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I went through the same thing more than once. Every single time the answer was the same. It wouldn't save me a dime and probably would cost more. If you are doing it to be frugal, or a cheap bastid like me, you won't save money.
Now, if you want to do it to learn more about rod construction, cool. If you want to do it for hobby, neat.
Check out sites like Sierra trading post, Madison River, or Bob Marriots 3-d sale to save money.
Have fun with the research.
Rick
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I have to be the newest member of the rod building community since I am about 2/3 through my first one. Here is what I have found out so far.
1. It is much easier than I expected after reading a lot of articles on rod building. So far, the hardest part was reaming out the cork grip. However, I worked on it very slowly and it came out just fine.
2. Finding the spine took a bit of practice. I had to do it 4 times before I got the same spot two times in a row. Now that I know what the spine feels like it should be easier in the future.
3. If you file the front of guide feet to a knife edge, the thread will climb right up the foot with no problems; if you don't it wont. I had to cut the first two guides off because I didn't file the feet enough.
4. My first wrap came apart because I didn't use enough tension on the thread. I tightened the tension and was still able to adjust the guides as necessary for final alignment,
5. Building the wrapper and dryer were more difficult than I expected but that was because I wanted a 4 spindle dryer and had trouble finding drive belts. Building the wrapper would have been easier if I hadn't decided a 3 wheel rod holder was better than a felt V rod holder.
6. I haven't done any gluing or finishing yet so it is still easy to correct any mistakes.
7. There is a great 20 part video on fly rod building on You Tube. It cleared up a lot of stuff that wasn't covered in the articles I read.
I thought about buying a cheap kit to practice on but eventually decided to get what I wanted. I'm glad I did because the cheap kit would have been a waste of money.
Go for it! You won't save any money but you will have a lot of fun. Just be sure to take it real slow.