# Custom Fly rod build , i need a blank



## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

To me Batson = Chinese junk

I’d look at some RodGeeks fly rod blanks. They merged with St. Croix


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## Rookiemistake (Jan 30, 2013)

Ahh ok will do. Just started looking so were still in the process of weeding through all the junk


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## sandyharris (Jan 12, 2015)

CTS........pricey and a bit of a wait but I've built a 7,8 and 10 using their Affinity X and haven't been disappointed. Have a 9 on order just because......


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> To me Batson = Chinese junk
> 
> I’d look at some RodGeeks fly rod blanks. They merged with St. Croix


Can't speak for the 6wt but the RodGeeks 8wt is pretty slow. They are also hecho en Mexico. Only the st. Croix blanks are made in the US.

CTS has a cool glass 6wt on sale right now. The Epic 686 and 690C are awesome blanks, especially the 686. If I were to build a 6wt it would be a 686.


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## Crazy Larry (Nov 8, 2017)

Maybe not ideal for saltwater applications but I built an Epic 686 glass rod recently and it's one of my favorite rods to cast.


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## Snakesurf (Jun 18, 2019)

NFC makes a great American made blank but they have poor service and the wait time is at least a month. I have had good results using the MHX brands but like the Batson blanks they are mostly Chinese made. The actions they advertise are precise and the blanks are consistently the same. Even though they are made in Korea, the TFO blanks are quite nice and well made with several different models. Go a little more high dollar and you may be able to find a Sage One on sale or pay full price for the X. They are American made and have great service and offer other models to choose from. If you know the characteristics that you want in a blank then you can narrow it down to certain models. There really is no best blanks but rather what you want your finished rod to be and how much you want to spend. I am not recommending St Croix because they are no longer selling blanks to the public, but you may get a good deal on their discontinued product. G Loomis did the same thing when Gary sold the company to Shimano.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Snakesurf said:


> NFC makes a great American made blank but they have poor service and the wait time is at least a month. I have had good results using the MHX brands but like the Batson blanks they are mostly Chinese made. The actions they advertise are precise and the blanks are consistently the same. Even though they are made in Korea, the TFO blanks are quite nice and well made with several different models. Go a little more high dollar and you may be able to find a Sage One on sale or pay full price for the X. They are American made and have great service and offer other models to choose from. If you know the characteristics that you want in a blank then you can narrow it down to certain models. There really is no best blanks but rather what you want your finished rod to be and how much you want to spend. I am not recommending St Croix because they are no longer selling blanks to the public, but you may get a good deal on their discontinued product. G Loomis did the same thing when Gary sold the company to Shimano.


My pet peeve with rod blanks is straightness and passing the flex test.


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## Greg Allison (Mar 13, 2018)

Depends on your price point,and application. TFO makes some decent blanks for an affordable cost, and you can cast them before buying a blank. The margins are so high on blanks its crazy. On a side note, I have been to some rod factories in China that are much nicer than some of the ones in US. So not everything that comes from China is crap, just some of it.


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## AMiller (Mar 12, 2018)

I've built on a bunch of different blanks and I like the MHX blanks for inshore salt. I've had customers that wanted higher end stuff and obviously I'll build whatever the customer wants. But my personal inshore salt rods are all MHX now. Like somebody else said, they are consistent and accurate in their description. 4-10wt are all exactly as advertised. And if you ever have an issue Mudhole has proven to be quick to correct it in my experience.
My freshwater fly rods are all Rainshadow blanks. Their customer service is excellent. A customer of mine just recently sent me a fly rod I built for him a year ago, that I'm fairly certain he stepped on, and they had no problem replacing the blank under warranty.


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## Snakesurf (Jun 18, 2019)

Man I just committed the ultimate sin and bought a 9' NRX 8 wt on sale. This is the first complete rod I have bought in the last 19 years because I have straight up made everything I use (really more like 30 years but I was away from home and bought a cheap 2 piece rod and reel to fish at the place I was at 19 years ago). My North Fork Composite 8 wt tip broke and it will take an act of God to replace it so I guess I had a moment of weakness. I will fish it and compare it to the NFC rod I built that is now broke.


