Walton's term "complete angler" covered alot ground but one thing he likely wasn't thinking about in that term was finishing your own rod. In today's angling world, except in bamboo, there is no such thing with the major rod manufacturers as changing or custom. What they list is what you get. In tackle there is only to areas to personalize, flies and rods. So to get what you want in a rod, the only realistic1 solution is to do it yourself. It's simple, almost fool proof, and the pride and satisfaction, is what "complete angler" is about. uSave money. No, you won't save money, because after you do one, and realize how simple it is, you'll soon be thinking of how to save more money by doing a second one.
If there one piece of advice needed in rod building, it's take your time. Haste makes mistakes in rod finishing. If a wrap isn't to your satisfaction, take it off and wrap it again. Though the total hours to finish a rod are usually less than 6, it does take concentration and thinking.
FFN blanks and components are the finest available and this quality helps make the job even easier.
FFN ferrules it's blanks 2 ways. The 2 piece light trout rods use tip over butt ferrules which is a sleeve on the tip section that fits over the top of the butt section. All others use spigot ferrules. Spigot has a small piece of graphite ferruling stock epoxied into one section and the second section slides over the other end. There should be a gap of 1/4" to 3/8" between the 2 sections to allow for some wear.
Ferrules are the weakest part of the rod, so no matter what type of ferrules are used, wraps should be made at the end of each section. Since these wraps must be there, if a guided can be included in that wrap, so much the better.
Strive to get all sections exactly equal in length. If you are mounting the reel seat, be sure the plug or extension butt will be accomodated it the final glueing. If the blank has to be cut, a hack saw blade does the job quite well.
Materials
Manditory: small sharp scissor, good glue (epoxy), ferrule cement, masking tape, light colored crayon or other marking device, epoxy wrap finishing kit, rat-tail file, hacksaw blade if blank must be cut. Some sort of rod turner, while epoxy wraps are drying:
Optional: color preservative (to retain the original color of the wrapping thread), alcohol lamp.
Locating the Spline
Begin by wrapping a piece of masking tape around the butt of the tip and the tip of the butt. You will mark the tip and butt alignment on this tape. Some blanks have a lot of spline and others have almost none. The following procedure will allow you to find the spline and determine how much your rod has. Take the tip and put the butt of the tip on a hard table top. Formica counters work well. Lay the tip of the tip in one hand and put the other hand in the middle of the tip. Flex the tip about 4-6" while you rotate it with your hand. If the tip has much spline you will feel a soft and a hard place as vou rotate it. Another way to say it is that the tip will have a natural spot where it comes to rest when it is bent. This is the plane you want to put the guides. If you think of the soft and hard places on the blank as two intersecting lines at right angles you can put the guides on either side of this plane since it occurs on both sides of the blank. Mark this plane with vour crayon on the masking tape and the lower 6" at the butt of the tip.
Repeat this procedure for the butt/other sections of the rod. Mark the butt with the crayon on the ferrule end. In the event that vou detect no spline or almost no spline then it doesn t matter on which side you mount the guides. Now that vou have the tip and the butt marked on the soft spline put them together aligning the two marks. Don t push the rod together hard before it is wrapped or you may damage the ferrule. It is also a good idea not to flex the entire rod until the ferrules are wrapped.
Don't be concerned if the blank isn't perfectly straight as you will never find a perfectly straight blank. Every blank will have some bends in it. If the blank is not quite straight try turning the tip 180° on the butt to see if it is straighter than before. If you are still not happy and there is very little spline in the tip you can rotate it on the butt until it is as straight as you can get it. Don t do this if the blank has a lot of spline because it will not cast true and vou are better off with a blank that goes to one side but casts straight. You will find that after the guides are wrapped on. the blanks look straighter. If you have chosen a side to put the guides on different from the spline you picked. remark the tape on the rod since this will be the guide side.
Evening the Sections
Place the tip-top on the tip so that you will know the final length of the finished tip. Scratch the blank lightly where the tip-top will mount and glue it on with ferrule cement, aligning it with the mark on the tape at the lower end of the tip. When the tip is secure, secure the reel seat in place with masking tape. Stand the sections on end. The butt should be slightly longer than the tip. Measure exactly the difference and saw that amount off the lower end of the butt.
If the butt is shorter than the tip, measure the tip to be certain it is the correct length. i.e. if it's an 8' 2 piece rod, the tip section should be 48". To be absolutely certain of the finished length, carefully assemble the sections and measure the length when they are together. If the tip is too long cut it to the specified length. If the tip length is correct, measure exactly the amount needed to get the butt even length. Put the reel seat in place with the rod held vertically. Push down firmly so that the reel seat plug touches the butt and mark the top edge of the reel seat on the blank. Remove the reel seat and measure down exactly the distance needed to bring the sections even. Epoxy the reel seat before the handle in this case, being sure the seat is in line with your spline markings.
