How hard to build a short two handed rod?

[madison320]

I've built a couple spinning rods and want to build a fly rod since no one makes what I'm looking for. I want a 7'6" 5wt 2 handed rod. My hands get worn out with anything more than a 3wt so I'm considering making my own custom rod. The other option would be a 7'6" 5wt with a fighting butt. I can use that for my second hand. I was practicing with my 3wt and even when I use the metal butt for my second hand it works pretty good. So a fighting butt should work even better.

 

[huronfly]

Its no more difficult than building a single hander. If your foregrip gets really long it can be more difficult to ream the inside of the cork but if you've built spinning rods in the past, you should have no issue.

 

[ddb]

It is easy to convert rods by adding a butt. Just take off the cap of the reel seat, find an old rod section that fits tightly into the hole of the blank, and add and shape corks to your liking. If you keep the old cap and make the shaft of the butt long enough, you can have a removable butt.

I have done a half dozen or so longer --9 and 10' -- rods.

ARE has 3' butts already made and they are cheap. You have to sweat off a metal fitting but that's easy.

ddb

 

[madison320]

It is easy to convert rods by adding a butt. Just take off the cap of the reel seat, find an old rod section that fits tightly into the hole of the blank, and add and shape corks to your liking. If you keep the old cap and make the shaft of the butt long enough, you can have a removable butt.

I have done a half dozen or so longer --9 and 10' -- rods.

That sounds like a good idea.

ARE has 3' butts already made and they are cheap. You have to sweat off a metal fitting but that's easy.

ddb

That sounds promising also. Something like this? I'm confused on how it would attach to the rod.

Thanks!

Removable Fighting Butts for Fly Rods, rod building components

 

[ddb]

That butt looks like the same one ARE sells.

To use it, you have to remove the metal fitting which is easy. Use a hair curler or other similar heat source to heat the metal, Once hot, use a pliers to slip it out of the cork.

Then you can epoxy the end of the blank material you are using for the butt section into the fighting butt cork -- a little tape filler may be necessary to center it.

Experimenting with calipers should help you find a your fighting butt section that fits tight into the hole in the rod blank to hold in place w/o permanent gluing.

The nice thing about a removable butt is that you will not need a new tube to store the rod.

ddb

 

[madison320]

That butt looks like the same one ARE sells.

To use it, you have to remove the metal fitting which is easy. Use a hair curler or other similar heat source to heat the metal, Once hot, use a pliers to slip it out of the cork.

Then you can epoxy the end of the blank material you are using for the butt section into the fighting butt cork -- a little tape filler may be necessary to center it.

Experimenting with calipers should help you find a your fighting butt section that fits tight into the hole in the rod blank to hold in place w/o permanent gluing.

The nice thing about a removable butt is that you will not need a new tube to store the rod.

ddb

That worked, I used a lighter and the cap popped off. According to the website they screw on the reel seat. I ordered one to test on my 3wt.

 

[jangles]

I've used the exact parts on two different rods now . Very easy to do . I also got the end caps for when I'm not using the extension .

 

[chief17]

As others have said, adding a handle on the bottom is pretty straight forward. Added one to a TFO 9' 5wt..made a nice little two hander and took no time at all.

 

[jangles]

I've built a couple spinning rods and want to build a fly rod since no one makes what I'm looking for. I want a 7'6" 5wt 2 handed rod. My hands get worn out with anything more than a 3wt so I'm considering making my own custom rod. The other option would be a 7'6" 5wt with a fighting butt. I can use that for my second hand. I was practicing with my 3wt and even when I use the metal butt for my second hand it works pretty good. So a fighting butt should work even better.

I got to thinking about this post this past week and I have been wanting a small 2 hander switch so I built one this weekend . I started with an 8' Aventek s-glass blank that was baby chit yellow . I stripped it and wet sanded the heck out of it starting with 400 wet or dry and progressed up to 2000 . I originally wanted to change the color to a Sunkist yellow/orange but once I stripped the blank it kind of grew on me so I kept it bare . I used all Pac Bay single foots and a Pack Bay ext butt kit using a half wells cork handle from who knows where ? I bought a cheap aluminum reel seat off ebay and went to work . What I ended up with is a sub 5oz s-glass Switch rod in a 3/4 wt with really nice action for right at $100 . I cant wait to fish it .
Please forgive the vertical picture , when I inserted it the picture was horizontal .