I've been looking at the threads about rod building. I have quite a bit of spare time on my hands for the next few months, and I would like to try my hand at building a rod. What do I need to get started? Any suggestions? Thanks

Killer, man   I just recently got involved myself, but you may need to consider on how deep you wanna go to make them, they have kits you can buy or if you want to really get down on custom building it gets more detail, let us know which way your considering?

I would suggest mudhole.com.  They have a lot of good info you can watch online and kits for the beginners   That's how I got started.

Thanks alot. I really dont know how far I want to go. I would like to give it a few tries first. But I dont want to do a half way job. I guess I want to just get my feet wet first.

As others have suggested, start researching.  Another good place to start are the stickies right here in this forum.  Also, check out DavidG's (ReelMech's) web site.

Buy Tom Kirkman's book on rod building and read it.

Start by building your own wrapping tools for next to nothing.  I built mine from scrap lumber and have built about 30 rods on it.

Buy the cheapest rod building kit, or blank, guides, etc. you can find for your first one.  Don't start with anything expensive.  The first rod won't be no where as good as your second and your third one will be 10x better than your second   .

Start slow, do some good research, ask a lot of questions and post pictures of how your doing.

Eddie

thanks alot i will do that

Hey,

Just ran across these on rodbuilding.org - forgot to mention that resource as well - but they can really get "down in the weeds" over there and could be a little overwhelming at times.  But, an invaluable resource.

http://www.midwestrodandreel.com/Pages/Components/Specials.aspx

These kits look good, matched, and priced around $60.  Not sure of shipping.  Mudhole has some kits around the same price as well you might want to consider.

Eddie

Thanks for the info guys. I will be back for more soon