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Thread: Custom Rod Making

  1. #1
    Boolit Master



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    Custom Rod Making

    Are their any custom rod makers out there? I have made a few but I took a rod making class so I could use the techniques for making carbon fiber buggy whips. I have made them complete with thread art decorations.

    I wanted a carbon fiber whip for my carpel tunnel wrists but bought ones were too expensive. So I took a rod making class and adapted it to whips.
    Blacksmith

    S. G. G. = Sons of the Greatest Generation. Too old to run, too proud to hide; we will stand our ground and take as many as we can with us!

  2. #2
    Boolit Master


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    I have orders for 4 fly rods between the kids, grand kids and daugherin law. It's one of those projects that I don't want to do every winter, but enjoy a small dose of. The ones I have built for fund raiser auctions have been well recieved.

    I want to get to Mountin Home AR for the class on building cane rods from scratch.
    Don't buy nuthing you can't take home

    Joel 3:10

  3. #3
    Moderator Emeritus


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    Local Boy Scouts make kits every other year. In general they go for a light - medium spinning rod. I would like to see some pics of really nice rods. I live 25 miles N or the Winston Rod Company and the one their employees started when they went all for $$, I think it is Sweetwater?
    [The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

  4. #4
    Boolit Master


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    I'm with Dirt Farmer I have built a few fly rods and a couple of extreem ultralight panfish rods. Not something I do every year but once in a while I'll get the urge to build something that is not available. It is kind of neat to be fishing with one of my custom rods and somebody will ask where did you get that? OH I made it! The next question is would you make me one? Nope, this is a one and only and there ain't never be another one like it. You ain't got enough money anyway. Most of them are made out of discontinued blanks anyway but I don't tell them that.

    RB

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

    dale2242's Avatar
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    I built a few rods back in the days of glass rods.
    I buy mine these days.
    My favorites is GLoomis....dale

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


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    I took a chance and bought a rod kit, 9 ft 3 wt for a song, it arrived and was a G Loomis.
    Don't buy nuthing you can't take home

    Joel 3:10

  7. #7
    Boolit Master chsparkman's Avatar
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    I just finished this 6.5 ft 2 wt 4 piece flyrod and case for my daughter for Christmas. Grip is birch bark with ebony caps.Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8
    Boolit Master fishnbob's Avatar
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    Man, that is beautiful! I've always wanted to make at least one custom rod but I have too many hobbies now. Lure making, especially crappie jigs keep me busy along with casting, reloading, shooting, predator hunting. I told my wife that I needed to hire someone to help me in the shop.LOL!
    You boys gonna draw them pistols or whistle Dixie

    NRA ENDOWMENT MEMBER

    "The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent fishing."
    ------Babylonian Proverb

  9. #9
    Boolit Master chsparkman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fishnbob View Post
    ... but I have too many hobbies now.
    +1 there. I have so many hobbies I can't do much of any of them as often as I like.

  10. #10
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by chsparkman View Post
    I just finished this 6.5 ft 2 wt 4 piece flyrod and case for my daughter for Christmas. Grip is birch bark with ebony caps.Click image for larger version. 

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    That is a Beautiful work of art....nice job

  11. #11
    Boolit Master chsparkman's Avatar
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    Thanks Bassmaster.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    chsparkman - fantastic. I didn't think the 4 pc would work very well till I got one, now that's almost all I use. Made the mistake of using a 2 wt @ Branson on trout - really ticked off a lot of people but it was a real fun fight. Now I just use that one for mountain stream trout. Advantage to making one is you don't have to pay $$$ for a 7-8 ft rod. Where do you get blanks cheap? Like I need another hobby.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master chsparkman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by popper View Post
    chsparkman - fantastic. I didn't think the 4 pc would work very well till I got one, now that's almost all I use. Made the mistake of using a 2 wt @ Branson on trout - really ticked off a lot of people but it was a real fun fight. Now I just use that one for mountain stream trout. Advantage to making one is you don't have to pay $$$ for a 7-8 ft rod. Where do you get blanks cheap? Like I need another hobby.
    Thanks popper. Cheap blanks can be had from several sources: www.hookhack.com, www.mudhole.com just to name a couple. Have fun! I love rolling my own.
    Last edited by chsparkman; 04-03-2013 at 08:46 PM.

  14. #14
    Beekeeper
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    didn't realize by posting I would kill the post
    Last edited by Beekeeper; 03-13-2013 at 09:36 AM.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master chsparkman's Avatar
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    Beekeeper. Hadn't looked at this thread for a while. How do you think you killed the post? I'm from Riverside...where in So. Cal. are you? Do any fishing out there?

  16. #16
    Boolit Bub
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    I live on the gulf coast, I fish everything from 2 lb test live bait rods for speckled trout all the way up to meat poles for grouper and snapper. My favorite home built rod uses a 7' med light St. Croix blank and the old school Aetna Foulproof guides and depending which normally wears a modified Penn 710Z reel spooled with 8 lb mono. Nothing fancy black rod, gold under-wrap and Black E nylon over-wrap. I do a lot of deepwater jigging for dorado, Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, pompano and bonito and the best mod I made was to paddle the neck of the reel out with aluminum powder filled epoxy so I would stop getting blisters between my fingers after several hours of fishing.

    Those interested the best book I found was Advanced custom rod building by Dale Clemens. Sadly custom rod building is now more expensive than buying off the shelf it used to be cheaper to roll your own than to buy one and it's cheaper to buy an off the shelf rod to strip and rebuild it the way you want it. The most enjoyable rods I make the ones I redo from old discarded rods to get new anglers something worthy of catching decent fish.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master dougader's Avatar
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    I just ordered a 9-1/2' fly rod blank from Lamiglass and had it made into a spinner rod for steelhead. Fits me like a glove and I can fish all day without getting too worn out.

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub
    Sled's Avatar
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    I’m ready to float my 8’ 4wt this season

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
    Tom W.'s Avatar
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    There was a man that was making them at his home between Notasolgua and Tallasee, but the time I had a bit of cash and was going to ask he had taken down his sign..... I did want a lighter fly rod and a bigger diameter reel. Oh well, the Bass Pro Shops is just up the road a bit in Prattville......
    Tom
    μολὼν λαβέ


    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  20. #20
    Boolit Master chsparkman's Avatar
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    I have been away from CastBoolits for a long time and, regrettably, from shooting sports in general. The reason is that I'm now heavily into making custom bamboo fly rods. Never had so much fun in my life!

    Click image for larger version. 

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BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
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