The Rod Bench Rod building, written down properly for once. Published by Wildline.

Who writes this, and how the sourcing works

The Rod Bench is published by Wildline, an independent publisher of written-down crafts. Every factual claim on this site is taken from a named public source — manufacturer documentation, the rodbuilding.org archive, or a published trade magazine piece — and that source is linked on the page the claim appears on.

The sourcing rule

One rule, applied without exception: if a statement cannot be pinned to a named public source, it does not go on the page. Numbers carry their dates — component prices especially, because they move. Where the sources disagree with each other, as they do on spine placement and colour preserver, the disagreement is shown rather than averaged away.

What this site is not

It is not affiliated with Fuji, Flex Coat, U-40, System Three, Mud Hole, CRB, Batson, MHX or any brand named on these pages. Brand names appear because their documents say things worth quoting, and linking them is how a reader checks us.

Nothing here promises outcomes. A rod you build yourself can come out worse than a factory rod, usually does on the first try, and the failure catalogue behind our free troubleshooting card exists precisely because that is normal.

How the site makes money

The answers here are free and complete as answers. The paid product is the whole craft written down in one place: a three-volume reference, six bench tools, and the update tier that keeps the supplier table dated. If the free pages resolve your question, they were meant to.

The store, priced plainly

The answers here are free and complete as answers. What we sell is the whole craft written down in one place:

• The Epoxy Troubleshooting Card — Free. The complete 14-entry finish-and-handle failure table — what each defect looks like, why it happened, save or strip. Nothing held back.
• The Custom Rod Builder's Reference — $39 once. 118 pages in three volumes: choosing a blank, building it, and recovering from a finish that will not cure.
• The Reference + Bench Tools — $59 once. Everything in the Reference plus six bench tools that run offline in a browser: guide-spacing calculator, blank-selection tree, wrap mechanics reference, epoxy card, build log, supplier shipping table.
• The Rod Bench monthly — $19.95/month, cancel any time. The parts that go out of date: the supplier shipping table re-checked and dated, new blank and component releases, every Reference revision with a changelog.
• The Complete Bench — Lifetime — $199 once. Every volume and bench tool permanently, plus every future revision, new tool and re-dated supplier table. Pay once, never subscribe.

30-day refund on the paid tiers, no questions. Prices checked 2026-08-25.

Visit the store ›