The Real Time It Takes to Build a Fishing Rod
The time required to build a rod obviously depends on the complexity of the finishing work and the rodbuilder’s experience. Since the latter grows quickly, you’ll see in this piece that a simple (and effective!) build actually takes just a handful of hours—well below what most anglers and beginners imagine.
3 h, 5 h, 10 h? You often hear different figures for how long it takes to build a rod. As a rule of thumb, the first build averages around ten hours, and subsequent builds usually take about half that. Here’s what it really looks like—specifically for an experienced rodbuilder and a simple build.
Preparing the accessories
Before you start assembling the rod itself, you need to prep the accessories, especially those related to the reel seat.
- After cutting the quick-lock sleeve with a utility knife, glue the carbon trim ring and the metal ring, and hold them under pressure on a threaded rod or with painter’s tape.
- Cut the reel seat’s threaded section to the desired length.
- Glue the shim inside the reel seat (for the model shown, I only lightly reamed the interior to match the correct diameter).
- Glue the IPS grip onto the reel seat and hold it under pressure with painter’s tape and a threaded rod.
- Glue a piece of shim (if the diameter matches) onto the butt arbor, or wrap painter’s tape to bring it up to the blank’s internal diameter.
- Of course, clean off all excess glue with household alcohol.
Effective time: 0 h 17 min 30 s
Finding the STNB
Before gluing the grips and the reel seat, it’s essential to find the blank’s STNB so you can align these parts on the correct axis.
- To do this, set the blank’s butt on a table or the floor and place the last quarter/third in the palm of your hand.
- Apply pressure with your other hand; the blank will rotate and bend in its preferred direction. Mark this working axis with a white pencil and then verify your steps.
- Reminder: for a spinning build, the guides and the reel seat are mounted on the STNB side.
Effective time: 0 h 19 min 30 s
Reaming the accessories
- Lay your accessories next to the blank and mark their positions with a white pencil.
Using your reamers, start by reaming the butt until it bottoms out about 1 cm from the end of your blank. The glue will cover the last millimeters.
- Do the same for the reel seat.
- To keep things aligned while reaming, I prefer to rotate the grip around the reamer rather than holding the grip still and only working the tool.
Gluing
- Mix your two-part epoxy in equal parts (eyeballing the ratio is fine here).
- Lightly sand the section where the grips will be glued.
- Coat with epoxy (up to 1–2 cm below the lower mark).
- Slide the grips along the blank to the desired position.
- Realign the reel seat with the STNB.
- Glue the butt cap and hold it under pressure with painter’s tape.
- Note: Don’t forget any trim rings you’re using. Apply a little epoxy with a toothpick and hold them against the grips with a clothespin.
- Thoroughly clean any squeeze-out with household alcohol and check again regularly.
Effective time: 0 h 59 min 45 s
Placing the guides
- Once your grips are set, you can mark the guide positions. Refer to your blank’s product sheet or the “spacing chart” section of the Rodhouse forum.
- Install the tip-top and make a fine mark (on the STNB side) on the blank at each planned location.
- Reminder: the distances refer to the guide’s ceramic ring, not the foot.
Wrapping the guides
- You can now wrap the guides and do any decorative/finishing wraps.
- Without going through the entire process: I like to hold larger guides with painter’s tape and smaller ones with Rodbuilder’s Republic micro elastics.
- Pack your wraps neatly for a high-quality, clean look.
Effective time: 2 h 30 min 45 s
Aligning the guides
- Once all guides are wrapped, align them along the STNB and with each other.
- Start with the stripper (the largest guide), mount the reel on the reel seat, and eyeball the alignment, using the blank as the symmetry axis for the reel and stripper.
- With the stripper centered, align the rest one by one.
- I always align each guide to the previous one, then do an overall check.
Effective time: 2 h 45 min 30 s
Installing the tip-top
- After aligning the guides, place a drop of hot-melt glue on the blank tip and slide on the tip-top, keeping it aligned with the guide train.
- Remove excess glue with your fingernail.
- Wrap the tip-top.
Finishing (epoxy)
- For this final step, first check that your dryer and supports are level so the epoxy self-levels evenly.
- Use syringes to draw a few milliliters from each component. Be precise; finishes are picky about mix ratios.
- Stir gently in a figure-eight motion with your brush to minimize bubbles. Mix for 4 minutes.
- To help mixing and de-bubbling, you can use a small aluminum cup and warm it lightly with a lighter.
- For a clean coat, brace your elbow on the table and apply with the brush. Let the dryer do its job and keep your brush steady.
- Coat all wraps, then pass an alcohol lamp to pop bubbles. This also helps level any excess.
- Let the dryer run 6–8 hours, reversing rotation occasionally during the first hour, and check that no bubbles form.
Effective time: 3 h 19 min 25 s
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