Mounting the Cork Grip, Reel Seat and Winding Check
Now that the sections are even, tape the reel seat in place. If the bore of the filler is too small you may have to file it out. If it is too large, carefully build up the blank by wrapping masking tape over the filler area. This fit should be snug.
File the grip hole with the rat tail file till it slides snugly down to the reel seat area. Slide the reel seat and grip into place and wrap a piece of masking tape at the top end of the grip. Using sandpaper or the file, slightly rough up the grip, reel seat area blank surface to give the epoxy something to bite into. Glue the blank and slide the grip into place and then mount the reel seat. Keep the spline marking directly up and gently mount a reel into the reel seat to check if the seat is in line with the spline.
Wait till the epoxy sets to mount the winding check. Our winding checks are nickle silver except for the rods that will be used in salt water, which are a hard rubber compound, and are glued to the top of the cork grip. Make sure the winding check slips down the blank to the top of the grip easily. Do not try to force the nickle silver winding check down if it doesn't fit. It will scratch the blanks finish.
Glide Preparation and Alignment
FFN recommends the largest guides possible without altering the rod's action. And tip tops.
FFN only uses pre filed feet on finished rods and kits. This will save you a great deal of time. Before you proceed further, check all the feet and should there be any rough spots, touch them up with a fine file.
The first step in preparing the rod for wrapping is to mark the guide spacing. The following dimensions are measured from the tip end of the tip top.
Rod Dimensions measured from Length top end of tip-top
4 Piece Models
8'6" 4 3/4" - 10 5/8" - 17 3/8" - 25 15/16" - 33 3/4" - 42 3/8" - 51 1/2" - 60 1/4" - 70 1/2"
9' 3 5/8"- 8" - 13 3/8" - 19 5/16" - 27 5/16" - 35 9/16" - 44 5/8" - 54 1/8" - 65 1/4" - 75 13/16"
9'6" 4 3/4 - 9 11/16" - 15 3/8" - 21 15/16" - 29 3/8" - 36 7/8" 44 3/8" - 52 5/16" - 61 3/8" - 71 1/16" - 81 9/16"
2-THRU 7 WEIGHT, REGULAR 2 PIECE AND 3 PIECE MODELS
61/2' 4' - 9"-14 1/2"- 21 1/2" - 28 1/4"- 35 1/4" - 431/4" - 52'
7'- 4" - 9"-14 3/4" -20 1/4"- 27' 1/4"- 34 1/4"- 41 1/2"- 49 1/2" - 58'
7'6"-' 4' - 9" -14 3/4"- 21 1/2"-281/4" - 36 1/4"- 441/4" - 53 1/2"- 62 3/4"
8' 4' -9"-15"- 21 1/2"-28 1/4"- 35 1/4"-42 3/4"-- 50 3/4"- 59 1/4"- 67 3/4"
8'6" 4"- 9" - 15" - 21 1/2" - 28 1/4" - 36 1/4" - 45" - 54"- 63'" - 72 3/4"
9' 4'-9' 15'-21--27 1/4"- 34' -41 1/2"-49 1/2"-58'-67'-77 1/4"
9'6" 4' 9' I5" - 21 1/4"-28 1/4"- 36 1/4"- 44 1/4"- 53 1/4"- 62 1/4"- 72 1/4"- 82 1/2"
10' 4' -9'-15"-21 1/4"- 28 1/4"-36 1/4"- 44 1/4"-' 52 3/4"-62"-71 1/2"-81' 90 1/2"
5 Piece Models
9' 4 9/16"- 10 1/4" - 17 3/8" - 25 3/4" - 34 1/8" - 43 1/2" - 53 5/8" - 64 1/4" - 741/4"
9'6" 4 3/4 - 9 3/4" - 15 3/8" - 21 7/8" - 29 3/8" - 37 1/4" 44 7/8" - 53 1/4" - 63 3/8" - 72" - 85"
8-THRU 10 WEIGHT MODELS
9' 4" - 9" - I5" - 21" - 28" - 36" - 44" - 52" - 64" - 76"
9'6" 4" - 9'" - l5" - 22" - 30" - 38" - 46" - 55" - 68" - 82"
7-THRU 10 WEIGHT SALTWATER MODELS
9' 4'-9' 15' 21'-28--36 -44' 52--611/2"- 72'
9' 6" - 4" - 9" - 15" - 22" - 30" - 38" - 46" - 55" - 67" - 80 1/2"
11- AND I2-WEIGHT SALT WATER MODELS
9' - 4:" 9" 13" 20" 27" - 35'"- 43" - 52'"- 62 1/2"- 73"
8 WEIGHT 3 PIECE SALTWATER MODEL
9' 4" - 9" - 15" - 21" - 27 3/4" - 35" - 44" - 53" - 62 1/2" - 73"
10-WEIGHT 3 PIECE SALTWATER MODEL
9 4' - 9' - 15' - 21' - 27 3/4"- 35"- 44"- 53' - 62 1/2"- 73"
12-WEIGHT 3 PIECE SALTWATER MODEL
9' , 6' - 13' - 20' - 27"- 34 1/2" - 43' - 53' - 63"-73 1/2"
Spey Rods
3 piece
15' 4 1/2- 9 3/4" - 15 3/4" - 22 7/8" - 31 7/8" - 40"- 50" - 61" - 73 1/4" - 87"- 103 1/2"- 120 3/4"- 145 1/2"
16' 4 1/2- 9 3/4" - 15 3/4" - 22 7/8" - 31 7/8" - 40"- 50" - 60" - 71" - 83"- 96"- 110 3/4"- 125 1/2"- 152"
Noodle Rod
3 piece
11'3" 5 3/4- 11 1/2" - 18" - 25 1/4" - 31 3/4" - 39 1/4"- 49 1/4" - 57 3/4" - 67" - 75 1/4" - 85 3/4"- 95 1/2"
