I'm new to the rod building community but have really enjoyed my time building the few rods I've built so far. It started as something I'd like to do and using the old adage about if you're doing something you love and get paid for it, you'll never work a day in your life...so I'm teaching a rod building class at my school during an after school program. It hasn't started yet but some of the kids are really excited about it.

My question is more of a personal one. One thing I'd like to do is build a few rods for my own kids. When I look at all the possible blanks, they seem endless. From the different manufactures to all the possible actions, lengths, prices, etc. I've already built each of them what I like to call my trial rods that I picked up from Mudhole. (great people there), during one of their clearance sales. I've learned a lot from building those rods and enjoyed taking them to pick out the right reels for them. Now I'd like to get a little more serious and pick out a few better blanks to work on. How do you guys, without holding the blanks in your hands, pick the right blank? Some of those get pricey! I'd hate to pick a blank and find I'm not comfortable with then be stuck with it. What advice can you give a Newbie on blank selections? Are they "returnable" if you don't like the feel of them? I'm sure it gets even more iffy when you're building one for a client. I'm just looking for a few rules of thumb to follow to guide my on my way.

Thanks for the advice. It's always greatly appreciated.

Dave

good luck on your endeavor, a fishing rod is a fishing rod , as you can see ,they all catch fish , now it is personal touch, from the broom sticks on the big boats to catch tuna, the real ultra light fore small pan fish ,
do you jerk the fish in or do you play them , a lot of it is personal feel, what you like , & how it feels in your hand , no 2 people are the same , as I see it ,

William Sidney
AK

Dave, there are no simple answers to your question! First you must start with, what species are you targeting, what type of fishing (fly, spin, cast, etc.) what type of waters, your current preferences in rod actions? And, these are just the beginning.

One of the first questions I ask a customers is, do you have a favorite rod now? If yes, what and why? This provides a starting point, from which I ask, how could it be improved?

I know this is probably not much help, but gives you an idea of how broad the question is.

You may consider asking yourself what do I want the rod to be good at as a starting point.