dad had a nice set-up i plan to use someday.

Most I made were before you were born. A few years ago I got a "Tackle Craft " catalog from Cabelas that had a lot of good stuff.

Wolfdog i've built quite a few rods and you do NOT need expensive equipment to make them . My first 7-8 rods or so were made using a long cardboard box with V notches cut in the ends to support the rod . The spool of thread used for wrapping was held in a t-cup , the thread was run through the pages of a book with books stacked above and below to adjust the height and tension of the thread . The cork handles were turned with a drill and mandrels made from wooden dowels . Given your resourcefulness you'll be able to make your own equipment . What would be a good purchase is a low rpm finishing motor for when you coat your wraps etc .

I have built several I started off like VH60 with a simple cardboard box with v notches cut in it. Later I built a setup like Danny’s. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment. Start out simple then as you build a few you will learn what tools that might make you more efficient. I don’t own a turner/dryer. I rotate with my fingers to wrap and coat. Once coated I will let sit and rotate 90 degrees every 5-10 minutes until setup.

I use my same setup to thread wrap and epoxy wingbone turkey calls

Ok my first question for the day is about rod blanks. I currently wanna build a cat fish rod but mainly for catching smaller cats. 10 lbs average mabye a rare 20lb . I'm a bank fisherman and most of what I fish are larger ponds smaller lakes. I do a good bit of longer casts and I also like my rods to be on the lighter end because it makes for a better fight. Most of the rods rods in the store are either too short for casting are too bulky and stiff to really get a fight out of smaller fish or just plain to much.

I'd like to make something similar to the design of a surf rod i guess. Long handed smaller diameter rod blank but still something on the strong side. Think 8' would be perfect. Most likely a spinner but wouldn't mind a baitcaster either what would y'all recommended for blanks ?

Love it ! Looking at something like that with a old drill rigged up to spin the rod

I have used some of the E-Glass blanks from Mudhole. I used them mostly for pond cat fishing, but they were tough rods. Used to get blanks for 5-10 dollars I see on the website they have went up a bit but still reasonable. I don’t know if the current models are as good, worse, or better. Most of mine are 10-15 years old.

these are not hollow. 6 feet long but you could shorten them easy enough. All rod blanks have a direction they like to bend. Grab the tip with the other end on the floor and bend the rod. they have a tendency to turn to side they want to bend on. that's the side your guides go on.
https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/solid-fiberglass-rod-blanks/026125000008.aspx

these are very durable reel seats. they work for spinning or bait cast reels.
https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/saltwater-reel-seats/280476.aspx

The handle is turned on a lathe. any hardwood works. its two piece meeting in the center of the seat. that ring on the rod end was cut off an old dip net handle. keeps it from splitting out. the rod half of the two piece handle is drilled before turning. turn your rod end to the pre drilled hole so it is straight and centered. the reel seat joins the two halves together. I glue it with a two part epoxy. Before gluing scoring the inside of the seat with some 60 grit sand paper and it wont come undone. I use the same glue to put the rod into the handle.

no complaints with these guides. you need larger for spinning reels than you do bait casting. go to Walmart and look at some rods. bring a tape measure or look at rods you already have
https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/pacific-bay-doublefoot-guides/

nothing fancy about these poles but the one in the picture is at least 20 years old. not my first choice for jigging crappies or flipping lures bass fishing, but drifting for or bank fishing for cat fish hard to beat. I use the same design only larger rod for flathead and spoonbill. solid fiberglass is VERY durable

Friend of mine made a rod turner from an old BBQ rotisserie motor... seems to work fine.

Well after looking and reading and watching I think what I'm going to try first is a CRB eglass rod and one of netcrafts solid fiberhlass rods.


As far as the grips I really like the para cord grips done on the Meathunter custom rods so I think I'll do that instead of cork or EVA foam..
Now right now I'm just confused about reel seats. Do you just buy any reel seat and use tap arbors and epoxy to fit it or am I missing something ? I see sizes are normally 14-20 . Is this for different size reels or for fitting to blanks ?

You can get a very strong reel seat made by Fuji that will never rust without spending a lot. Try to get the I.D. about 1/8" to 1/4" larger than the blank is where you'll mount the seat. Then build up three separate tightly wrapped bands of masking tape to a good fit that will leave room for epoxy. Then cover the three bands of tape and all exposed areas of the blank and the sides of each tape band with a 20 or 30 minute epoxy then mount the seat. It is much easier than fitting arbors and very strong if you do it right. If you want to do arbors, by all means they are great, but I've built tons of fresh and saltwater rods with the tape and never had a failure.

As said above a cardboard box and running thread through a book will work great, even for more complex wraps with trim or spirals. Wrapping machines are great for commercial production but I've built hundreds of rods without one and in fact I wrap in my hands without a cardboard box. You can use D size thread on a catfish rod but size A will look better if you do a good job. Don't leave thread tags sticking out of the wraps or they'll turn into little mountains with epoxy on them. You can trim and then use a lighter to singe them off, or better yet learn to bury the e nd under your wraps as you pull it through by cutting it to length before you pull the loop through.

A slow speed motor for your finishing is important. They aren't too expensive but a crafty guy like you can probably build one out of a barbecue rotisserie or something. Just buy a Flex-Coat kit and follow their instructions to a T when mixing and do it in two coats. One will never look right. Flex Coat has a great video on correct mixing. If you mess up the mixing you can get epoxy that will never fully harden.


File your guide feet so the thread doesn't have to "jump up" onto the end of the foot, and keep your wraps consistent in width on both sides of the guide. Don't worry about using the lightest guides available. On a rod like that stronger guides will last longer.


If you can, get a human being on the phone and buy everything at the same time.


Good luck.

Pete

Ones I build are lots simpler than what a lot build. With a lathe turned handle I turn the part that is going inside the reel seat a tad loose. When I put the two pieces together they meet in the middle of the seat. I coat one with epoxy then wrap a piece of cloth around it to tighten it up. More epoxy on the cloth. You don't want to use much cloth so don't make the handle to loose. That epoxy is a pretty good lube when it hasn't started to set up. Do both halves at the same time. That cloth makes it strong and wont come loose. The hole the rod goes in is straight not tapered like the blank. a small strip of cloth and epoxy right inside the handle. T he bottom of the hole should be pretty snug.

I've never bought a handle. Here are some I have put together over the years. Got tired of rods I paid a lot for not holding up. The black foam handle was salvaged from a hollow pole that snapped in half one day. The fiberglass blank goes all the way through that one.



This is just upholstery thread. Same stuff I sew pelts up with.

So everyone I got my blank in today aaand honestly it's a little big diameter wise but I think I can still work with it! Now I it's kinda stuff for a medium action 8ft rod but then again it's a salt water blank and for less than $26 I don't think I can complain too much. That being said the only thing I messed up on was the reel seat lol. I got a size 16 because that looked like the most common size that( and they had the color i wanter lol )but I think I'll go a 20 this go around. On the bright side ! Now that I have a blank and some components I know what I want now and I can practice on my handle wrapping