For a while, making a rod is displacing the making of reels. I am not an accomplished caster, but I have recently learned that a slower rod is probably better for me. A friend acquired a rod made from a Lamiglas FL904 blank (7’6″ 2 piece 4 weight), and I liked it so much that I had to have one. All the parts are now in hand.

Lamiglas specs this fiberglass blank to have a .445 inch diameter butt. I felt very lucky to then find an uplocking reel seat for which the wood insert bore is supposed to be .450 inch.

Well, the butt diameter turned out to be .460, and the wood insert bore was .438. So I spent quite a bit of time sanding out the insert to an adequate diameter.

Here I have used a Delrin ring to help hold the insert while sanding with 100 grit paper glued to a 3/8 dowel.

After too much time, the insert finally slips down to the end of the butt section.

Back to reel making: once this rod is together, my plan is to make a larger version of the 1 weight reel that I recently posted (one piece frame and one piece spool). A new rod deserves a new reel.