Andy, supremely cool. you make the handle shaping look easy, but I know how hard it is to get an even finish with the more "tougher" burl and the more "softer" regular cork. that lathe is great. Ax man is made for the inner Macgiver and the inner cheapskate that should reside in equal measure within each of us. I'll bet you could easily hard wire a shop vac to your lathe switch and have an intake hose clamped at cork height to capture a decent amount of that cork shit.
I'll also wager that none of us would complain if you (and your bro) shot a video of the rod building process from start to final flex coat. I haven't built a rod for some time now, but absolutely love it.

I dig the wine cork but cap. I did an ice rod last season with a sheephead otolith for a but cap.

friggin sweet!

Nice looking fishing pole!

I don't want to sound like an old fuddy duddy, but...CONTROL THAT DUST! Cork dust is bad for you. Simply wearing an N95 dust mask will protect your lungs for the occasional rod building project. I turn most of my rod handles on my drill press and always have a shop vac hooked up to it to collect the dust. I also wear a mask.

Here's a pic of a tool that can be good for hogging off cork at the start of a project. If you learn to use it carefully, it can save you time. It also cuts way down on the amount of fine dust in the air. The tool is a 4-in-1 rasp. It has a flat side and a curved side (shown). They aren't too expensive (10 bucks or so). You have to be careful not to take too much material off with it, though!

That video was awesome, the homemade lathe tits you think you could upload some more detailed pics of it? I would also like to second the motion for a full length rod building video, that would be awesome if it wasnt too big of a pain in your ass.

Leaky, I hope you are kidding. NEWS FLASH - The rasp has been overtaken by the Dremel tool :D. And I inhale alot of "bad" things, cork dust is probably not the worst.

1)I should wear a dust mask though. If I made more than a few rods a year I would. For the sake of the viewer, I regret not wearing a mask. Just makes sense. Anyone who starts building rods should definitely wear a mask. I made an error there for sure.

2)I had the radio on, and did not think about the music in the background. It was the Current. However, I have recieved a few emails and the song playing during the last segment is a cover of a Paula Abdul song. Sounds like a swing version of the song, maybe a Dick Cheese interpretation.

A good Paula song would help everyones talents! Thats awsome

Butt section is done, just needs one more guide and a final coat of epoxy!

leakywaders, I just made a glock out of balsa wood (a prop for my son) using my rasp. When I was remodeling homes, one always lived in my tool belt....

Wow! That rod looks fantastic!! It's pretty hard to imagine that I'm actually the one who gets to use it! I've always like the color of that blank and I love the components/thread you've matched up with it. It looks great! Perfect time too, as I am just getting through my busy season at work, so now I get to start thinking about fishing again. Can't wait to put it to use!

Just took it off the turner. It is finally done and ready for delivery. Very sweet rod, sad to see it go!

that rod looks absolutely incredible. honestly. would you ever consider making them to sell?

I got to watch Corey do the diamond and cage wraps on this rod, and my next build(a 6'6" 1 pc medium Avid) I will try one.

Euphoric, I would definitely be willing to build a custom rod and make a small profit from it. If anyone is interested in a Geving rod, PM or e-mail me and we will discuss components and blanks.

I've never been a bit fan of butt wraps but I really like that. I think my problem is that I frequent some of the rod building sites and butt wraps on a lot of bass and saltwater sticks look like they belong at a nascar event (too loud for my taste)

But like I said this looks good, especially matched to the blank and seat

Can anyone suggest a good book or website on rod building? I have a zillion questions about this.

MUDHOLE.COM is a great rodbuilding site. Their "rodbuilding 101" section has tons of good info.

Wraps were photographed before the epoxy - so they look a bit more garish than after the final coat. The epoxy tones them down.

ditto the mudhole site, once you are done with that you can check out rodbuilding.org (that place can be an information overload, however)

Met up with Corey last week to pick up the prize rod. What a gorgeous rod!! Thanks to Andy and Corey for putting the effort in to building it. Those wraps are mesmerizing!!

I debated whether I should even use it or not, but of course I just had to put a bend in it! First fish ended up being a nice little carp...I was scarred I might catch a walleye and jinx the rod!! Managed close to a dozen carp of the same size, plus a couple golden redhorse. I was happy!

The craftsmanship of the rod is fantastic. As for the functionality of the rod itself, it is far different than most of the others I use - it is a 7'6" ML - VERY soft rod. Tons of flex. Most of the other rods I use are very fast and shorter. It casts extremely easily, noted by the fact I landing in the trees on the other bank nearly a half-dozen times! It will make an awesome smallmouth buffalo rod and also for fishing wide rivers. And I can't wait to try it out on some silvers next weekend!!

Thanks again Corey and Andy for putting on a great contest and all you do to keep the site running.

Absolutely gorgeous! Way to go!
You can start building this years prize rod now. I like dark purple and silver.