This is a heads up for any rod builders, there are blanks available on eBay for 25 each.
Rogue Rods was a small business in southern Oregon that went out of business. Some employees had ties with Loomis, they have quality equipment.
I bought half a dozen complete rods for about a third of their original price. I think they are worth checking out. I was in contact with the owner of the left over inventory, Kory Kaufman, he's a great guy.
You can also get direct connection with him on Facebook, (best to use his email that is listed there) Rogue Rods. He may still be selling completed rods at significant savings.
heard good things about longer lighter SSH/Float
Clint, do you know how to interpret the model number to get the specifications?
When I purchased the rods Kory sent me a email list of his entire stock, I have since lost it.
You could email him kory.kaufman@croman.net
His phone # is listed on Facebook as well so I guess it's okay to post it here 541-826-4455
Or maybe his website is still up www.roguerods.com/ nope, it's gone
Here is a link to a pdf file current as of today . It gives lengths sizes price and availability . I am trying to reformat the file to post here .
Some GOOD DEALS here.
https://oldreelcollectors.com/index.php/topic,182.0.html
There is no link in the ORCA post.
Quote from: oc1 on August 17, 2021, 09:30:22 PM
There is no link in the ORCA post.
It is not ORCA it is oldreelcollectors.com
I modified the settings soooooo try it now .
https://oldreelcollectors.com/index.php/topic,182.0.html
Thank you.
Quote from: oc1 on August 18, 2021, 12:15:20 AM
Thank you.
Thanks to ClintB for finding the Close out Deal !!
And HERE'S the Link to The E-BAY Blanks (https://www.ebay.com/itm/294340148070?hash=item44880a3b66:g:QDAAAOSw~rxese0Y)
The one i want isn't in the ebay listing. It's too bad. I never heard of them but hate to see American craftsmen not make it in a business.
I hadn't heard of Rogue Rods either and I live In Oregon. I found an early RogueRod at a yard sale a couple of years ago and was intrigued by the made in USA print on the rod. I did some research and found they were out of business but still had inventory. After reading up on their history and talking to Kory, I popped on half a dozen lightweight rods they still had in stock. He told me that they looked at outsourcing the blanks but they were unacceptable and scrapped that idea even though it may have saved the company.
This list became a lot more interesting upon learning these are USA made blanks. I don't actually 'need' any. In fact i already have more rods than reels. But I'm intrigued still. If nothing else the price is right.
But the eBay listing doesn't say anything about the action of the rods. Just line rating and "power." As has been discussed before and doesn't need to be beat to death again, what I really want is a lure rating and is it fast or slow taper. Knowing the weight of the blank is nice too.
The link above in my first post shows the Complete Rods he has left in stock and all the info you want .
The e-bay blank guy gets 25 for ??? then 30 bux shipping then you have to build the Rod from scratch .
Which is fine but you can buy a 300 dollar U.S. made Complete Rod for 50 pecent or more off .
Quote from: Wompus Cat on August 23, 2021, 01:04:31 PM
The link above in my first post shows the Complete Rods he has left in stock and all the info you want .
The e-bay blank guy gets 25 for ??? then 30 bux shipping then you have to build the Rod from scratch .
Which is fine but you can buy a 300 dollar U.S. made Complete Rod for 50 pecent or more off .
Thank you BTW for taking the effort to compile that.
Yeah sellers on eBay love to shuffle around the numbers to make better looking listings but the shipping included price is the only one I consider when deciding if it's worth it. I know this game by now. 60 bucks for a US made blank is worth discussing at the minimum if the quality is good and the specs are in line with something I want. We've established US made, now I wanna establish specs/desirability (for myself).
I'm just spoiled now. Knowing the glory of a custom rod I'll likely never buy another factory rod unless it's dirt cheap and I get it to strip and rebuild. But that's just my own perspective, partially driven by how much I enjoy the process of rod building. If i found it tedious and terrible my opinion might be different.
blank/rod model#s match up -- look up the specs, here:
https://oldreelcollectors.com/index.php/topic,182.0.html
then, see if same model blank is still available on fleaBay
seems silly, unless you want/can get a bunch in one tube / one S/H
save time/money/effort by getting most suitable pre-made rod
and change a couple components, if you need to
30 bucks to ship a long one blank is not unreasonable nowadays, especially with zero profit on the blank. When I checked, the shipping cost did not go up for three Rogue blanks. So after the first blank, the delivered price drops down to 25 ea. No firsthand knowledge of the blanks though. It looks like some folks here like them. The rodbuilding sites discuss them. Buying half a dozen blanks around $30 ea delivered is a pretty good deal if you end up liking them and they are not breakage prone.
The fly rod blanks caught my eye (not in a good way), as all were two piece. Two piece in 9' fly rods has been out of style for decades. Everything is pretty much four piece now with the occasional one piece for a few Florida keys purists ( "Breaking news: Florida man buys one piece fly rod" :) )
One other thing to consider: Closeouts are the blanks that are remaining and possibly picked over, so there is a slightly greater chance of getting a blank that is not perfectly straight. Often this is more of a cosmetic issue, but it can bother some folk.
Other than as a way to get in some practice, stripping down an existing rod is not really a preferred alternative to a build from scratch in my mind. Replacing guides is easy, but the grips and seat are where the important customization occurs for my builds. Much less work to start from scratch.
-J
The counter argument in favor of a rebuild is generally if you already really like the action of the blank, or have some sentimental attachment, or both. Also you can get a rod built on a decent blank for cheaper than you can get a decent blank it seems. Economies of scale, etc.
I still have one that i have no motivation to rebuild,.and still use very frequently. My star rods stellar light fast taper. I've seen $200 rods of a lesser quality than that $100 rod. It's built on spine, the line tracks the blank fairly accurately under load, and i see no line slap whatsoever on casting. It's great as is. No i don't work for them.