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## Matts (Sep 2, 2015)

Back in the late 90's we built lots of Cabelas (FT blank for saltwater) and they were great. Rumor was that they were made for Cabelas by Loomis. Once TFO started making good fly rods, I mostly quit building rods as it just wasn't worth my time, especially if you break one. I have fished everything from Cabelas, to Sage, Scott, TFO, etc. TFO now makes a line of very high quality, and diverse rods so they are worth checking out. Disclaimer: my 14 yr old is sponsored by TFO so I do have that bias. Nonetheless, I can buy any rod I want and choose TFO because I believe in the product and company. TFO did it right when they hired Lefty, Flip and others to help them design good tapers for different situations. My new favorite is the Axiom II in 8wt. 
Best,
Matt


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## Matts (Sep 2, 2015)

I forgot to say, if you have a local rod building shop to purchase components from, I highly recommend you patronize them as it's a) good to support the local guys and b) helpful to have someone around to answer questions, when they arise. My 0.02.


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## Devin (Jan 15, 2019)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> To me Batson = Chinese junk
> 
> I’d look at some RodGeeks fly rod blanks. They merged with St. Croix


The rod geeks fly blanks are equivalent to the st croix imperial line of rods, not bad, but nothing special


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## Devin (Jan 15, 2019)

This is the best value USA fly rod blank

https://www.lamiglas.com/collection...weight-graphite-fly-blank?variant=58876090315


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## Finsleft258 (Oct 7, 2018)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> To me Batson = Chinese junk
> 
> I’d look at some RodGeeks fly rod blanks. They merged with St. Croix


The high-end ones are US made. I believe the new Sage are from those blanks.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Finsleft258 said:


> The high-end ones are US made. I believe the new Sage are from those blanks.


I have a bundle of shattered Batson blanks that I’d rather use for lathe mandrels than pay $30 each to have replaced. 5 of 5 shattered in several pieces during flex test. I have over 50 NFC blanks that have passed the flex and straightness test with zero failures and two sent back due to imperfections (not up to my straightness standards). Too bad NFC is such a pain in the ass to deal with.
Build on what you want, I’m just stating my opinion.


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

The Sage One is a great blank for a 6W if you can find one. No way I would use TFO blank on any rod I built. When it breaks and it will endless times, you will need to rebuild after getting it sent back every week. No thanks. 

I would also really like to try one of these Northfork composite one. Supposedly it is a loomis blank and has no connection to tfo.


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

K3anderson said:


> No way I would use TFO blank on any rod I built. When it breaks and it will endless times, you will need to rebuild after getting it sent back every week. No thanks.


Dang. What the hell are you doing to break all these rods? I've never seen one fail that wasn't operator error.


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

jmrodandgun said:


> Dang. What the hell are you doing to break all these rods? I've never seen one fail that wasn't operator error.


Everyone in this area has broken them. They are junk. I broke two and sold all of mine including two that were brand new. Sadly the people I sold them to also broke them. It really annoys me when people tell new fly fishers to buy a TFO BVK since they are the ones most likely to be learning to cast and make mistakes. And they will be sending them in when they break endlessly.


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

Finsleft258 said:


> The high-end ones are US made. I believe the new Sage are from those blanks.


This is too funny!!! Where do you guys get this information?!?! (Im referring to the idea Sage has Batson roll their blanks for them)


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

TheAdamsProject said:


> This is too funny!!! Where do you guys get this information?!?! (Im referring to the idea Sage has Batson roll their blanks for them)


It was on the interwebz, it has to be true!


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

K3anderson said:


> Everyone in this area has broken them. They are junk. I broke two and sold all of mine including two that were brand new. Sadly the people I sold them to also broke them. It really annoys me when people tell new fly fishers to buy a TFO BVK since they are the ones most likely to be learning to cast and make mistakes. And they will be sending them in when they break endlessly.


