After last spring's successful Casting for Recovery auction for one of my fly rods, I was asked to consider donating another rod. Of course, the answer was yes.  How can you say no to such a worthy cause.

After over ten years and about 2 hundred fly rods I'm  finally putting my old wrapping stand out to pasture. It did everything I ask it to do but was not very attractive. Some pressboard covered with wood grain vinyl. A velcro strap to hold the blank and 2 thread tension devices (both the same). Very utilitarian but not a thing of beauty.

This past Feb. while I was working the Trout Unlimited booth at the Pasadena Fly-fishing show, I had a chance to meet and chat with the wonderful ladies from Casting for Recovery. I knew of their mission previously and took the opportunity to learn more. I was so impressed with their work that I offered my help with their fund raising. They have contacted me and asked if I would be willing to donate one of my custom rods for their Spring 2011 on-line auction. I was honored and of course, accepted their request. 

I want to make a rod that will generate lots of interest and raise as much money as possible. For the blank, I chose a Five Rivers Signature V nine foot, four piece, 4 weight. This is the 4 weight rod I fish and I don’t think any other 4 wts. compare to it. 

Once the blank was selected, I had to think about components. As with all my rods, performance is the primary concern. For a tip–top I decided on a Fuji CFAT size 6. The ceramic insert gives better line flow and saves almost 0.2 grams compared to a standard chrome tip-top. A size 12“N” style stripping guide with silicon carbide insert followed by a #3, #2 light, #1 light, and six #1/0 light chrome snakes make up the guide set.  The selection of these components saved about a gram and a half of weight compared to std. wt. guides and std. loop tip-top thus maximizing performance in sensitivity and ability to deliver tighter loops and greater line speed. 

After selecting these components to make this a fantastic performing rod, my task is to make this rod into a ‘one of a kind’, thing of beauty. I remembered a piece of afzelia burl with some spalted sap wood and gorgeous eyes that I had set aside to use as a featured wood in a very “special” grip. What could be more special than a rod for Casting for Recovery?   This afzelia sap wood was combined with amboyna burl, buffalo horn and ivory to make the grip and reel seat.

 The grip was glued on the blank and after several days of consideration, I have selected thread colors of medium brown and metallic gold for the wraps

 

More to come as the build of this beautiful rod continues.

I had all the components assembled Fri. so decided to build the rod this weekend. Fri. night the guide placement was determined and marked on the rod and the spine was found for each section. I took the time to do the guide foot prep and glue on the tip-top. Got up Sat morn. Had my coffee, read the news and was ready to wrap. I decided on a 2 wrap gold inlay in the center of each guide foot wrap.

 

The ferrule wrap and butt wrap design would have a 4 wrap spiral (because this is a 4 wt rod) located between two 3 thread bands of gold thread.

 

Watched some great basketball and got all the thread work done by late afternoon. Then it was time to think about the feather inlay.

 

I have to think about the design for a while.

About 9:00 pm wandered back into my office looked at my thread work, did a little more burnishing, and had to plan the feather inlay. Got the feathers out to study again. A pattern began to develop which involved feathers from the Amherst pheasant, Peacock pheasant, and of course the Jungle Cock.

The feathers selected were Peacock Pheasant eye, Jungle cock flank feather, Amherst Pheasant neck hackle feather and rump feather and 4(because it’s a 4 wt) jungle cock eyes. It was now about 11:00 pm and decided to go to bed because the next step would take about 4 hours.  

Got up Sun morn, had my coffee, read the news, checked my e-mail, watched Meet the Press, and started the inlay.

 

First the Jungle cock flank feather was applied to the blank and allowed dry.

 

Then the Amherst neck hackle feather was applied and allowed to dry.

 

Then the Amherst rump feather was applied and allowed to dry.

 

Then the Peacock Pheasant eye was applied and allowed to dry.

 

The first set of jungle cock eyes were applied and allowed to dry

 

And finally the last set of jungle cock eyes were added.

 

I completed the inlay and got to watch Duke and Ohio St. win their conference tournaments and the NCCA tournament brackets announced. Now all have to add are couple coats of CP to the entire inlay allow it to dry over night, apply thread finish and attach the reel seat. 

2 coats of flex coat lite were applied to the guide and ferrule wraps.

And to the feather inlay.

 The reel seat was then glued on.  

All my rods have quite a bit of "MOJO" built into them but again I wanted to add a little extra to this rod so before the butt cap was glued on a mini pink ribbon was inserted into the base of the rod.

Attach the butt cap and the rod is ready to fish.

Here it is, the finished rod with rod sock and rod tube. You could be the owner of this high performance one of a kind, beautiful fly rod and at the same time help with the the fantastic work being done by Casting for Recovery. Please bid generously during the Spring 2011 on line AUCTION held May 2 thru May 13. 

For more pictures of the finished rod go to my web site, by clicking on the banner at the top of the page, then go to Gallery 6

To see how the grip was constructed, click on making the grip.

Dennis

This is the most critical step in getting that fly rod you will really love. Nothing the rod builder can do will improve the intrinsic qualities of the blank. He can maximize them, but he can’t improve them. This is an area where it doesn’t pay to go cheap. That said lets look at some of the things to consider when selecting your blank.

