Solid Wood Rod

[corlay]

This past year, I embarked on a project to make a fly rod from wood that I harvested myself. American Beech was the species of choice, and the construction is hand-planed/sanded solid wood, rather than glued-strip construction. I am quite pleased with the results, and this 6’8” one-piece taper casts a dt4 line rather well. Taper is “straight” and derived via the hexrod online taper generator. Was a very fun and educational project.

[Perry Palin]

That is a great looking rod. Good luck with the rod. I learned some things just by looking at your photos.

A one piece rod is tough to carry in a small car, but it avoids some issues with ferrules, which are an inherently weak spot on the solid wood rod. I have used fit-over tubes cut from old fiberglass spinning rods for ferrules in two and three piece wood rods. My favorites for fishing are still the one piece rods.

Each piece of wood is different, and it's hard to know what action or line weight you have until the rod is complete. Did you have an idea or plan for a 4wt rod, and if so, what resources did you use to get a 4wt?

I'm interested in the finish you used. What product seals and covers the rod?

And why the intermediates? Are the intermediates to keep the rod from splintering under stress? That would make sense, but I wonder if the thread and additional finish stiffens the rod and adds a little weight.

A neat, inexpensive project using simple hand tools.

[corlay]

Thanks Perry!

Taper:
I used the hexrod.net “taper generator”. Because this was my first wood rod, and I wanted to stay conservative, I opted for a “straight” taper thinking it would produce the most uniform stress on the blank under load. Also being conservative and fearful of breakage, I started with the largest tip diameter I could also purchase a tip top that would fit (size 7.5 or .115” ). From there, I used that .115” tip as a starting point (and constant) to generate the taper. The other variable in hexrod is the “Rod taper in 1/1000-ths per linear unit:” I started conservatively with a 4.5 value which produces a med-fast taper in a bamboo hex rod. I taped-on some guides and test-cast. The rod was too stiff for my liking with this 4.5 value, So I sanded the blank down some more using a 4.25 value. Still too stiff. After some more trial-and-error I finally settled on 3.75. With its relatively thick tip the final action is “semi-parabolic” which I am quite happy with. With hexrod being geared toward bamboo, using it became only a loose guide to achive the lineweight and action I desired. A lot of trial and error and careful sanding was required to get what I wanted.


Finish:
I first finished the raw, sanded blank with pure tung oil diluted with artist’s turpentine. I chose this because tung oil is a penetrating finish vs topical (like varnish). The hope is that the tung penetrates into the wood and quasi-impregnates it. I applied the tung 3x. Then, once guides/ intermediates were wrapped and varnished, I finished the blank with finger-applied Tru Oil. 3-coats. Rattan handle and wood reel seat are finished in varnish.

Intermedites:
I used these for two reasons: 1) old rods featured intermediates and I really like the look. 2) to add some “hoop strength” to the rod and maybe (hopefully) the added reinforcement will help prevent splintering and/or breakage. A solid wood rod is already heavy, so added weight attributed to the indermediates is negligible. The intermediates did impart a little stiffness to the action. Not a big change, but enough to be noticable.

[bugslinger]

Cool rod! Very nice build, let us know how it bends/feels with a nice trout!

[roycestearns]

Very nice job.

You'll need to raise a chicken to tie a fly, build your own reel, and twist your own fly line

Keeps us updated on how it fishes

[Perry Palin]

I had a mentor in making wood rods many years ago. He was a magician with tackle, even carving freehand some working wood fly reels. On the wood rods we pretty much gave up on using a taper guide because even sticks out of the same board would flex differently. We would shave and try, as you did, and shave and sand some more until we had a blank ready for finishing. He made strong rods of white ash, and also white ash glued longitudinally to strips of bamboo. My rods have been of western red cedar, white ash, hickory, birch, maple, and most recently Douglas fir. The Doug fir has been very difficult to work with, very splintery, but it makes a strong, light and fast rod.

It's hard for me to shave the tip down when the blank looks and feels so delicate. It doesn't have to be weak, even though it's thin. Still, I tend to leave a lot of wood in the tip and get a parabolic action, lots of bend in the middle of the rod. I gave up on looking for tip tops to fit and I wrap on a single foot guide as a tip top.

For some early models I used an open spiral of white fly tying thread down the blank before finishing, to prevent splintering. I gave up on that eventually.

For a finish I use two coats of Devcon 2 Ton Epoxy, which is actually a very strong two part clear glue. The first coat penetrates the wood a bit and stiffens the blank. After the first coat I wrap the guides and then apply the second coat. It's just about bulletproof. I don't know if its better than tung oil but I agree the penetration is important.

While my finish is about bulletproof, that doesn't mean the rod is. I've broken some and chalked each of those up as a learning experience. My most important lessons: the wood grain has to be as straight as possible; and, the rod needs a continuous taper. This need not be a straight taper, but any section of six inches or so without any taper will be the weak spot where the rod will fail first.

All the best for you with your first wood rod. I agree with bugslinger, it would be nice to have report after you've had it on the water.

[corlay]

Success!

Got the “woodie” out for the first time today, on a low-gradient small stream that holds a lot of native brookies. Water is still pretty cold up here in NY, and I only hooked into one - a decent 11”-12” brown. Not sure why the brookies were so absent? But anyway - the beech rod performed very well. Was quite resilient fighting the fish and I now have a lot less paranoia about the fragility of this material.

While wading, I happened upon a nice straight “stick” stripped of its bark from the current. Maybe should have snagged it to make solid wood rod #2?

[crowebeetle]

I was wondering if you could hollow it out a bit by drilling from the grip which might lightened it a bit. Osage orange might be another wood to try.

[corlay]

I was wondering if you could hollow it out a bit by drilling from the grip which might lightened it a bit. Osage orange might be another wood to try.

The rods I make this way are 7’ or less in lengrh and have no ferrules.
They are not oppressively heavy. I actually appreciate some “heft” in a short rod - it imparts a “self-loading” quality when casting, and helps with short casts, especially.

[munsey w]

That is a beauty Corey!

[Kenneth]

That is a gorgeous rod, and I'm really intrigued by the fact that with hefty tip-top and all, it's still a relatively light line rod at 4wt. Now I want to try one myself.

Thanks for sharing and keep safe,
Kenneth