Need rod kit help Quick!

[SonOfMartin]

My son desperately wants a 9' 6wt 2pc rod kit for Christmas. I don't have a clue what to buy him as a starter kit. I've looked at Cabelas and H&H and other kits, but am clueless. We are experienced fly fishermen but neither of us have built a rod before.

Can anyone recommend a complete kit to start learning rod building? Please keep price recommendations to $100 or less since it's his/our first step into this aspect of fly fishing.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by SonOfMartin (edited 19 December 2005).]

[Jim Hatch]

Hey Son,

Check out Hook and Hackle in the sponsor
pages or follow this link: [url=http://www.hookhack.com/:27a58]http://www.hookhack.com/[/url:27a58]
They can hook you up with a nice kit in your
price range and you can take advantage of
their 20 percent Christmas discount on top
of it. Merry Christmas. Jim

[dudley]

The forecast kit on sale at H&H

Use the instructions found here on FAOL plus those on the mudhole site.

[SonOfMartin]

I "called Bob", cruised his Web site and ordered a kit from him which will ship today! I was quite impressed. Thanks for the advice.

I'm sure he will be looking for help as he builds this rod.

Thanks for the advice, I knew I could count on the members for help.

Tyflier;
You reel him in I'll grab the net!

SonofMartin;
While waiting read Al Campbell's rod building article's and practise wrapping on a piece of dowel rod.

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

Cactus

[Greg F]

Son,
Don't neglect to browse the archives here for lots of good rod building tips. There is a whole rod building section. Click on FEATURES, then Rod Building.

SonofMartin;
Make sure you have a very well lighted, clean & warm (comfortable) work area out of the main traffic area. Keeping the humidity at a normal level can help with the dust. When I hand turn a rod I use a cooking timer to remind me when to roll the rod 180 degrees.
I just finished 2 as Christmas gifts. Sort of tricked 2 friends to find out what they liked for wrap colors.
Now I've got 2 more to build for myself.

[clyde holmes]

Son, Now ya done it. Once ya see how easy it is to build its like painting. You wont know where to stop. Youll have lots of from the family here

[Plain Old Jim]

SonOfMartin,

I haven't glued anything on the first rod I am going to build....yet. But I have seen so many questions about the epoxy not turning out right, not drying, turning milky, etc etc. I am going to use old arrows a friend gave me, and a couple I bought at Wal-Mart that are dark, shiny, and slick, to practice on. They are quite similar to the shiny rod blank you are going to glue on. I will practice wrapping the thread, wrapping and tying on eylets (bought el cheapos at Wal-Mart for practice), using different color threads to see how they look and so on. Also to see how my epoxy and glue mixes turn out, check out drying time here at my locatgion, see if they dry and harden, gather dust, and experiment with and without color preserver to see the finished look. I am going to do this on a shiny black or dark green arrow before I ever attempt to glue on a snake guide on my real rod blank.

Have fun and good luck for you and your son.

Gem

SOM;
POJ (Gem) is right about the epoxy mix. It can be intimidating!! I pour two equal pools of resin and hardner (you can eyeball it pretty close) into a "Dixie" coated paper bowl and mix with a darning needle for at least 2 minutes. Alternate clockwise and counterclockwise mixing strokes, 10 or so of each. make sure you are working the edge's into the center. Let it stand for a bit to get the air bubbles out and start coating the wraps. I use a good artist brush for this and clean it in water.
Apply the wrap coat at least a 1/32 past the wrap to seal them from water. Gudebrond Speed Coat tends to "Puddle Up" on the blank (Mess to clean up) while the 2 part Flex Coat will not.
With my old shaky hands I built a steady rest to help me apply my wrap coats evenly.
For a different effect you can polish the blanks with 0000 steel wool to tone down the gloss.
Duh!! How presumptous, I've build 5 rod's so now I'm telling others how to do it, I'm a novice, but maybe I can help!!