 

MATERIAL: Material the blank is made from is a consideration. Graphite, glass or grass (bamboo) are our main choices today. Bamboo will always have it’s advocates because of tradition, and the “feel”. Glass has made a come back because the fiberglass used in today’s rod is not the same as that used in the fifties and sixties and some prefer that “feel” to graphite. But 99% of the time we are going to chose graphite as the material for our blank because it does the job more efficiently than the other materials. All graphite fibers are not the same. Some fibers are stiffer than others. We measure this stiffness by what is called the modulus of the graphite fiber. The higher the modulus the stiffer the fiber. Thus we can gain the stiffness required with less weight. Conversely, the higher the modulus is, the more brittle the fiber and a greater chance of breakage. High modulus graphite is more expensive than lower modulus.The blank manufacturers each have their own proprietary graphite for their blanks and most will not reveal the actual numbers.

 

POWER:  The power of a blank is the stiffness of the blank or the amount of energy required to deflect the blank during casting. The power of a 5 wt. blank can vary from one manufacturer to another. Different models from the same manufacturer, both labeled 5 wt., may have different amounts of power.  There is no standard for blanks or rods like there is for fly lines. The power of a blank can be easily determined by looking at the weight / deflection ratio.

 

ACTION:  The action of the blank is where the rod flexes when being deflected. A fast action blank will deflect in the top quarter of the blank, a moderate fast action in the top third, a moderate action in the top half and a slow action throughout the length of the blank. This action is a result of the taper of the blank and/or type (modulus) of graphite used.

 

LENGTH:  Single handed fly rod blanks are usually available from 7 feet to 10 feet. The waters you fish will help you determine which blank will be best for you. Small overgrown streams are easier to fish with shorter rods. Big open waters most often fish better with longer rods. The longer the rod the easier to generate greater line speed thus longer cast. Mending line is easier with a longer rod. Remember that with a longer rod the fish has more mechanical advantage. Length is also important when landing fish. If you are netting your own fish, a rod over 9 feet makes it hard to net without high sticking and the risk of breaking the rod. If you have help netting or can beach your catch a 10 foot rod is not a problem.

 

NUMBER OF SECTIONS: Is a 2 section rod better than a multi-section rod?  In theory a 2 piece rod should cast better than a multi-piece rod, but in reality with today’s ferruling methods most of the time it is hard to tell the difference between a 2pc. and a 4pc.rod. I feel that the taper and graphite type are much more important than the number of sections. I have some 6pc. rods which cast wonderfully and are perfect for the backpacker. The only reason they usually are not the first arrow out of my quiver is it takes a little longer to rig at streamside. All my favorite rods, the ones that I fish (1 – 12wt.) with one exception, are 3 and 4 section rods.

 

MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY:  No one buys a rod with the intension of breaking the rod but accidents do happen. Know what the manufacturers replacement policies are for the blank and what your rod builder will charge to rewrap that section.

 

These are some very general thoughts on blank selection. If you are a rod builder I’m sure you have some additional thoughts so please share them in the comments section. If you are looking to buy a rod, my advise is to cast as many models from as many manufacturers as you can. See which ones fit your casting style. Then see what your custom rod builder has to offer. If you want to know what I fish go to my web site (harperflyrods.com) by clicking on the banner at the top of the page and selecting “recommendations”. While you are there take a look at some of my custom rods and grips in galleries # 1 and 2. Hope this has helped. Next up, I plan to discuss guide selection. It will be similar to the tip top article.

 

Thanks for visiting

Dennis

 

Custom rod building is all about choices. We choose the blank based on power, length, and action desired. We choose components based on the choices available and which will best suit our needs. Grip choices are based on style, and size. Considerations in the choice of  guides include: wire vs ceramic insert , single foot or double foot, thin or standard wire. Each of these deserves its own separate discussion. which I hope to get to some day. But now I wanted to talk a little about tip tops. Think of a diving board, if you add extra weight at the end of the board you will affect the function of the board in its transmitting power to the diver. He wont go as high with 10 pounds strapped to the bottom of the end of the board as he would without the 10 pounds, if we make it 20 pounds that affect will be even greater. This has to due to damping and resonance frequency, but I don't want to get into the physics of that as I'm a Biologist and not a Physicist. The bottom line is the lighter the tip top the more energy is transfered to the fly line resulting in faster line speed and farther cast. Below is a photo of some of the tip tops we can choose from.

JUST A NOTE!  

    Several years ago on one of the rod building boards someone ask what was the least  favorite part of building the rod. The answers that came back were overwhelming  "guide foot preparation" ... almost everyone agreed that this, while not fun, is one of the most important steps in making a good looking rod. It is what allows a smooth transition of the thread from the blank to the guide foot.  Most guides, just out of the box, are going to need some prep work. 

WELCOME,

Welcome to my blog.  This is my first attempt at bloging and I’m not too sure where this project is going to go yet. But as the sub-title says “random thoughts of a rod builder” is my attempt to talk about my rod building philosophy, experiences, successes, failures, techniques, tips and any other related aspect of the craft (art). I’m a fly-fisherman and I build mainly fly rods but the techniques are basically the same for all fishing rods. I'm not a production builder, but more of a craftsman who wants to build the best tool for the job and add a little art in the process. I want my end product to have a little of "me" and "who I am" expressed in it. 

 

To start, let me tell you why I started rod building. In all honesty, it was based on economics. I could get more kinds of fly rods for the money I had available to spend on the sport and to have the exact rod I wanted for the different waters I fish. Also catching a fish on a rod that you built, on a fly you tied, is a much greater thrill than doing it with equipment bought at a fly shop.

 

I hope to add to this blog on a regular basis giving tips, techniques and such.  Let me know what you think of my website or the direction you would like to see this blog go. Thanks for taking the time to read this and please comment.

 

Dennis