rod building and rebuilding

Kracker Jack

Kracker Jack

God
Does anybody build rods on here? Im thinking about building a couple trolling rods just to say I did. My buddy has a wrapper set up and im gonna buy some blanks and give it a shot.

Im currently testing the waters by upgrading 4 daiwa beefsticks they seem to be decent heavy action blanks but the grips and reel seats are freaking junk. Im putting new tapered 12' EVA grips, Fuji hd reel seats and converting the butts to gimble. I bought 4 of these beefsticks at bass pro for super stupid cheap (on sale for like 14.00) like 6 years ago and they are tough as hell and troll my heavy Mojo and parachute rigs for striper nicely. They just have short grips.cheap reel seats and a rubber butt cap. So im gonna upgrade them.I will post pics of progress tomorrow.
 
i used to 10 or 15 years ago, but the components just got so exspensive. it s a fun project in the winter. i gave all my stuff to a buddy, so now when i need something repaired , i just take it to him. i still have 3 0r 4 of the rods i built and it means a little something extra to bring in a fish on one you have built.

and when you get good at it, you'll be amazed at how many of your friends will have a project for you.
 
Before I lost my hands I use to build some rods. Nothing great but was getting pretty good at it! I made a few for friends and I made for my dad, son, daughter, also still have like 4 or so of mine.
It is fun and additive once you start. But as stated above the stuff is getting $$$ and nothing beats a Ugly Stick for the money! I use the Tigra Ugly's they are about $60 and take a beating!

Good Luck on your build, can't wait to see your work!
 
Was going thru my rods today. I have a couple Fenwick rods that we had set up for wire lining. They are missing roller guides and butt caps, I might make them my first test dummys for wrapping eyes. I will strip them down and start from scratch.
 
I built rods for many years and loved every second of it . like macojoe said it is very addictive. after a while you will learn to do wrap fish , flags cheverons and such. Then youl find yourself re doing the ones you first did because you'v learned so much . and like phat said your friends will keep you busy. the only reason i stopped building was arthritis in my hands! nothing like realing in a 30 lb bass on your a rod you built with your own hands. i'd be happy to give you some pointers. enjoy
 
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Here's the up grade I did to some cheap yet decent rods. I put up graded 12 inch tapered Eva foregrip and rear grip and a pac sun HD reel seat. I also put a roller top on it. I have some 4/0's and 6/0's laying around I'm gonna set them up with.
 
wellcraftv20step said:
looks good kracker, are you wrapping manually or are you using some kind of elec power'd device?
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I didn't strip these rods. They have a 3/4 inch straight base, it doesn't taper till it gets up to the first guide from the bottom. This allowed me to glue the foregrip,rodseat,and rear grip from the base of the rod. I'm actually thinking about building my own manual wrapper,it doesnt look like it would be hard to build one. Then maybe get an old grill rotissurie motor and make a dryer? As you can see I'm all about doing it yourself. Lol!!!
 
kracker, i used a 24 vt motor out of an irrigation timer. i thing it was 10 rpm. made a perfect drying rack. i laid the rod on some old wheels off of a small cart. my wrapping setup was an old dentist drill motor with the foot pedal.
 
I find that using a rheostat or speed control along with an old sewing machine foot switch is the best way to go. It allows you to spin the rod at the speed you want without the leg cramps, no worring about how much pressure your applying to the pedal ,this lets you control the speed of the wrap simply with pressure of your thumb and index finger
 
I built a few My Dad has just about become a Master at it. he has box's of stuff a nice adjustable rod holder. He still uses a BBQ roticary to spin the rod while curing the epoxy and spins the thread by hand still. if I had to guess he probabaly built 60-70 rods so far. He used to go to grage sales and buy old rods redo some of them and turn the rest into custom icefishing rods or small/short boat rods for the kid's. Very satisfying and addictive like the othes said and you cane match the colors to your gear.
 
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Well I finally got around to it like a month ago ago built that manual rod wrapper. It about 1/2 day to build it. The bobbin is made to slide back and forth to get to those odd guides, the thread tensioner armature is actually a stainless ARM cut off a small dredge we use for striper fishing. She turned out really cool.
 
I'm jealous Kracker nice set up. That's a pretty sturdy looking rod your wrapping. Did you build the handle?
 
Redneck, the brown fenwick in the first picture is the rod that started this whole thing. I've been wanting to refinish that rod for a long time. The fenwick is a 15# to 40# class that will be set up with a tld 15 I have laying around for taug fishing. The other Penn rod is a old school 40# to 80#. We have a bunch of old school 6/0 combos that need repair so I'm practicing my wraps on them.
 
looks like real nice work !!, I remember my father used to make custom rods out of fenwick 1 piece 7' blanks for striper casting rods . I know it took him a while to make them . but they were works of art that caught fish. I wish I had been more interested back then , I would love to learn how to make them now . Keep up the good work
 
I use to make them, no real works of art but they caught tons of fish!! Got sick of it after a while as everyone wanted one, and soon I was making them for everyone. I was happy in a way when I lost my hands cause I coukld not do it anymore. But still have a few around.
 


Heres the rod drying rack i built a month ago. The chucks are made from 1/2 pvc caps. The motors are 8 rpm synchronous motors made for microwave turn tables. They were 4 dollars a piece. I think i have 17.00 dollars total in this setup. And its all i need.
 
Redneck said:
I built a few My Dad has just about become a Master at it. he has box's of stuff a nice adjustable rod holder. He still uses a BBQ roticary to spin the rod while curing the epoxy and spins the thread by hand still. if I had to guess he probabaly built 60-70 rods so far. He used to go to grage sales and buy old rods redo some of them and turn the rest into custom icefishing rods or small/short boat rods for the kid's. Very satisfying and addictive like the othes said and you cane match the colors to your gear.
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Thanks for the idea about the rotisserie motor. I used a drill ith tape on the handle to regulate the speed. It just so happens I have one of those motors in my attic.
 
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