Henry's Fork Foundation Rod

This is a rod that I am donating to the Henry's Fork Foundation. They have an auction every year and this rod will be available at this event. It's a 7'8" 4 weight rod. It has a Cherry Burl reel seat insert with blued hardware. It has a great dry fly action and is designed for those Montana windy days.

Rod of the Week

This is a rod that will be going out next week. It's a 7'11" hollow built 4 wt. The next batch of rods that I am making have a darker flame to them. I really like the depth and warmth that it brings to the rod. Am I set on doing it this way? I don't think so. I still like light flaming and the dark honey color it brings to a rod. I will probably do both just to keep changing it up and not be stuck making just one kind of rod.

When looking at this rod please notice the winding check area. When you look at it you will see that I didn't put a winding check. Sometimes I put one on and sometimes I don't. It really just depends on the look I am going for and if it looks good with the wrap scheme I am doing. If you also notice the cork that butts against the rod wraps you will see a slight amount of varnish on the cork. This is the same effect most of my rods have. The cork absorbs the varnish right around the winding check wraps. This is the same thing in the very top picture on my blog. It gives each rod its own identity. I could make the exact same rod 100 times and each rod would be slightly different for this fact alone.

I am a cork snob. I wish I wasn't, but thats just the way I am. I personally think that if you use cork that is very pitted it takes your eye away from the bamboo. Does it affect the way the rod casts or feels, no. Maybe someday I will go to counseling for this.

The reel seat insert is a Cherry Burl. The only thing I can say about it is "I love it!" I have about 20 pieces of this and I am already worrying about when it runs out.

I have changed what I write on the rods now. I felt like that I was writing too much. It took away from the bamboo. So now the only thing that comes on the rod is the Carpenter Bros. Rod Co. and the date it was made.

Carbon Fiber Fiberglass Ferrules

I got these prototype ferrules in the other day and I am very excited about them. I plan on doing some rods with these type of ferrules. The first rod will be a spey rod for a friend/reelmaker. They are less than 25% the weight of normal set of ferrules. This batch is about 10% fiberglass and 90% carbon fiber. This has created a stiff set of ferrules, maybe too fast. I plan on doing some 5/6 weight rods as well, but will incorporate more of a fiberglass presence.

Over the next 3 weeks I will delivering 3 new rods. I will post pics of them before they go out. I should have pics of the first one by the end of this week. Please come back and check them out!

Cris

Carpenter Bros. News

I have been steadily working on orders. In between that I work on design changes and different ideas associated with rod/reel building. Some items that I will be working on in the near future are a new line of fly reels. I am wanting to make a light reel that will balance on a rod like I believe it should. Second, I will introduce the first Carpenter Bros. Quad this summer. It will be a long light rod like I have done on the hex side. It is based on my 8'4" 4 weight taper. Last, I will be coming out with my first spey rod. I would like to come up with a rod that uses alternative ferrules.

On another note Mark H. I am almost done with the 8' 3weight. If you can contact me I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Cris

Here I am fishing the Cave Falls section of Yellowstone .

New Rod design

Here is a picture of a rod I am currently working on. It is a 6'5" 3 piece 3 weight. As it is right now it weighs 1.7 oz and should end up right around 2.0 oz when finished. I hope to make longer rods with carbon fiber ferrules and spey rod with Kevlar ferrules.

Hollow building

In the picture below you can see the pieces of a rod laid out before gluing. Depending on the action a person wants or what I want, determines where and how I do the hollowing. Some builders have systematic forms of hollowing (a 1" dam every 1/2"). I like to change it up in order to bring the rod to life. All of the rods I have made with the exception of one have been hollow built. I keep my wall thicknesses right around .040" thick. This rod is a 7'11" 4 weight that will be slightly medium fast. I want the flex point to be right about 2-4" above the ferrules, a powerful loading rod, but with a delicate tip for quiet presentations. 

Reels

In one of my earlier posts I talked about using lightweight reels. I believe in using these because it moves the fulcrum up out of the grip area. In years past I always bought or made reels that balanced the rod in hand. I no longer believe that.

Why should the fulcrum be moved up? If you ever read anything that E.C. Powell wrote about fly rods he talks about them being two types of machines: simple-lever and complex-spring. If your hand is directly over the fulcrum what control are you going to have over both sides of the lever? You will have very little control. The spring mechanism works more effectively when it is allowed to fully recoil and load. This occurs when the fulcrum is in the middle of the butt section and you control the power output to the other side of the lever. This is a discussion that can go on for ever, but I wanted to briefly describe it and explain why I like lightweight reels on bamboo fly rods. On a different note this doesn't work as well with graphite/fiberglass  rods because the tips are so light. Bamboo tips are much heavier and require action at the butt section for them to coordinate correctly.

A little story. Last summer I went to a gathering of builders in Island Park. I cast several rods by Per Brandin. I had never seen one of his rods and I was very curious because you hear he is the best.  I cast his rods for about an hour. They are different than other rods and I couldn't figure out why. On all of the rods he brought each rod had a cork reel seat and lightweight british made reels. I just thought maybe he REALLY liked that set up. However, later on I realized what I was feeling in his rods. He had moved the fulcrum up and thus created a more powerful rod. I don't know if he did this intentionally, but I liked what I felt. So, after that I changed how I built my rods and what I know use on them.