how to build a rod from scratch

[Nov-rain]

hi there,

i've been thinking of building a light spinning rod for myself and hopefully down the road, for friends and family too, but have absolutely no idea where and how to start.

Could someone pls point me in the correct direction to start? like what do i have to do, what kind of materials i need, where to get them, what equipment i need and also how much would a project like this cost?

many thanks

rgds
merv

[Fishin_Dan]

Have a chat to some of the guys who went to the Rod Building weekend that happened about a month ago. It should be in the Tackle Section ;)

[Noelm]

first thing of course is all the components, which can be purchased from most tackle stores, then some araldite to glue the whole thing up, then some means of turning the rod to bind it, can be done "on the lounge" but will get pretty tireing pretty quick, then of course the fininshing material and hey presto, for twice as much as you could buy one for you have a custom made rod. By the way it can be good fun and quite satisfying to do and use a rod you "made yourself" but will cost a lot more, been there and done it a thousand times.(nearly)

[Lobster48]

Do yourself a really big favour! There is a video made by Ian Millar - Australias most renown rod builder. I bought mine a few years ago through MO Tackle, I would say they still stock it. I bought it and within a week had built my first rod which I still use to this day.

Following that all you need to do is find a decent store that sells all the gear...again MO Tackle sell all the components but if you are into a full cutom rod you really need to know what you after to mail order. Otherwise they sell some Rod Building kits for different rod types. These kits have all the components you will need to build the rod.

Hope this helps.

Lobster

[roz]

Pitty you missed the rod building weekend, we hope to run one next year.

In some cases you will save a bit of money, but you really have to know your prices. These days there are some very good and very cheap ready made rods.

So building your own is something you do simply for personal satisfaction.

If you go to a tackle store that sells blanks, there is a good chance someone there will be able to advise you. Building one is not rocket science, but you will have to take a bit of care.

PM me if you like, there are also quite a few people on this site that would be more than happy to help you out.

cheers roz.

[Noelm]

yep i totally agree with roz, there is a lot of ready made rods around and there is great satisfaction in "rolling your own" I was just being a bit cynical about the cheapness of a lot of imported stuff these days I guess

[Nov-rain]

thanks for all the advice guys...

i'll prob head out to a tackle shop when i have the time and see how it goes from there.

will pm if i'm stuck!

best rgds
merv

[shayned]

DBay tackle store has some cheap blanks at the moment might be a good starter.

[shayned]

I put up a shopping list and prices for a 7ft estuary rod in a thread called How to build a rod on this area I think. I think if I shopped around I could have done it better price wise so consider prices upper end but it does have a full list of goodies and sizes for that rod. Except for epoxy and metho every thing should be there.