Rod Building

[Jay Murakoshi]

OK, it's been at least 30 years since I've built a rod...and now I have 2 Sage Xi3 blanks that I need built. Here are a few questions that I have.

1. Reel seat - heavy duty, up locking dual ring. Which manufacture do you like? ? Pac Bay, etc....

Spacing: I printed out the sage spacing chart and a couple others, slight difference between the 3 on guide spacing.

Which company has the best cork rings and what adhesive is now being used to glue the corks.

I've tried contacting a few guys I knew/know that build rods and no one has responded back, so I guess they are not interested.
So this is why I'm taking the plunge and going to do this myself

Information would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Jay

[jds108]

Reel seats - so many that work well nowadays. My only very strong suggestion is to get a seat where the hoods have the reel's seat pockets machined. The other style would be where the hoods are made of thin metal that's just stamped to make the pockets for the reel foot. A PacBay A6 or A8 will be fine, as will pretty much any other competing brand's similar product. If you want something nicer, check out http://lemkeconcepts.weebly.com/. This guy (Joel) used to work for Struble. Now that Struble is no longer, this guy is making seats just like the Strubles. I would be buying a seat from Joel myself.

Spacing - there is no single correct perfect answer. If Sage is still doing like they did a few years ago - you need to note that they don't quote the spacing to the center of the guide, they're quoting it to the edge of one of the guide's feet. Just use an existing rod as your template, that's the easiest thing to do.

You're going to be shocked at the price of cork. I don't have a great answer for you on this topic. Just include ebay in your search for cork. I don't believe that you can really trust the cork ratings - somebody can say they're selling you "flor" and ship you "extra select" or whatever - how is anybody going to know.... In my opinion, just be ready to use a little filler in making your grip. The big guys are doing it (i.e, Winston, Sage, Loomis).

Pac Bay sells the epoxy thread finish in small foil packets. These are nice because it's nearly impossible to get the 1:1 resin/hardener ratio wrong.

The folks at Utmost Enterprises offer good prices and carry PacBay and Batson. I just got an order from them because they have some premade cork grips on sale for $4 each.

Want to pay big bucks for snake/single foot guides: go with REC. (they're like $4 each).

Gluing cork rings: I use 30 minute epoxy, I have heard that people are using Gorilla Glue and something different called waterproof polyurethane wood glue - not familiar that product myself.

Stipper guides - I'd strongly suggest the PacBay Minima series.

Cheers!

[Baja Fly Fisher]

JDS

thanks for the information. I will check out the web site that you suggested. Just like all my fly tying materials that I no longer used, I got rid of it and now I'm searching for items that are no longer available. I had 1,000's of snake guides, tip tops of all sizes, winding checks, stripping guides and AAA rated corks. Back in the 70's these corks were flawless, no fillers needed. And when I decided to quit rod building, I gave all this rod building materials to a REALLY good friend.
I guess for my rod wrapping machine I'll use my McClanes Fishing Encyclopedia to get the thread tension :-)

Jay

[Mr F]

Hi Jay,

Reel seats: REC has a great selection--especially for salt water stuff. PAC Bay is nice--so is American Tackle. Like JDS108 said, there are plenty of good options out there.

Spacing: One of the things I love about rod building is experimenting with different spacings. That being said, I'm sure the designers at Sage spent a lot of time fine tuning the Xi3 spacing. Personally, I'd start with the Sage spacing chart. You can wrap the guides in masking tape, then lawn cast to determine if the spacing is correct for you and your needs.

Cork: I don't turn my own cork (can't sneak a lathe past my wife) so I've been using preformed grips. I'd say that REC has the nicest "Flor" grips. I also have a carbon fiber grip on order from Riley Rods--I can't wait to build it up: http://www.rileyrods.com/?product=rr-hc-signature-series#tab-description He can do custom work as well.

May I also recommend:

Snake Brand Universal Guides. They don't require any prep-work (grinding/filing and bending) and look beautiful. Not cheap, but they're still less than the REC Recoils. I feel the savings in time are worth the extra cost (plus I really hate grinding small parts). You can get them from REC or directly from Snake Brand.

Mudhole.com--I get my tools and expendables (thread, glue, etc) from these guys. Quick shipping and great customer service . . . I'm also a fan of their MHX blanks.

Flexcoat.com has some great video tutorials. They also make some great rod-building products.

Have fun!

-MF

[Darian]

Jay,.... Board member, BobVP advertised some rod building components in the Classified Forum in May of this year. Not sure if he sold it or not but the pre-formed cork grips sounded like something you might want to look in to. Try the search function for archived posts. Also, Jann's Netcraft sometimes has rod buiding stuff on sale in their close-out section.

Over the years I've built several rods and find that I don't like REC flex guides and when selecting a reel seat, make sure the forward hood(??) is large enough to hold the large reel foot on salty reels. I have a Sage manufactured, RPLXi 10 wet., rod that I'm unable to properly seat the reel on as the space provided for the front part of the foot isn't large enough. It's a PIA!!!!