H&H Kit Advice

[RCaillouet3]

Hello all, and thanks again for the help!

Well, I just went and did it. I just ordered a H&H IM6 9' #4 weight 2 piece kit!!! My wife couldn't argue forever. And with my birthday coming in the next day or so, she had no choice but to give in. Only joking about the wife, she's been telling me to get one of the kits for a while now. Do I have the greatest wife in the world or what!!! Anyway, I guess I should get to the point of the post.

This is going to be my first rod build. I have ordered the rod building video H&H offers as well. I have read the Rod Building section here on FAOL. And Bob at H&H is nice enough to mark the spine on my blanks so I don't mess it up (talk about award winning customer service by H&H, but that's another story!)

So, am I informed enough to not mess this up too badly?? Doeas anyone have any areas they had problems or worries with on their particular kit? Does anyone know how I can make my wife understand that I am about to get hooked on building rods like I think I may??

Well, I'll keep eveyone posted on the progress as I go along. I am hoping to get the kit in the next week or so. So if anyone out there knows of anything I might need to know, please shout it out!!!


Sincerley,

Reg

[This message has been edited by RCaillouet3 (edited 26 August 2005).]

[Arkriver]

You should have it early next week! Just take your time and think things thru. You can redo most anything until you apply the epoxy and then your pretty much stuck. Enjoy. It will catch you some fish Allyn

Reg;
There is video floating around out there but I think it's on the way to RL. So you may want to get one from H&H. Mine came from a member that was done with it and I passed on to another first time builder. Sort of looks like one isn't enough.

I build a 9' 3 wgt. from H&H for my first one and just finished a 6' 6" 2 wgt. for my second. I think the actual "Build times was less than 8 hours as it seemed easier to work with 4 short blanks.

You'll find that you will over do it on the glue mix, probably 4 time what is needed.
You'll also get enough epoxies to build 4-5 more rods. A 1/8 TSP of Resin and Hardner was way more than I needed for the 14 wraps on the 2 wgt. The 2 wgt. without glues was 39.95!
Practise wraping on a piece of 1/4' dowel while your waiting. Part 10 in Al's rod building archive.

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I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!

Cactus AKA "Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)"

[This message has been edited by Jack Hise (edited 26 August 2005).]

[This message has been edited by Jack Hise (edited 26 August 2005).]

[Crackleback]

Reg, I built my first rod from a similar H&H kit and in spite of being a bungler and all thumbs, it tuned out pretty darned well. Just take your time and slow down. I second Jeck's advice re: practice wrapping. I spend an hour a day practice wrapping on a spare graphite just to "get it down". It paid off.
I could probably have gone and bought a decent off the rack rod for less that I spent on this but there's an added pleasure from catching on a rod I built myself.
Good luck with it.
Crackleback (Bob A)

[billknepp]

Reg,
If you run into any probs or just have q's....I'm sure anyone of us would'nt mind an email at any time....Jack has really taken to the rod building...And I'm glad to see he's helpin others out....Damn kewl fellow he is.......Happy building!!!!

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"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill

Thank you Bill but it's really "paying it back" for all the advice & help I received here when I decided to build my fist rod.

With the kits from H&H you get enough epoxy for the reel seat and grip assembly to build 12 to 15 rods and if you keep your wrap epoxie mix to a bare minimum probably the same. However I've noticed that the Cabela's kits contain what looks like small packets of epoxies that don't look like they go very far or store well!! Any thoughts?

A good point was brought out in DL's simalar post. You only get one chance to fit the cork grip Check the fit often when you get down to the last 3 or 4 inchs

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I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!

Cactus AKA "Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)"



[This message has been edited by Jack Hise (edited 27 August 2005).]

[Betty Hiner]

Dry run...dry run...dry run....then use 30 minute epoxy (or longer), and keep the vinegar close by!!

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Trouts don't live in ugly places