Classified Rod building Information

What goes into a Custom Handcrafted Fishing Rod?

Here are most of the answers you may wish to know about!

First, the Team involved must have extensive knowledge about Rod Blanks, components, winding threads, cork choices, guide selections, finishing and drying. Being an experienced multi-species angler will also help immensely.

Our Master Rod Builder’s have over twenty-five years experience as a design consultants and as a crafter of fishing rods. Jantzen is well experienced in creating Custom reel seat insert designs, which includes Float, Fly, Spinning, Casting, accents and butt cap designs in Rosewood, Ebonywood, Zebrawood, North American hardwoods considered Domestic. If the wood comes  from another continent they are referred to as, Exotic woods.

Jantzen stabilizes the stock in a vacuum chamber, submerged in a liquid solution that extracts all of the moisture to ensure the wood pieces never, crack, check or split for forty years! Then they are calibrated on a lathe, milled and then sanded at a high speed! We have a select few that we add the colour matched reel seat skeleton adjusters to arrive at our finished product.

The Master Rod Designer for BACKWOODS has over Fifty years as a Multi-Species Specialist, Professional Fishing Guide, and Tournament Bass and Musky Pro Angler.

Combine his experience with the Master Rod Builders and then a collaboration of there ideas in designs became the creation of their rod collection. There knowledge and experience is how they select the most suited rod blanks with specifically selected actions, tip speeds and backbone for the various species.

Starting with a quality High Modulus Graphite rod blank in various lengths and actions, they then choose the components to complete the build, which include Cork handles and fore grips, the reel seat, guides and hook keeper and butt cap.

Descriptions of our Rod Blanks:

Rod Blanks:

We use Rainshadow RX7, RX8 and RX8+ exclusively.

RX7- The foundation for this graphite is “intermediate Modulus/High Strain Rate” fiber (43 million) combined with a light fiberglass scrim. Bonded together with a space age resin system, this is a workhorse material. Blanks produced with this material offer superb strength, sensitivity and are extremely light-weight. Matte Grey.

RX8- This graphite material features the cutting edge in performance. The foundation is a “High Modulus/High Strain Rate” fiber (54 million) combined with the lightest fiberglass scrim available. Coupled with a technologically advanced bonding system, blanks produced these materials offer astounding sensitivity, strength and enhanced rod control. These rods have over twenty percent stronger lifting ability and control. Titanium Chrome.

RX8+- This is the “State of the Art” material. The foundation is a “High Modulus Graphite/High Strain Rate” materials combined with a carbon fiber scrim. Using a new space aged resin system coupled with a proprietary carbon fiber reinforcement technique makes this the most advanced rod blank available anywhere. Blanks manufactured with this material are superior in overall performance. Black Satin.

Guide Choices:

Based on the Vickers’s Hardness Scale, here are your options:

“H” Ring or Hard Aluminum Oxide is commonly found on conventional Brand Name Rods. Occasionally found on Rod Builder Kit Rods. Build your own!

Zirconium rings offer similar performance to SiC at a much lower cost. Rings made from this high-end ceramic offer superb hardness, thermal dissipation and low coefficient of friction. It also offers the perfect surface for PVD (physical vapor deposition) coatings.

When PVD is used on a guide frame, it improves the durability and resistance to corrosion.

Our most popular Zirconium coated guides are Ti-Gold, Blue TiO, TiCH and PVD TiCH.

Our newest guides are a Triple Bridged VS3 Low Carbon Steel Guide. Stronger and Feather-light

These guides are Lighter, Stronger and impervious to corrosion.

Reel Seat Variables:

The standard is Graphite with a black adjuster.

Next is a Graphite reel seat with a TiCH or Ti-Gold hood adjusters.

Custom Domestic and Exotic wood reel seat inserts are very popular with us.

We use exclusive ergonomic designs from ALPS, new to us is their anodized CNC (produced digitally on a computerized lathe) aluminum reel seats in Sterling, Ebony, Cobalt & Gold in a Casting Trigger and Spinning.

Portuguese Cork Handles

We are able to use premium quality “A” Grade pre-formed Portuguese cork handles and fore grips on spinning, casting, Ultra-Lite, float and fly rods.

We also use “single ring” formed custom handles shaped sanded and reamed to fit.

Hook keepers

We use Titanium, black, gold and silver hinged hook keepers

Also we use fixed single ring or a hoop keeper in the same colours.

Butt Caps

Although the essential components tend to be of no value or concern, we firmly believe that they have a multitude of purposes.

Our Bass, Walleye, Float and Musky rods have special butt caps that actually enhance the performance of these rods.

An example i.e; Counter Balanced butt caps will receive a reel, much better.

We use anodized aluminum Fighting Butt Caps with dense rubber shock absorbers in Ebony, Gunsmoke, Cobalt Blue and Gold.

Finishes and Winding threads

We use the best epoxy finishes on today’s market, which are, LS Supreme High and low builds. They dry without bubbles forming and cover evenly.

Gudebrod winding thread and trim rings are colour preserved and provide the extra strength needed to for permanent placement of your guides. Trim ring thread is a colour matching finish and sometimes a signature wrap to identify the builder of the rods.

In conclusion, we use the finest blanks, components, windings and finishes available. BACKWOODS Premium Rods, Beyond Compare!

Wishin we were Fishin

Daniel Sturges@ dhsturges@bell.net