That's a lot of breaks. You guys sword fighting or something? I've always found the BVK to be one of the better sticks. My only gripe is the cheap pos rod sock


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

jmrodandgun said:


> That's a lot of breaks. You guys sword fighting or something? I've always found the BVK to be one of the better sticks. My only gripe is the cheap pos rod sock


I broke a 12w on a line lift. A line lift!


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

K3anderson said:


> I broke a 12w on a line lift. A line lift!


No way you ticked it with a fly on a cast or smacked it with something previously?


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## Snakesurf (Jun 18, 2019)

Gary Loomis helped TFO with rod design and manufacturing techniques also. This was also about the time he was looking for construction resources like Toray and other fibers and resins for prepreg. I have had my 8 wt fly rod from a TFO BVK blank for about 5 years without any problems. I have broke Sage and my current NFC blank fly rod though. I believe any rod can have problems but you won't know till you use it. Always keep your fly rods in tubes when you are not using or transporting them, and they will last a whole lot longer .


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## mel (Dec 17, 2017)

I’m curious: which Batson blank are you guys referring to? I recently built a 7 weight Eternity 2 Batson rod. Fish bigger streamers in freshwater and salt around Naples. Couldn’t be happier. It feels right in the hand, light, fast, casts further than I can, and handles bigger fish- I’ve caught Jacks over 10 pounds with it. And it’s a lovely blue that finishes out beautifully. What’s not to like? Thinking of building a 5 weight, but not if there’s a high breakage rate on this particular blank...


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## Greg Allison (Mar 13, 2018)

They older BVK blanks (they have redesigned them) were pretty thin walled compared to the other TFO rods. I think they had some breakage issues. I had one and never broken mine. But, I have only broken two rods in the past 10 years, and both were operator error. That blank has been reengineered for better strength. 

Every company has their standards on what break strength is acceptable (there is no industry standard). These are break strengths on a test rigs (not actually fishing). I used to work for a very large fishing tackle company, and one of our suppliers sent us the testing standards from our competitor, they were about 40% less than our in break strength and tip testing. That company has some issues with rod breakage but not a lot, and we had less. It is hard to engineer out breakages from high sticking dip shits, and ceiling fans and still make a lightweight budget friendly product. 

We should probably hear Rookiemistakes' budget and work from there.


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

I broke a TFO, but admittedly I was having a flip-flop moment so I can't blame the rod at all.


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

I also broke a TFO but I was trying to poke a small alligator with the tip of the rod.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

jmrodandgun said:


> That's a lot of breaks. You guys sword fighting or something? I've always found the BVK to be one of the better sticks. My only gripe is the cheap pos rod sock


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> No way you ticked it with a fly on a cast or smacked it with something previously?


That rod had never been used. Brand new out of the box that morning.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

K3anderson said:


> That rod had never been used. Brand new out of the box that morning.


Wasn’t being sarcastic. The BVK are known for failure, I guess thin walled compared to others.


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Wasn’t being sarcastic. The BVK are known for failure, I guess thin walled compared to others.


Every TFO user always cites one thing. Warranty is great. In every post. You definitely need it with those.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

K3anderson said:


> Every TFO user always cites one thing. Warranty is great. In every post. You definitely need it with those.


I fish an 8wt Edge built on a NFC blank. Never fished a BVK or any TFO other than lawn casting.


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## Rookiemistake (Jan 30, 2013)

Lots of info thanks. Yea breaking rods is 90% operator error if not a higher percentage. Ill look at a few blanks online when i get more time.


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> I fish an 8wt Edge built on a NFC blank. Never fished a BVK or any TFO other than lawn casting.


BVK actually casts pretty great. Particularly on lawn.


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## Rookiemistake (Jan 30, 2013)

Budget isnt a issue, just dont want to build a rod that costs more than a premade rod


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## Andrew Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

jmrodandgun said:


> Dang. What the hell are you doing to break all these rods? I've never seen one fail that wasn't operator error.


I have the same question! I have 2 TFO BVK's that have been heavily fished, and have caught a ton of fish with them including many big ones for their size. I am not using them much anymore but I never had one break!


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