Rod Building Glossary 

• Action(Rod) Where most of the initial flex in a rod blank takes place. Fast Action rods will flex mostly in the upper 1/3rd of their length. Moderate Action rods in the upper 1/2 of their length. Slow Action rods flex along their entire length.
• Agate Guide Agate stripping guides are small rings usually made from polished natural agate, a semi-precious stone prized for its colour variations and hardness which is then set in a metal guide frame.
• Blank A naked rod shaft. The shaft upon which a handle, grip and guides are added to create a fishing rod.
• Burnishing Thread A technique that will ‘polish’ the individual threads into one continuous layer of smooth thread.
• Colour Preserver A type of sealer/filler normally used on regular nylon thread to keep the thread from turning translucent when the final wrap finish is applied.
• Common Cents A universal and complete system for taking relative measurements of the action and intrinsic power of rods and blanks. Can also be used to correctly match the correct fly line weight to any rod. Home - Common Cents
• Cork Check A round metal disk that sits between a reel seat and the grip or on a fighting butt for downlocking reel seats.
• Cork Shives Round disks of cork that are glued together to form a tube prior to being shaped on a lathe into a grip. Titebond III is the glue Fortitude Rod co recommends for gluing cork, for EVA a two part glue like Flex Coat rod builders epoxy is the one to use.
• Denier A unit of textile measurement, a single strand of silk thread is approximately one denier.
• Rod Builders Glue Two part epoxy to glue grips, reel seats and tip tops on to rod blanks, comes in liquid or paste forms.
• Ferrule An item which allows sections of a rod blank to be joined together. Can be either separate or integral to the rod blank sections.
• Grip – Reverse Half Wells (RHW) Half of a "Full Wells" grip. Swelled at the reel seat end and the middle, the opposite end tapering to a smaller overall diameter. The RHW grip is suited to lighter rods and those who like a fore finger on top hold.
• Grip – Full Wells Swelled on both ends and in the middle with depressed areas about 1/4 length in from each end. Commonly found on rods six weight and heavier.
• Grip – Cigar Shaped like a cigar. Slightly tapered and rounded on each end, larger in the middle.
• Grip – Ritz Named after Charles Ritz,  a simple straight taper that is wider at the front and slightly tapered to the rear.
• Grip – Snub Nose As seen on most SAGE freshwater rods, the snub nose is like a short slim full wells but with a smaller diameter front end.
• Guides – Single Footed Guide
• Guides – Snake Double footed guide
• Guides – Stripping These are the larger, almost always double footed, guides closest to the rod's grip, there could be one, two or three stripping guides depending on the rod length and weight.
• Guide Spacing The distance between the guides when mounted on a blank
• Handle See 'Grips'
• Hook Keeper A small metal hoop that attaches on the blank just above the grip to hold the hook when not fishing.
• Inletting Making the hole in the end of a grip to accommodate the reel seat hood, on a downlocking set up you would inlet the fighting butt if fitted.
• Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) Used for cleaning blanks, removing glue residue and can also be used to wet wraps to give an impression of what they might look like after wrap finish is applied, we recommend using 80% proof or less as stronger concentrations could damage the blank finish.
• Masking Tape 2mm masking tape is useful for holding guides in place ready for whippings or can be used to make bushings for reel seats although scrim tape is a better medium.
• NOCP Thread a type of thread that has a colour preserver impregnated into it, A WYSIWYG thread
• Packing Thread Making sure that thread wraps are pushed up against each other and there are no gaps
• Pot Life The length of good working time of two part epoxies once mixed
• Pull Through A loop of thread or monofilament used to pull the ‘tag end’ under the wrap.
• Reaming Grips Enlarging the centre hole through a grip so that it fits on the blank, can be done with a specific tool in a power drill or by hand with a rat tail file.
• Reel Seat – Downlocking. Used to describe a reel seat that has been mounted with the fixed hood to the rear (butt) and the movable hood to the front (tip).
• Reel Seat – Uplocking. Used to describe a reel seat that has been mounted with the fixed hood to the front (tip) and the movable hood to the rear (butt).
• Reel Seat – Cap and Ring
• Reel Seat – Slide Band 
• Scrim Tape Plasterers scrim tape offers a superior material to use as bushings under reel seats or grips when you need to enlarge the diameter of the blank for a snug fit..
• Spine Or "Effective Spine" is an effect created by several manufacturing anomalies. The result is that the rod blank will favour bending along a particular axis when load is applied.
• Static Load Guide Placement A system where guides are located roughly in place with masking tape and then a load added to flex the rod, once the rod is loaded a line is run though the guides and fine tuning of guide placement can be made.
• Stent A section of carbon or fiberglass tube that can be glued into the end of a butt section to reduce the diameter to fit small bore reel seats.
• Tag End The piece of a thread wrap you pull through to lock in place
• Tip Over Butt Joint Usually describes a type of ferrule where the tip fits over the butt. Friction fit.
• Tip Top The line guide which fits on or over the tip end of the rod. Usually constructed along the lines of a tube supporting a ring, which can be slid over the end of the rod blank and glued in place.
• Winding Check A round disk of either metal or plastic that creates a tidy cosmetic transition between the front of the grip and the rod blank. On certain grips such as cigar or ultra fine grips the winding check is often omitted. 
• Wraps Either nylon or silk thread and wound around the guide foot and blank to hold the guide in place. Then covered in ‘wrap finish’ to bond the thread and guide to the blank. 
• Wrap Finish Usually a two part epoxy that has UV inhibitor added to stop yellowing over time, often comes in high or low build. We recommend low build for most fly rod builds.

This isn't an exhaustive list so if you think of anything else to add please message us!