My first rod build

St.Croix 5'6" ultra light blank with Pacific bay handle and eyes. I used some shiny green wrap but the finish darkened it much more than expected so it looks all black. I had a lot of fun doing this, it definately won't be my last build. Any tips for a begginer from fellow builders are appreciated.

Nice work!

Good work!  I've built a few rods with that same rod stand and have used an old bbq rotisserie motor to turn the rod during glue/exoxy drying.  Building a sabiki rod from a $7 walmart balck widow and some old rod building supplies. I'll post some pics when its done.

That sounds interesting I'll be waitin for those pics. I love havin this thing I've fixed all my busted up rods and some of my dads fly rods. I'm even workin on a zebco that I found in the TRASH CAN(one mans trash is another mans treasure) at berryessa last weekend, and it helped tremendously in building my own downrigger for 8 bucks.

The problem now is my rod to reel ratio is about 3:1, it will take a financial punishing to fix that. Awesome rainy day activity though

Looks like you did a great job. If you treat the thread with color preserver before the epoxy, the color won't darken. You can also buy NCP thread by Gudebrod which doesn't need color preserver. I built 3 St Croix rods for freshwater and they are great. Their inshore saltwater blanks aren't as good as Lamiglas IMO. For spinning rods use the Fuji Alconite concept guides and use the guide spacing chart.  They really do cast farther.

That sounds interesting I'll be waitin for those pics. I love havin this thing I've fixed all my busted up rods and some of my dads fly rods. I'm even workin on a zebco that I found in the TRASH CAN(one mans trash is another mans treasure) at berryessa last weekend, and it helped tremendously in building my own downrigger for 8 bucks.

The problem now is my rod to reel ratio is about 3:1, it will take a financial punishing to fix that. Awesome rainy day activity though

Nice! They are fun projects for rainy days; I haven't finished building any for a while now. Where's the rain?

Yea; my ratio is way out of balance too, even though I've donated a couple to the water.

again, well done.

Nice build man. Solid work for the first one especially on the handle. As GB2 said thread color preserver is the key to maintaining the thread color. I like to use at least 2 liberal coats of the flex cote brand stuff on all but black and I do use it on NCP color thread as well.

As far as starting out beware the more rods you build the more addicting it becomes. Also you will suddenly find the need to build certain rods that match certain lures/presentation. Then you will be hopeless like the rest of us.

Sandbag, if you need reels, I'd be willing to trade for some rod repair. as long as you are not to far from sacramento.

Joe

Sandbag, if you need reels, I'd be willing to trade for some rod repair. as long as you are not to far from sacramento.

Joe

I'd be very interested in that, I'm just in Carmichael, the east end close to old fair oaks village. Shoot me a pm with some info and we can work out a time to get together.

Joe

Good job... your first build is always a major accomplishment.  You'll learn a ton just by "doing".  I actually like the look of regular nylon dark green thread without color preserver.  It looks black indoors, but in the sunlight you'll get a nice rich green color that looks very classy.

You should study the "new guide concept" (which isn't really all that new) for guide placement on spinning rods.  The system will not only result in a superior casting rod, but also a rod with a very light crisp feel.

http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/newguide.html

Tons of great info at www.rodbuilding.org ... a lifetime of learning really.

Welcome to an awesome hobby!

EK