Update for the Montana Folks

It's been slow around the shop this year. Actually, it's always slow going around here. It just seems like it's taking longer than usual to finish a rod. Maybe that has something to do with starting five rods at the same time. That's a stroke of brilliance I could do without in the future. I'm better suited to doing one rod at a time. I get tired of doing the same thing five times in a row. But I'm making progress in spite of my less than enthusiastic attitude.

The Montana fishing crew has probably given up on ever getting one of these babies. The rivers may be iced over by the time their rods arrive in Missoula, but they'll eventually get there. Something about waiting a long time for a bamboo fly rod makes them more valuable anyway. I suppose you could say I have a one year waiting list. That sounds pretty impressive never mind that there are only two folks in line. Actually there are three. I'm doing a rod swap with a couple other rod makers at the Southern Rod Makers gathering this year. That's going to be pretty cool. I've always wanted to have a bamboo rod made by someone other than me. I've just been too cheap to buy one.

Here's a few recent pictures from the rod shop (garage). I've made and mounted the female ferrules and cork handles this week. I started the male ferrules this evening. They should be done and mounted in a couple days. All that's left to do at that point is to wrap the guides and varnish the wraps, turn the reel seat inserts, make the reel seat hardware and varnish the rods. I'm thinking I might be done by the end of September. We'll see.

By the way, that's not blood in that picture. I use thread locker to make my ferrules. Solder is just too messy and difficult to apply compared to thread locker. I still use solder to make the butt caps for the reel seat hardware, but that's it. The ferrules are completely made with thread locker. I'm using the stuff that's rated for up to 500 degrees. That should cover most fishing situations. But anyway...the thread locker is red. That's the red stuff in the picture below.