Anyone know anything about making rods?

I was fishing by a guy today had some pretty dang nice jig rods he made from blanks, thought it was interesting and wondered what all it takes, didnt think to ask him at the time

Made a bunch of rods a long time back. I made contact with a supplier and he referred me to other people building rods. Contact Barlow's in Richardson for components and info. good luck.

Years ago when I learned how to build rods from my Dad, you could build one cheaper than you could buy one. Not so anymore with the price of labor in China. Good quality blanks will cost more than you can buy a finished rod for. If you want the satisfaction of building your own, then go for it. Look on You Tube for instructions on wrapping guides and making handles. A good blank form G-Loomis, St Croix or Batson will cost $75-120. Stainless guides, about $1 each and handle components about $10-20. You'll need some epoxy, rod wrapping thread, and flex coat for the wrapping. May want to use some color preserver also but not needed. So you'll have about $150 in components.
Some of the better You Tube videos will tell you how to determine the spine of the rod and placement of the guides. Very important to know how the spine is determined as that determines where guides will be placed whether you're building a spinning rod or casting rod.
Like anything else you do for yourself, there's a sense of satisfaction when finished.

Ken covered the basics. You can buy a power wrapper which doubles as a finisher, because the rod has to constantly turn after finish goes on to prevent sag. Or you can manually spin it to wrap threads and then just make or buy a drying rig. You can spend lots of money on cork, or just fill the cheap cork and stack/glue it. You can buy pre made grips as well. I turn mine on a drill press, so there's lots of ways to do it. Mudhole has everything, and they also have thread that doesn't need a color preserver. G Loomis doesn't sell blanks only anymore, but there are a bunch of companies that do. St. croix sure does have nice ones, and you can pair them with some nice guides that are smooth even with braid. You can buy cheaper ceramic guides or spend more and get the carbide ring/ titanium frame guides. You can cut a stiff blank and make a heck of a short slip rod, which is exactly why I started making them. I don't like threads on a reel seat, which is also an area you can customize. It takes some time, but it's hard to fish with anything else but your own builds once you do it.

Oh, and there are many styles of guide layouts also, for spinning or casting rods. You'd be surprised at what a different layout will feel like on a spinning rod, opposed to the gradual ring size taper and typical layout of a store bought spinning rod. Spiral wraps are easily done on casting rods, but that's a big subject in itself. I will only make spinning rods with a '27x' guide layout, it makes the rod better in every way.

The two big places and may even show some viedo is Jan.'s net craft and mudhole.

Iv watched several good videos on youtube but never bit the bullet and tried it. I have looked over mud hole several times and liked the idea of the "kits" that they sale.

The "Feather Light" rod that you referred to was originally designed by Glenn, founder of G Rod International. Some company uses his design without his permission. G Rod does have the same blank and rod under the trout serie. If you need a feather light crappie rod to build, I can get you one.

Angler's Workshop is also a great place for rod building stuff and has a big selection of blanks. there's a very extensive rod building forum at rodbuilding.org

I agree that that Angler's work shop is the best of all, but do think Mud hole has better with set up. To go head and get the stuff to do it right is a lot of the fun, but you should go over all to see who has what on sale.

All most forgot Bar5low's in Dallas is a ok place and local. Can't forget the locals'.

I've done a little research, looks a little pricey but I couldn't imagine the feeling of fishing with your own hand made rod.