Going to give rodbuilding a try...help me choose a kit?

[white43]

A guy was just in my shop who took to turning some incredibly beautiful duck and goose calls from some exotic woods. As we chatted I mentioned I wanted to show him some of my rods. Of course, none of the hand-builts were in the truck, but he got quite interested in reel seat inserts. Seems he has a short piece not long enough for one of his two pieces for the calls and he might be able to turn me something with his lathe. Just when I thought I might be getting over this! Good grief. JGW

[Farmer Bob]

I love my Forecast rods the most, its hard to lay them down. One thing you should do before attaching the end cap to the Pacific Bay seat is to apply a couple drops of CA thin glue between the treaded end and the rosewood insert. I took one of my rods out of storage today and the treaded end slipped off, I guess the rosewood shrunk a little... FB.

[Plain Old Jim]

Pardon me....but who is "BOB" I know about the guy on tv...."This is BOB.....<grin> so sick of that commercial. Anywhooo....I am building a rod...and I really do want to know who the Bob is all the messages refer to? Also question...I ponder single foot guides, but everyone says go double foot. Then why do all the PREMIUM rod sets in cabela's catalog come with single foot guides and the STANDARD kits come with double foot guides? Hope you all consider this a part of this thread and not that I shoulda posted my own question.

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Plain old Jim, I'm Plain...and I'm old.

Jim

The Bob everyone is refering to is Bob at Hook and Hackle. I think that all who have dealt with him will recommend him, excellent service! To try and answer your guide question. Single foot guides are lighter and require less wrapping. My own experience has shown them to be a tad more difficult to wrap as you don't have the second foot held down like you would on a traditional snake guide. That said, I would recommend the single foot guides. Check out what Bob has to offer. He has some excellent deals on rod kits. E-mail me if you have more questions,

Peter

[Plain Old Jim]

Thanks for the reply Peter. I have probably too many questions icw building rods, lines and such. Unless you have plenty of leisure time you might not want me to take you up on that offer to e-mail you. I really appreciate it....and might give it a test run anyway. For Atomic Dog and anybody else, I bought the book "Handcrafting a Graphite Fly Rod by L.A. Garcia. It really explains things well and tells you how to build a rod. I bought it at a book store. But you can get it at Amatobooks.com. Funny thing though, the book I have....is the same cover as what they show as a Video? Anyway they have a special also, subscribe to Fly Tying Journal for 5 yrs for $89 + $10 and get the mag for 5 years and the Bench Reference Fly Tyers Reference free. Anyway...the Garcia book does a real good job of showing how to build a rod.

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Plain old Jim, I'm Plain...and I'm old.