Custom Made Fishing Poles

This is how I made my fishing pole from a plain blank to a functional fishing pole. Originally, I did not know that I was going to make the instructable until about half way through the whole project which was around when I was warping the guides on the rod so that's why you don't see the original rod and rod parts I used separate from the rod itself. Also you wont see the area I glued on the handles and reel seat until later on. This took me about 10-15 hours to make it. It cost me roughly around 75 dollars for the blank, guides, handle, reel seat, tiptop. The rest was provided by my teacher. This was very expensive project for me to do but the results were great. I built it because I been wanting to build it since 7th grade and I finally was able to do it since I had barely enough money for everything and my teacher had everything else covered from previous projects he has done.

You will need a:

- Blank (main part of rod)

- Guides or Eyes

- Handles (Foam or Cork)

- Reel Seat

- Tiptop

- Thread

- Razor

- Masking take

- Epoxy Glue

- File

- Paint Brush

- Small Cups

- Rubbing Alcohol

- Rod Stand and Road Dryer

- Hot Glue Stick

- Lighter

First, your roll your rod until its at a point where it would just sit and not move and then get masking tape and then make it to indicate where the flat area is. Next, you will go and file the cork or foam handles in the hole in order to get it to where you can put it to where you desire on the rod. Then, you will go and put masking tape where you desire to have handle till it was tight so it can stay in a certain position while gluing. While that got taken care of, I mix the 2 separate liquids that make epoxy glue and then used the paint brush to get the glue in desired areas so I can connect the handle and reel seat to the rod.

I would start warping the way my shop class teacher told me how to which took me a while to get down. Once I got it down, I was able to warp the guides from the bottom up which was probably the most dislike process out of the whole project since in the beginning I was struggling to get the beginning warps done and then even when I got it done I was then having to deal with some threads unwrapping themselves. If you struggle to warp, use the masking tape to hold the guides down and thread from the rod up to the masking take then take it off and continue. You would also need to warp the ends of each handle grip on your rod just to make it look more pleasing but its not necessary. At the end though it turned out great and now you are ready to glue.

After you warped the guides and end points of the handles, you will make more epoxy glue and use the alcohol to make sure the air bubbles are not trapped in the solution. Then dip the brush into the glue and turn on the rod dryer and then just put the glue on the threads until it is darken completely and then stop for about 4 hours are repeat 2-4 times afterwards. Last, you will cut a sliver of the glue stick and then put it inside the rod tip and then use a lighter and melt the glue inside the rod tip until it starts melting then put it on the end of the blank aligned with the other guides and reel seat and it would be done.