Handcrafting a Graphite Fly Rod

I do agree with others that this is a beautiful book with lots of good color photos. But I believe a how-to book should be passed through not only the hands of experts for review, but also to beginners. It's too easy to assume terms and products are well known and do not need to be defined and that's the one flaw in this book. For example on thread winding, what kind of thread? (Cotton, polyester, nylon, rayon, silk, etc.) What size? Does it matter or will anything work?There was also a chapter on the manufacture of graphite blanks in a factory setting, which added little helpful information to a rod builder, although it was interesting. The space would have been better used to define more terms and to pull back and show the finished products. Almost all of the photos were very close up. (Again - that's great, but just a few overviews would have been beneficial!)

I've wanted to build a fly rod but had no idea how to start. This book is a great crash course for a beginner like myself. I have a rod kit partly completed on my bench with no problems encountered, thanks to Mr Garcia. I found that some of the sections required me to physically have the components in my hand to completely understand the directions, due to some of the wordings, but the light bulbs did come on within a couple minutes!I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in building their own graphite fly rod.

There are more in-depth books available for building composite fly rods but too many that are better. Mr. Garcia takes the time to explain and shows the hobbiest how to complete a high quality fly rod they can be proud of. He also does a good job of showing the reader the manufacturing processes used by rod and blank makers which is very interesting to learn. It's a very easy read with plenty of key detail which any rod builder would enjoy.

I bought this book along with Garcia's DVD by the same title. Together they are an outstanding reference for learning how to build a fly rod. I would highly recommend this book for beginners and if you have the chance, get the matching DVD too! All the basics are covered such as the guides, wrapping, finishing, and buildiing in general.

Yet to have time to read it... Looks Great. As described. Quick delivery.

Short but with great photos, and reasonably good description will make you want to build a fishing rod for yourself or a friend who pursues the piscatorial prey.

...good photos, clear, concise instructions, everything you need to know to craft, or as I wanted, to restore, a fly rod.Chukar

This is a good book with lots of color photos in it to help guide you through the process of wrapping a rod and throwing together the grips and reel seat. It's pretty easy to understand and takes you through the basics of finding the spine and switching thread colors to add accent wraps and so on. I bought this book about 18 years ago for my friends to read and study before I would teach them how to put together their own rods. If you are just beginning then this is the book for you. If you are looking to go further then I suggest a more complete book that gives tutorials on butt wraps, custom grips, making your own custom reel seats, building surf rods and bass rods. I will warn you that once you get started then you will never ever buy another rod already built. You can score rod blanks for cheap money that are just as good as the ones the big companies put out. I am at 67 rods now and they are everything from 2 handed Spey rods all the way to pack rods and bass popper rods lol. Also do yourself a favor and look up how to make a dry box with light bulbs, lined with aluminum foil and connected to a thermostat set at 100 degrees to help dry the epoxy faster. There are a lot of forums out there that will show you how to make a wrapping jig and how to take a BBQ rotisserie motor to make a rod dryer to save you some money. You can find them on eBay for $20.00 . If you want to make something that also stands out for a grip then look in to a tutorial on how to make a birch bark grip with layers of it compressed and turned down on a wood lathe or a home made one from a cordless drill. Have fun!!!!

Pretty good book and worth the money. I disagree with his recommendation to use manufacturer guide spacing because they are too generic and each rod blank is different and requires its own through testing.

Ok.