Rod Building...Where is the best place to purchase building supplies? And any other advice for a beginner...?

There are so many places...........





This site has the most brands of blanks and the largest selection: www.versitex.com they also have a wide array of reel seats, guides, etc. This is also a good site for rod building supplies such as glues, thread, epoxy finish, and such





For fly rod components, I like www.rec.com/index.html - this is REC components (recoil guides, which are also popular for spinning and casting) and for fly reel seats





www.cabelas.com has a wide array of begnning ';kits';


for the novice builder as well as a good selection of rod building supplies





May I reccomend that you purchase Tom Kirkman's


Rod Building Guide as this will help you immensely,


just go to Amazon.com and type in Tom Kirkman





You definetely want to visit this site: www.rodbuilding .org


There are many seasoned rod building pros here who will gladly help you out, plus there are some amazing articles


on static guide placement, properly mixing finishes,


splining a blank, ferrules, and much more. Spend some time there, you'll be well rewarded.





I would advise that you don't ';break the bank'; on your fisrt rod,


get a simple kit and try it.





Feel free to e-mail me directly if you have any specific questionsRod Building...Where is the best place to purchase building supplies? And any other advice for a beginner...?
I use mudhole.com for most of my freshwater rod supplies.





http://shop.mudhole.comRod Building...Where is the best place to purchase building supplies? And any other advice for a beginner...?
all i can say is buy good quality gear such as fuji rings and reel seats and also use epoxy resin to finish off the blank and use strong whipping thread
Lots of online places, as mentioned, though I'd recommend you go to a local tackle shop if at all possible, so you can see what you're getting, compare blanks, and get hands-on advice. (At least in So. Cal, over half of the independent tackle shops sell supplies as well as build rods themselves, so you can get good advice there.)





It's probably best if you start by copying a finished rod -- check out a production rod made on the same blank, for details like number and types of guides, spacing, etc., as well as to see what your finished rod will feel like.





As far as advice for a beginner, first thing is to make a durable, usable fishing rod. Don't skimp on the adhesive holding the grip in place -- if that slips you basically have to strip the rod down to re-do it. Make sure the guides are aligned, keep the thread tight when you wrap, no gaps or overlaps, work with clean hands so you don't stain the thread, don't be afraid to undo and redo a wrap if you mess it up. Don't hurry.





Fancy wrapping is nice, but don't worry about the patterns and so on until you can make a functional rod.
Cabelas.com





Netcraft.com





Basspro.com
I strongly second mudhole tackle!


www.mudhole.com





For fun check out Golden Witch


neat stuff for rod building, they used to carry vintage agate striper guides.





www.goldenwitch.com





as for advice, don't be afraid to experiment and mess up.


Don't buy every gizmo they are trying to sell either! I still use a tape player with the cover torn off for a rod dryer motor!


If you can find old cheap rods, pick them up. Sometimes you can salvage neat old materials, and at least have ample rods to practice on.


Sometimes kits are the way to go, not just for ease, but for time savings. Once you have built a few you'll know right off the top of your head what things to buy. In a kit they are supplied. St. Croix rods have nice kits, and I believe Mudhole has some.
Glad to see this question and hope I can be some help. I Build rods, now only part time but have made a full time living at it. One part I enjoy is teaching others, and still do classes from time to time. As far as the best places to go for supplies, the on-line choices already given are all good, the hard part is knowing how to get started and what to purchase. If there is a tackle store in your area that sells supplies hopefully they will be able to help, as this is your best bet.





As far as getting started I recommend a simple project to learn from and one that you are not afraid to make your mistakes on. You may have an old rod that you could rebuild or even try repairing some guides on some old rods that are just standing in a corner of the garage. I've had many people get started this way, you will learn a lot by taking a rod apart and seeing how it was constructed in the first place.





There is some good advise in all of the answers here. Check out all of the resources and use what makes the most sense to you. Books are helpful as a starting point but building rods takes hands on experience, practice, and patience.





I would like to hear from you if I can be any help.
You can also find rod building supplies at:





http://www.cabelas.com
There are lots of wonderful places that have been listed for supplies, I have used most of them over the years. The one thing I was looking for amongst the answers was a book. Something that I still to this day use is, ';The New Advanced Custom Rod Building'; from Dale P Clemens. I have been through numerous other texts on the subject of rod building and I have found this to be the ';bible'; of rod building. This book covers everything associated with rod building, from tools to threads to spacing etc.....the only thing I have not found there has been info about stand up rods and offshore trolling rods. An excellent read and resource guide. Can be obtained through Amazon.com or almost any other bookstore.