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).]
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
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.
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.
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!!
Thank you for all your suggestions. I’m also giving son #1 a box of pre-cut pine board and felt to create a rod wrapping stand that I found online.
I like the idea of practicing on arrow shafts. I think I’ll strongly urge him to try this idea.
I convinced my wife to let us learn to tie, that it would “only” be a $100 investment in tools and material. HA, if she only knew the truth (ok, so she does know, but doesn’t ask).
Son, practicing on arrows is an excellant idea. For mixing epoxy and finish use syringes, as long as you don’t get them mixed up you can use them over and over and you get a precise measurement. Also for the thread coating, put the bottles in hot water for a couple of minutes before mixing, yjis really helps release bubbles. I have used a lighter to pop remaining bubbles after it’s applied, be careful not to heat for more than 1 or 2 seconds or you’ll burn it.
I have started using Perma Gloss from U-40. No mixing, just brush it on and in about 5 to 10 minutes you can apply another coat. The only draw back is perma gloss usually requires 4 coats to cover the threads completely, but you can apply those coats in less time than 2 coats of flex-coat.
Hope this helps.
I wouldn’t “eyeball” the epoxy mix. It must be measured absolutely perfectly or you end up with a mess. Use the syringes. I have found that a flat plastic stick works well for stirring.
SonOfMartin, you bought a complete kit from H&H so look in the package with the epoxy. Should be two syringes in there with the two bottles. They are color coded like the bottles. Don’t mix them, be careful to use the same syringes with the same component every time.
Thanks for clarifying about the syringes for me, guys. Son of Martin, I built my first rod this year from a H&H kit, and it turned out great so don’t worry. The only thing I goofed on was not mixing the epoxy well enough and I had to strip it off that section. You really have to mix it untill it is totally clear. Read the label on the epoxy. Since then I haven’t had any problems with epoxy, and I have built three more rods. If you search and read you will find lots of good instruction right here at this site.
One other thing about syringes. If the kit you ordered does not have them included for some reason or another. Don’t use just any syringe or plastic mixing cups from the local drug or craft store. These ordinary ones have silicone in them and is not a good mix with epoxy glue or finishes.
Building a rod is really not that difficult. You’ll do just fine. But…I must warn you it IS addicting. lol.
I don’t know why but I can only use the syrenges only a few times until they’re useless. Then I turn to a plastic 1.8th teaspoon measuring spoon. Works just fine without all the grunt work with the syrenges. SOM, this is a great Chrstmas gift. Good creativity on your part, and on his. BTW, how old is you son? JGW
I’ve been following this string with great interest - did the rod kit arrive?
Please give us an update when your son gets it - I want to know his reaction!!