As a beginning rod builder, What types of finishes and adhesives should I buy to start out with. And also any other tools that are essential

Cool. I have done alot of things, rodbuilding is the best hobby I have ever had, I actually get to use what I make. And it's cheaper, (and less painfull) than fast cars, bikes, and women. A rod wrapper for sure, I don't have a power wrapper, but I have a manufactured hand wrapper. I made my own at first, if you do that, make it tall, and a make a seperate v-block or two so you can make any length you want. And make it tall, so any ring (guide) will spin. I made a bar-b-cue rotisithingy dryer from stuff from menards, and some rollerblade wheels, and a concrete bullfloat. (For the base, I musta drilled and tapped a hundred holes so I could adjust my supports. I find myself still drilling and tapping occassionally.) A dryer you can walk away from is a must, although Tom and some other real deal builders talk about hand turning. Oh, yeah, make your rod wrapper TALL! Finish is real personall, buy 2 or 3 kits and experiment. Hope you got patience. I use 1 and 30 minute epoxys to glue everthing, be it a fast taper stand up tuna blank into the ferrule of a unibutt, to the cork for a small bass or walleye rod. Read in the library about "water break free" clean, it helped me out alot. I didn't dig the flex coat, it's great, don't get me wrong. I want to buy from a person whenever possible, I live my dreams, so should they. So I'm gonna go threadmaster, figure it out, and stick with it. I hate using gummy, junky tip adhesives. I mean, if it comes off, so is a couple inches of tip, so I use 1 minute epoxy for the tip, as well. If I end up with a really short tip to first guide distance, thats ok. I just stopped entering no weight class, no holds barred biker fight competitions, (at the request of my wife) so if anyone says anything about a funny guide spacing at the tip of my rod, I'll just beat them up! LOL! Good luck, hope to see you post on some of the nuts and bolts stuff soon, if the powers that be have'nt given me the boot. Sincerely, Levi Sinclair Farster.

Robert,
Try them all, most of the the finishes are designed for a US took me a while to find a finish that had a reasonable pot life here in the heat of Queensland Australia. I sure you will be bombarded by different products, keep it simple at first then move on to newer and better products. I personally use Flexcoat products, very forgiving. Yes it has it's faults but they all do.

use the search on this board to check out different things. A lot of infor here.

Two parts epoxies differ in formulation and intended application. You'll need a general purpose two part adhesive for assembling your rod. Most any liquid formula will work fine. Hardware store Devcon 2-Ton slow cure epoxy is fine. A similar type can be had under the Flex Coat banner. RodBond, is a gel/paste type epoxy specially formulated for use in assembling fishing rods. It tends to stay where you put it, so it's not prone to seep and run out of joints.

Epoxy rod finish is a slightly different animal. It is an epoxy, but most often it's been formulated to provide more working time, greater clarity and bubble release, and to retain some degree of flexibility. Don't get the two mixed up. Use epoxy adhesive for assembly and epoxy thread wrap finish for coating your wraps.

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You will also need some double-edge razor blades or similar cutting tool. I can't do without my white plastic tool for burnishing and packing thread
wraps. You can get it from sponsors on the left. A white china marker is essential, although not essential a "tip gadge" is a tool I recommend as well as a set of calipers. By all means if you have not bought a book or DVD on basic rodbuilding do that before you even get your first blank!
Tom Kirkman's book is highly recommended as well as Doc Ski's video/DVD.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Thanks for all your help. I think I'll buy some rod bond, and flex coat epoxy finish, digital calipers, a tip guage. What else, what type of brushes are the best for each application?

Robert,

When you are ordering your stuff, make sure that you include a copy of Rodbuilding Guide by Tom Kirkman. With 100 photo's guiding you step by step through the process and explaing all aspects in an understandable format, it will be the best $15 you will ever spend. As far as applying finish, people use everything from throw away craft brushes to coffee stirrers, spatulas, cut up credit cards, etc. For the Rod Bond, all you need are popsicle sticks (it's the consistancy of Vaseline)

Most of all don't hesitate to ask!! Better to ask first than make a mistake and wreck a lot of effort

thanks Mike

Don't forget a subscription to RodMaker Magazine. Best money you'll ever spend!!!!!

Bill in WV