Fly Rod Tube Storage Rack

One thing that I have always struggled with is the wanting for storage for my fly rod tubes. As I complete builds, the tubes are frequently coming and going so I wasn’t keen on just leaning my tubes in the corner of the room forever. The solution was to build a rod tube storage rack that keeps things tidy, off the floor, and easily accessible when I need to ship a rod out to a customer.

With the help of my dad’s tools in his extensive workshop, (he who dies with the most tools, wins) this was a fairly easy project.

Wood

I opted to use poplar as the wood because of its strength and weight, the plan is to have the option to hang the rack on the wall if needed so cutting down on weight was a must. Poplar is an easy-to-acquire wood that should be available at all home improvement store. Poplar is a fairly light-colored wood that also takes stain very well so you can get most any color you want.

Construction

Using a drill press, I cut 2 1/4” holes which accommodate the most common diameter tubes that I use, which are 2” and 1 5/8” in diameter.

I decided to offset the holes, instead of stacking them, which cut back on the depth of the rack while also allowing every rod tube label to be more easily seen while they are in storage.

Using a French curve tool, we freehanded some cuts to give the rack a bit of a church pew shape. This cut back on some unneeded weight and gave the rack a more classic design instead of everything being squared off.

I used a hand router to round over the edges of the wood, this includes the main construction of the rack as well as the holes through which the tubes are stored.

Stain

I applied a few coats of a cherry stain to the poplar which brought out some of the nice grain of the wood while also making the build appear to be constructed of a more expensive wood.

Finishing

Pretty easy finishing with 3-4 layers of fast drying polyurethane, waiting 24 hours between coats. In between coats I used steel wool to remove any runs in the poly and to prepare it for the next layer.

Last I cut out and glued 2 1/4” circles of felt into the cups at the bottom of the rack. This protects both the wood and the bottom of the rod tubes from any scratches or dings to ensure a long-lasting product. Choosing a wine-colored felt produced a very classical look without clashing against the cherry stain.

Fly Rod Tubes

I give the option to my customers whether they want to include a rod tube in their builds or not. When customers do opt to add a tube, I always choose to get mine from John Noble at ronsflyrodtubes.com which has always produced a high-quality product. Shipping is quick and secure and ability to get custom lengths of tubes is invaluable.