For light trout rods, there is one stripping guide. From the tip down, 4 #2 snakes, 3 to 5 #3 snakes, and 2 #4 prior to the stripper. On the majority of the heavier line rods, 4 #4 snakes, 3 to 5 #5's, and 1-2 #6's, with 2 stripping guides. Sort out the guides so that you have the different sizes in order. We keep them in order by sticking them to a piece of masking tape. Usually there are at three separate sizes and the stripping guide(s) which goes nearest the grip.
FFN detest hook keepers. They either make noise, are unattractive, will allow your hand to slide onto a hook placed in them or all of the above. To safely keep your fly, tippet under control, place it into the stripper.
Start with the stripping guide and line it up with the alignment mark on the Up of the rod butt with the top guide foot on the last guide spacing mark. Tape it to the rod using narrow masking tape on one foot only. Check the alignment of the stripping guide carefully with your atignment mark. All of the guides will be aligned from the stripping guide.
Progress up the rod with the guides from the largest to the smallest at the correct spacing taping each one on and aligning it with the stripping guide. Make sure the tip and butt sections are correctly aligned. By aligning each guide with the stripping guide. you will not make a cumulative error as you go up the rod. To keep the guides securely on the rod while you are wrapping. you can tape both feet until you start to wrap each guide. You are now ready to start wrapping the guides.
Wrapping
Color is important in wrapping. The right colors, between the blank and the thread complimenting each other are pleasing on the eye. When starting rodbuilding, lighter color threads are easier to see what you're doing and to spot mistakes. Magic markers work well on light color threads. For novices, instead of trying multi-colored thread, use a magic marker on the thread to get that second color. Or if you want a dark color wrap, you can use white and magic marker all of them when the wrapping is complete.
The thread needs to be held under tension while you are wrapping. You can use a regular rod wrapping accessory or a book. Run the thread through a heavy book and you can control the tension somewhat by the amount of pages above and below the thread. A little trial and error will determine the right tension for you. You can place the spool of thread in a cup so it doesn t roll away.
Start the wrap 1/8" to 1/4" from the guide foot depending on the length of wrap that you want. To get an attractive completed rod, the amount of thread prior to reaching the foot should be consistent. Count the turns to reach the foot. 8 thru 10 is about right. The smaller guides can have 2-4 less wraps than the larger guides. Place the end of the thread on the rod and wrap 5 or 6 turns of thread over the end of the thread. Start and end the thread on each wrap opposite the guide for consistency. As you turn the rod. if the thread is at a slight angle it will lay up against the last wrap to give you a tight and uniform wrap.
Before marking the rod put it together aligning the butt and tip and mark the guide spacing approximatelv in line with the marks and the tip-top. The marks from the measurements are for the center of the snake.
When you are wrapping pay close attention to the point where the thread climbs up on the guide foot. If you don t do a good job there the foot will show through when it is coated. Keeping the wraps close together is essential for a strong neat job.
When you are within 1/4'' of the end of the wrap on the guide. take a 8 -10" piece of 2-4 lbs tippet material and insert a loop facing the direction you are wrapping, under the wraps and continue to wrap over the loop. When the wrap is finished, insert the cut end of the thread through the loop. Pull the open end of the loop tight, to just before the wrapping thread is about to go under the wrap, still holding tension on the wrapping thread. Cut the winding thread 1/16" from the loop. Pull the loop till the winding thread held in the loop bites under the wrap. Stop. Now pull the loop in the direction that the thread was being wrapped. If this was done correctly, there will no loose ends coming through the wrap. Inspect your work. If there are any gaps, use your finger nails to close them up.
