I am looking at upgrading my rods, I currently do not own any high price rods and am looking for lighter rods with great quality, then what I currently have. Pitching and flipping all day with a heavy rod gets hard on the wrist. My question is once the inital cost of the kits, thread, epoxy.... are bought is it cheaper in the long rod building your own. I would be making around 8-10 rods. Primarily 6'6, 6'10 and 7'0 rods for jigs, and soft plastics.
Hey Jason,
That was one of the things I was concerned with when I started building. I have found that I can only build cheaper for myself only if I were to compare it to purchasing custom rods from a builder. Occasionally if you find a sale you can build a rod for about the same price as a factory rod. To me it is worth paying a little more than a factory rod to have exactly what I want in a rod. Plus it is a TON of fun.
Where is the most cost going to come from? The blank? The guides? The equipment getting started, etc;? Thanks for the reply
The majority of the cost will be in the materials used. The equipment needed can be ginned up in the garage if you are at all handy with tools. The benefit comes in having a rod that fits your hand and style of fishing. Being in tune with your sticks and feeling every nuance with the bait is priceless. One word of caution- It is an extrememly habit forming endeavor. Browse the info on the rodbuliders sites. Good bits of information on homemade tools and different techniques. The local library may have some rodbulding how to books on the shelf.
Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for the answers. Where does the majority of weight come from on a rod? The handle, the guides etc? most of the major brands appear to be aroud 3.0-4.0 oz for the blank, so where is the rest of the weight. I saw where you can make split grips out of your exisiting rods to shave some weight and get better sensitivity, I mean how much can cork actually weigh????
Majority of the weight of the rod is the blank and then comes the handle due to the epoxy glue being used along with the cork and reelseat.................the cork itself doesnt weigh much........................
If you were to find a way to get involved with a rod building club somewhere there are some distributors that will give a club discount on components and while it wont be at full wholesale it will be a decent discount. If you can find a deal like that then you will be able to save yourself some $$ in the long run. The initial purchases of rod finish, rod builders epoxy or rod bond, brushes, mixing cups, etc etc while a good size chunk of change to start, but when all is said and one buying in larger quantities will save you also!
For instance.....Buy a 8oz kit of rod finish not a 4 oz......same goes with the rod bond or rb epoxy......hunt around dollar stores and job lots for cheap kids paint brushes that can be bought for $2 for 25 instead of buying 10 at $2 from a rod building supplier........ mixing cups are cheap by the 100ct also.........
As far as what you plan on using for a wrapper.......I started with simple V blocks made from pine boards and some felt.................once you know you will continue you can either make yourself something better or buy yourself a real wrapper.....
rod dryer.......rotisserie motor, pvc end cap and some thumb screws and heavy elastic bands and make a stand for it. and another V block to support the rod...............
you can always upgrade at a later date if you end up with the ADDICTION!!!
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