In article .com,
"Softhackle" wrote:

Ken I'll keep up with this cause I think it funny.
Every manufacturer sells wholesale, every single one including Sage and
Winston.
That retail 300.00 blank is about 125.00 wholsale and the components,
epoxy, finish and thread could run 60-80 bucks. Excluding drying time
for epoxy and finish I could build a simple (sage like) fly rod in
about 4 hours start to finish, you could too, it aint rocket science.
If you can tie a fly and read a book you could do it. Its is so frickin
simple thats why I am amazed at the prices for these rods. Thats it
from here take care. Bruce

What you are forgetting to mention is first you would have to take a
class or join a fly fishing club (both cost money) to learn how to do
the work. Then you would have to invest in the tools to make the rod.
Then, while it may be 4 hours of work its about 36 hours of drying time.
For someone with a job it takes a heck of alot of time.

Lets say you are lucky enough to get a blank from wintson at cost. Just
spending $~50 for a retailers license aint gonna get you one. You have
to have a storefront. But we will ignore than. If you do get the blank
for wholesale from winston (good luck unless you are in the industry)
and you dont know how to build one and dont have the materials, taking
it to a rod builder is going to cost over $100 in labor and over $200 in
parts, just for a rod that is similiar to a retail winston.