Single foot guides. We're not a fan of them, but if you use them, keep this in mind. They are prime for loosening, moving and even coming out from under the wrap. So it critical to set them in place. Some rod finishers crazy glue 'em in place. Slightly roughen where the will be placed and then put a drop of crazy glue there. Quickly put the guide in place and hold it there with a very thin strip of masking tape. Be sure you allow enough time for the glue to set before continuing to wrap.
The most critical wrap is the one right at the winding check. Take your time on this one as it's the one most looked at. Start at the winding check and keep pushing the wrapped thread back towards it with your thumbnail. And this one is a prime canidate for a second color magic markered. Keep the wrap length short here, and the second color narrow. Or you can even try 2 or three bands of the second magic marked color. For multi bands, the length of thread that is colored should be measured, try 1.5-2" for starters.
FFN ferrules must have a wrap on it. Closer to the edge the better. On a spigot ferrule you should wrap the end of the tip for at least 3/16'' from the end of the tip and the same on the butt. This is another advantage of placing a guide at this point. With the sleeve-type ferrule you need to only wrap the end of the tip. Ferrule wraps are prime canidates for second colors.
After all of the guides are wrapped you can adjust their alignment by carefully pushing them one way or the other until they are perfect. If you took your time the wraps should be ready for glassing. If you were somewhat careless and there is some fuzzyness on the threads and/or some of the thread ends didn't stay completely under the wraps, carefully singe the problem wraps with the alcohol lamp.Try singeing a trial piece first since some flames will deposit soot and would discolor your wraps.
For a professional touch wrap the smallest wind you can finish right at the base of the tip top.
Lettering
Any work of art should have a signature and your rod is no exception. What you call it is up to you, but usually two thing should be included: length and line wt.
Put a trim wrap on the rod at the end of the writing section so that you can coat
the blank and have a finished place to end. A fine point dip pen will work if it has a rounded point so you don t scratch into the blank's finish. White or silver acrylic and watercolor inks looks good on almost all blank colors.
These inks give the advantage of wiping clean if your initial attemps fail. It's not easy writing on a curved surface.
Wrap Coating
Medium to light colored thread we recommend using color preserve. And if you use it, do at least 2 coats of it. Be forewarned though, even with color preserve, the color will always be a shade or two darker than the original color. Also, the color of the blank will also effect the wrap color as the thread has some transparency.
Two part epoxy coatings can drive you nuts. Follow the directions to a "T" and 90% of the time it works fine. The other 10% of the time can drive you crazy. Anyway, to get in the 90% be absolutely sure you mix equal parts of the 2 elements.
Before you start, have 2 items at hand: a shallow cardboard carton with 2 "v's" cut into the sides to allow the drying rod to spin and something to slowly spin the rod while the epoxy is curing (60-120 minutes). The later can be anything to a drill, cordless screw driver, barbecue turner, set to a low rpm or you turning it by hand 180 degrees, every minute or so.
If you have a turner available, the rod can be spun while applying the coating. Many find the results better and faster by holding the sections directly in your hand, starting with the butt, and working up.
FFN uses FlexCoat finishing kits which comes in standard or lite. With the standard we normally can finish a rod with one coating, getting good penetration and depth. Any spots missed are touched up with the lite. And, for the 10% of the time, when the Flex Coat doesn't set/dry for you, putting a coat of the lite over it usually will cure it.
There is another coating school, including the Flex Coat copy, that uses multiple coats of the lite, saying that this will give a better, more even finish. Though we find that somewhat true in theory, in practice, it's not worth the effort. It will take 3 coats to get good penetration, so that's triple the time, and with the property of epoxy, each coat tends to ball up towards the middle, giving a "bubble" look, not the even coat you are looking for.
It's dry and you can't wait to cast it. Cast it, but after you're done, get some medium and fine sandpaper. Grip the handle. It's too fat for over 90% of the anglers and if you're in that majority, carefully start working it down with the medium grit. Most anglers feel most comfortable with a maximum width in the center of a trout rod grip of about 1 1//8". Flyfisher women, kids, those with small hands work down from there. You should follow the contours of the original grip shape, and only deviate if you're absolutely sure you know what you want. Big game and salt water grip the width's of 1/16" to 1/8" larger may provide greater comfort. Remember, you can always take more off, but you can't put it back on. Finish with fine grit. Go fishing. Still too fat, take some more off, till it's perfection.
For a nice practical touch, use the fine grit and put a slight chanfered edge on the base of the grip where it meets the reel seat. Leaving a sharp edge there makes the cork suseptable to chipping.
By following these assembly directions you will have one of the finest rods personalized with your own craftsmanship and gain a big step to becoming a complete angler.