Rod Building Hobby

[Gavin]

The spline is easy. Put the blank with butt side down on your dining room table. Hold the other end elevatated, push down in the middle and let it roll to where it wants to be. Have your wife or kid mark the high side. Guides go on that side or the other side. Your choice. Guides alignment is not hard either. I have a cheap old blank that helps with that. Run the blank through the guides after you wrap them and adjust. Detail work but not hard.

[176champion]

Yes i have seen them do that and i have seen them put the tip down on the table and do the same thing basically ...i don't have a wife or kid to mark the spot..im an old fart that lives by himself...lmao

Thanks..

[timinmo]

Don't let the spline deal worry you.  You can figure it out.  I have never had help with marking it, just put a piece of tape around it and roll it around until you feel the spline then mark.  There are any number of ways to align the guides and after trying several different methods, I do it by eye.  Just make sure they are straight before putting on the finish.  If they end up not being straight it is not the end of the world you can take off the one that is not and redo it.  I find it fun and certainly there has been times when it frustrated me.  The good part of the whole deal is you can get just what you "want".

[snagged in outlet 3]

10 hours ago, 176champion said:

Yes i have seen them do that and i have seen them put the tip down on the table and do the same thing basically ...i don't have a wife or kid to mark the spot..im an old fart that lives by himself...lmao

Thanks..

I built a spinning rod when I was 10 - 12 years old.  It's the ugliest most misaligned thing you've ever seen.  It has caught hundreds of fish.  I didn't even coat it.  I just glued the thread on the guides.

[176champion]

I ordered a start up kit last night in which included a rod kit, should get it next week so we shall see.

[ness]

Building rods is a pretty fun thing to do. Not a great deal of skill or equipment needed to do a respectable job. And, like a lot of other crafts, you can take it farther and fancier if you like. 

First couple rods I did like Al and Gavin said, with cutout boxes and thread running through a book. It is absolutely fine. I built something out of some scrap oak with adjustable length and spring tensioned spool holders, but I really don’t like the thread setup and did it the old way last time. 

I’ve got a Winston 2-weight blank with a really sweet reel seat sitting on it gathering dust right now. Need to pick it back up. 

Good luck. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

7 minutes ago, ness said:

I built something out of some scrap oak

From the deck??

[176champion]

Got my rod blank today and the rest of the stuff suppose to be here Thursday. Strange FedEx beat UPS....lol

[176champion]

Been playing with rod blank to find the spline and i now understand the procedure..it's just a CRB blank IM6..

 

[Bushbeater]

I just built a Rod on one of those blanks. I like it. I'm now trying my first quality build on a Rain Shadow blank with some better components. It's an addicting hobby once you get into it. I need more rods like a hole in the head, but I just can't help myself.