starting off

[big_steve001]

hey guys i am very interested in building my own rods, i just wanna no what i need to start off and where do i get my blanks from. thanks for any info. steve

[finga]

Budds keep blanks down your way and I'm sure others will tell of other shops.
You need a blank, some guides, a reel seat, a grip of some description, some thread and a few other things.
Give Lucky Phil from here a PM. He maybe able to help with guides etc.
A good start for me (still just starting was watching a DVD called 'Custom Rodbuilding with Doc Ski" available through Ausfish.
A good way to see what you need and how to do it.
I was very lucky. I was fortunate enough to get a spot at this years rod building week-end. The knowledge gain probably saved many a hair pulling session and a bucket load of money.

[Noelm]

almost any GOOD tackle shop will have everything you need (not Kmart and crap Supermarket type places) and you can do it all "by hand" or make your self up a cheap (nearly all stuff found at home, or very cheap to buy) turning jig, I can sort of describe my first attempt if you like.

[big_steve001]

just wanna no if u can make the turning dryer or do u have to by it

[finga]

Make it mate.
Grab a motor and lead out of a micro wave and a hobby box from Tandy.
I think I've made 3 or 4 of them now for different blokes.
A lot of guys use old gimble caps or butt caps to hold the rod whilst it's getting dizzy. I made a very simple chuck.

[B_E_N]

hey finga i know it may be alot to ask but how do you fit the microwave move and get it spinning at a good speed i have know electrical knowledge but need a motor, my hands are stuffed from turning rods with em! is there somewhere where you found all your info on how convert it and so forth??

[finga]

Ther micro wave motor is purely for drying Ben.
For wrapping I use a Singer sewing machine motor. It is faster and has a built in speed control.
Basically the same setup and chuck (I'm starting to get at whipping them up) etc as the dryer but with more torque and more speeeed

Sorry Ben but all the info came out of my noggin'. It's a bit hard to send a link to inside there. It's all confused and really needs a defrag done to get some sense out of it sometimes

[B_E_N]

haha no worries, yeh i had a thought about it and a sewing machine setup sounds good, with the pedal control and everything, may have to look into it, cheers tho

[Noelm]

if you are just starting off, then a simple hand turned binding jig is very easy to make for almost nothing, when drying I used to just leave the rod in the jig and just give it a 1/4 turn every 5 mins or so