Henry's Fork Gathering part II

As many of you know I have small children so making it to rod gatherings are few and far between. However, the one event that I try to make it to each year is the gathering on the Henry's Fork. I always learn so much from the other builders that it has progressed my rod design by years. One of the highlights of this years gathering was listening to Glenn Brackett and Tom Morgan talk about Winston. There is so much history there I truly enjoy listening about it. Here is a couple of picks of Glenn talking about Winston.

A New Rod Going Out

This is a 8' 7" 6 weight. This taper is based off of a Powell B taper. The reel seat is of my own creation with a Cherry insert.

Henry's Fork Gathering

I just returned from the Henry's Fork gathering. It was a great time as usual and I am very excited to get back to building rods. I also come back with new ideas and improvements for my rods. I have always liked Japanese rods because of their simplicity. I will use some of those ideas to improve my rods.

http://www.akimaru-rods.com/english/menu/menu.html

http://www.genten-rod.com/

Orders

Before I started building, I collected rods. As a school teacher I couldn't afford all of the rods I wanted to own. So that is one main reason I started building. One thing that always amazed me was that builders would give you an estimate of when your rod would be ready and it would NEVER be ready on that date. Sometimes the rod wouldn't be ready anywhere near that date. I just figured when rod builders went to bamboo rod building school they offered a class on how not to deliver a rod on time. It had something to do ultimately with making their rods more desirable. Well, the shoe is on the other foot and sometimes I have a hard time delivering rods on time.

There are many reasons for not delivering rods on time and doing this blog isn't really one of them. Since switching to micro ferrules there is an increased time that goes into fitting and setting those. I didn't realize it at first, but quickly found out that the smaller ferrules don't set straight on the blank like longer ferrules do. The added time in assuring the ferrules are straight can be maddening. Another factor is the varnish I use. I want my rods to last a very long time. The particular varnish I use has tung oil and linseed oil in it. These two additives take longer to dry. Since I hand rub most of my rods with about 6-8 coats of varnish it can take almost a month just to do the varnishing and letting it cure. There are many other factors that play into delivering rods on time and it seems none of which are ever the same with each rod.

I am currently in the process of making 9 rods. I am closer to finishing some than others. After my trip to Idaho and Colorado I plan to take a several month break working on a couple of new tapers and lengths before I start my fall orders.

An added note I would like to thank who ever is visiting my blog from Iran. I didn't realize they fly fished in that country, but have been thinking if more people in that country did fly fish and with bamboo we would be whole lot closer with them!!!! :-)

Another Rod!

Thanks for the response on the rod I posted Friday. I do appreciate everyone's compliments. Here is another rod that is about to go out. It is also dipped.

Rod Going Out Today

This is a 8'2" 5 weight that is going to a customer in Alabama. I haven't dipped in awhile, but I remembered quickly why dipped rods look so good! It does add weight to the rod, but it also has many advantages. In the next few days I will post some more pics of another rod that is being dipped as well.

Inside Taper and shirts

Here is a picture of an 8'4" 3 weight that I am working on. When hollowing rods you can also include an inside taper to your rod. I take a lot of things into account when deciding how much to hollow and what spacing I should use with that spacing. A couple of things to look at are the size of fish you will be fishing for, what type of line you will use and weather conditions (windy). The depth of hollowing also determines how far down the tip I will go with the hollowing process. If I am hollowing to .040" of an inch you can go down pretty far. I will do that on a lot of my 8' 3 weight tapers just because of the type of fishing most of the owners will be doing with those rods. I will probably stay around .060" on tips for 5 weights and above. Hollowing to different depths is very easy to do with my Elder hollowing mill.

Please remember if you buy a rod from me you get a free t-shirt. My new shirts just came in today! If you don't want to buy a rod the shirts are $30.