gluing.

The Epoxy

After the blank is prepared for the reel seat and the cork handle fits the blank properly, you are ready to prepare the epoxy. The epoxy comes in two parts, the resin and the hardener. You will need to mix equal amounts of each in at least the quantity needed for the gluing of the reel seat and handle to the rod. First, warm epoxy part A (The Resin) and epoxy part B (The Hardener) in some warm water. This will make it easier to work with, easier to measure, will help expel bubbles formed from mixing and also give you a little more working time. It is important to mix equal amounts and to mix adequately. If these two important items are not done properly, the epoxy will not dry hard and will remain tacky (sticky). One way to mix this is the following. On a plastic lid, place an equal amount of each epoxy component next to each other in the approximate amount that you will need, or a little bit more. Mix the two circles of epoxy components together with a wooden stick, plastic spoon or knife, or something similar. Mix for at least two minutes making sure all of it is mixed in together.

Coat the tape arbors completely with the mixed epoxy and then the blank between the arbors. Place the reel seat onto the bushings, twisting the reel seat as you slide it on to make sure it also gets completely covered inside with epoxy. The dried epoxy will then provide the support for the real seat, not the tape. Align the reel seat with the spine. Double check that the reel seat is aligned with the spine.

Mark the blank for the top of the handle so you will know how far to coat the blank with epoxy. Coat the blank with epoxy from the reel seat to the just below the mark. Place the handle onto the blank twisting as you reach the epoxy ensuring the epoxy is covering everything it needs to. Align the handle with the reel seat, which is in turn aligned properly with the spine. I usually glue the reel seat, the handle and the winding check to the blank in one step since I already have epoxy prepared.

Winding Check

The winding check is a small ring to cover the rough connection between the handle and the blank. It is usually made of metal, rubber or plastic and is sized to fit the diameter of the rod right at the top of the handle.

Place a little epoxy next to the top of the cork handle. Slide on the winding check and butt it up right next to the top of the handle on the epoxy.

When you are satisfied everything is properly in place and aligned (double check), you can allow this section of the rod to dry over night.