The Angler’s Workshop. 
Fishing Rod Making for the Beginner 
By PERRY D. FRAZER 
17 . One riser Rait-Clisting Rods. 
5 l j feet 
an inch, 
5 '4 foot 
to 65 ->S 
A SSUMING that you have obtained all the 
materials needed, we will begin our actual 
rodmaking, taking the rods as they are 
given and commencing with one of the first class, 
as it is the easiest type to make. 
As your rod, when finished, is to be 
long, the agate top adding about 5 s of 
the wood should be slightly more than 
long, to allow for cutting down finally 
inches. 
Assuming that your wood is 54 -inch square 
and free from knots, plane it a trifle on all sur¬ 
faces and from both ends, to determine which 
way the grain runs; and having decided which 
shall be the butt end, drill two holes through the 
wood very close to that end, as shown in Fig. 28, 
and drive a brad in the right hand end of your 
workbench, so that you can hook the big end of 
the wood over the brad and plane away from 
it, which is much more satisfactory than butting 
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FIG. 28 . 
the small end of the wood against a cleat at the 
far end of the bench. 
Plane the wood until it is straight and true, 
the gauge showing that it is 1 j inch thick on 
each side throughout its length. If it is crooked, 
do not worry, and do not attempt to correct this 
by planing more off one side than the others. It 
can be straightened perfectly later on. Mark the 
exact center at each end with two lines crossing 
in the center. 
If your hand-grasp is to be single, mark 1 
point ten inches from the butt end and continue 
the line entirely around the wood. This will 
allow you to saw off an inch where the holes are, 
and give you space for a nine inch hand-grasp. 
If the grasp is to be double, allow twelve inches, 
for an eleven-inch grasp. 
Begin at your pencil mark and plane carefully 
and evenly to the tip end on all sides. Use the 
caliper frequently, noting the diameter every six 
inches. If there is a thick place, mark it heavily 
with the pencil and plane that part lightly, then 
continue to reduce all sides until you have a 
nice even taper and the small end is 5-32 of an 
inch thick. Holding the tip end on the floor, 
exert a slight pressure and note the curve of the 
whole piece, which should arch nicely, the curve 
diminishing gradually toward the butt. Turn it. 
and see if the spring is fairly uniform on all 
sides. 
Now caliper carefully and trim off uneven 
places until the diameter of both sides is exactly 
alike at each six inch station. Use the small 
plane for this work, setting it very fine. 
A piece of board with a groove in one edge, 
preferably four feet long, is now in order. Bine 
tongue-and groove stuff, used for partitions, is 
ideal. Its value for other branches of rodmak¬ 
ing will be explained further on. Plane the edge, 
so that the groove will be shallow at the tip-end. 
and fasten it in the vise or nail it lightly to the 
side of the bench. Lay the rod in the groove, 
with one of the four corners upperipost, and 
setting your small plane a trifle coarse, take off 
the corner evenly from butt to tip, ignoring your 
pencil mark. 
Turn to the next corner and plane it. then the 
other two. Use the utmost care in transforming 
the strip from square to octagon form, and 
caliper frequently until it is of exactly the same 
diameter on every side at each six-inch station. 
You are now shaping the strip, so that the next 
step w ill make it round, and in this stage haste 
will work sad havoc with later plans. The eye. 
the caliper and testing the arch must all be de-* 
pended on at this stage. Every one of the eight 
sides must be uniform. A perfect strip is illus¬ 
trated in Fig. 36. 
Setting your small plane very fine again, lay 
the strip in the groove and take off one of the 
corners the full length. Turn to the next one 
and remove it. and so on The rod is now ap¬ 
proximately round, cylindrical in its first foot, 
then tapering gradually to the small end. 
There are various ways to make it perfectly 
round. One is to lay it flat on the bench, and 
% 
At this stage I take a strip of paper the full 
length of the rod and draw two parallel lines on 
it, each 6554 inches in length. The upper line I 
mark “rough calibers,” and the lower line “final 
calibers." Marks are placed on each line to in¬ 
dicate the place where the taper of the hand- 
grasp is to be, then every six inches to the tip 
end. Lay the rod beside the upper line on your 
paper, caliper it at every station, and set these 
-figures down on the corresponding mark. Note 
then carefully, for if the w r ood has been planed 
properly in the square, the tapers will be nearly 
uniform from band-grasp to tip-end, but the 
wood will not, in this form, be properly pro¬ 
portioned for use. 
If you were working by rule-of-thumb, without 
a rod to copy, the only thing would be to put a 
top and guides on the rod temporarily, fasten a 
reel on the butt with cord, run the line through, 
attach a quarter- or half-ounce weight, and try a 
few casts; but the formula in Fig. 29 will save 
time. These calibers were taken from several 
bethabara rods that have seen long use in fishing 
and practice casting. 
If the wood is dagama or greenheart, add 1-64 
of an inch or a trifle less to each diameter given, 
then try the rod before deciding, for the action 
varies with different pieces of wood, and none 
can be exactly alike. In Fig. 29 the lower line 
of figures mark the six-inch stations; the upper 
figures the final calibers of a bethabara rod. It 
will be noted that, commencing at the cylindrical 
butt end. the calibers decrease rapidly to the 
thirty-inch station, then are nearly uniform to 
a point close to the top. 
Mark these calibers on the lower line of your 
paper, and note the variations between them and 
the calibers of your rod. Then scrape or sand¬ 
paper from your pencil mark toward the tip. 
gauging often until your rod is very* nearly as 
small as it is to be finally. Now tie on a reel, 
guides and top and try the rod in casting. It it 
pleases you. go over it lightly with fine sand¬ 
paper and fit the agate top permanently. Use 
a flat file in tapering the wood to fit the tube 
snugly. Heat your ferrule cement and coat the 
wood lightly with it. then heat the tube of the 
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FIG. 20. 
Caliber, wt a bes'-.ihara red. 
holding it under the palm of the left hand, roll it 
backward and forward white sandpapering it 
with a sheet of that abrasive folded over a block 
of wood, held in the right hand and moved 
rapidly up and down the rod. I prefer the fiat 
steel scraper, and turn the rod rapidly while 
working from end to end. using the grooved 
board to hold it steady. 
Stop frequently and draw the ,'egk 
fingers to locate uneven places. If none arc 
found, go over the rod thoroughly with sand¬ 
paper folded and held in the hand without the 
block. You are now ready for final tapering. 
top. push it home and turn it around until the 
e is evenly coated with cement. 
Measure from agate top to butt and saw the 
latter at the 66-inch mark. Warm the agate top 
over the flame of a match and remove it for the 
present. 
S eet a number of corks and warm yoor 
V piece of thin 15 - 32 -inch tubing is new neede - 
An old ferrule will answer. File the outside of 
one end nntil the edge is sharp. Holding tie. 
tithe in the center of a cork, with a pad in the 
palm of the hand to prevent that end from cin- 
:.-g yon. turn the tale evenly until it cuts thnongh 
