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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 08:32 • #1726 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
I the late 1960s or early '70s, I remember reading in a car magazine with, maybe, a Falcon or Duster on the cover, that Swedish cars were overengineered, too heavily built in the suspension, for American drivers and roads. This seemed odd to me, battering around in one with 140,000 miles on it on dirt lanes and logging roads all over the place.

Anyhow, with my limited understanding of such things, I think a failsafe joint was the idea of the spigot-and-hood structure. Spigots were known to work well, as were sleeves. Either was subject to user-caused damage.

So Berkley "overengineered," the hood being a backup to the spigot, and probably was expected to be a grasping point, easier to repair if damaged than a spigot. A pretty good design, I reckon, to have that protective sleeve/hood. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43023&p=260754&hilit=patent+sleeve#p260754


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 08:47 • #1727 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
The oversleeve, or hood, covering the spigot union as far as i can tell serves no purpose other than cosmetic concealment. It may, as whirly said, provide a convenient grasping point when joining or unjoining sections but that is a stretch IMO. In any case i always liked the Berkley glass rods. I rebuilt a few. I had a three piece 8' Parametric - not a Gowdy- that was a great streamer rod. I sold it to someone here on the forum a few years back.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 12:06 • #1728 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello Again
Shot some photo's of My Custom Crafted Roddy Boron Rods Ferrule Union this morning.
The Spigot is made from Graphite Rod,The Over Sleeve Fiberglass.
This Version all the Mating Surfaces were painstakingly Engineered To Engage.
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Getting Back To My Phillipson Project with some images of the painting process.
I'm spraying these blanks outside,one section at a time,while the paint is still wet I rush the section into my shop space where I have a dip tube filled with thinned 60/40 Paint Thinner/Spar Varnish waiting.
No"Ezra Brooks" added to this special mixture or used during the finishing process :eek .

While still wet and this is very important the rod blank section is immersed in the Varnish.
At the top of the varnish sometimes usually not a small puddle of paint may appear on the top of the varnish.
As the blank section is being withdrawn the paint usually adheres back onto the blank.

Sorry I can't really show you how this works your just going to have to take my word for it.
The Varnish Dip levels out the paint and adds uv protection.

Naturally the Varnish dip tube used during my painting process is used just for that purpose.

Actually stumbled upon this painting method by accident 20 some odd years ago,been doing it this a way ever since.
Oh if you wind up with paint at the top of the Varnish when your finished just take a paper towel and draw it across the top the paint will be drawn to the paper towel. ;)

Anybody whom ever said their were no Trade Secrets in Custom Rod Making was Right Full Of Bologna !! :P
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Orphaned Phillipson Blanks In My Drying Cabinet After Being Painted and Sealed By Dip Method.
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Tight Lines And Custom Made Classic Phillipson Loops
Andy M


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 14:42 • #1729 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Nice process Andy,must result in a very tough finish.Back to the sleeve/hood,i took mine out last night and assembled it.The sleeve fits tight along with the spigot.Similar to the tip over sleeve on my Phillipson.I think it is more than cosmetic.I have an 8'6 8 wt Lami blank hobby build that is a nice rod.Well the guy i got it from claims it's a Lami blank.The spigot has no gap and there is a small crack in the tip female section.Thinking a sleeve or hood would salvage this rod.Very light for it's size and cast well until i discovered the sections were getting loose.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 17:15 • #1730 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Yes. The patent explains this well. It clearly shows that the sleeve/hood is more than cosmetic. It increases engagement surface area and is a hedge against wear/deeper seating of the spigot. It is a redundant system. It makes the system harder to wear out or damage through misuse. Whether it is advantageous or overbuilt is a matter of design philosophy/goal. It adds a manufacturing process, Berkley patented it--which costs money--so they had a structural purpose beyond cosmetics. A trademarked name would have sufficed for that.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 18:20 • #1731 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Makes sense.I have the 8'6 7wt and it is not a light rod.Was always a Curt Gowdy fan so when i saw that on the tube i had to have it.Some knuklehead use pliers on the rings on the reel seat otherwise in very good shape .Weird cork and all.Powerful casting rod for sure.A little too fast for bass bugs but throws weighted bugs very well.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 09 Jan 2020, 20:07 • #1732 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
The Berkley design is novel, and its "fail-safe" redundancy does provide a measure of ferrule protection. Novelty in design, and (unnecessary?) redundancy. Yes. But slam the car door on it, or take a header hiking streamside and as any other it's likely toast. Hersh -- I think an oversleeve --not a Berkley-like "hood" -- might work on your rod. I've not built one but others here who have will know better.


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Post 10 Jan 2020, 08:50 • #1733 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
One of the great aspects of this thread is it can go in any direction without being hijacked.
Open discussion is where we gather information we can actually use.

One of the topics I really like to talk about is Ferrule Unions,This Winter it's been 50 years messing around with fishing poles,Guess I caught the rod tinkering bug.

The reason why Ferrule Talk is a favorite topic for me is naturally because understanding what makes the ferrule union work is a key factor in Rod Making,Also Rod Repairs Usually Have Ferrule Issues As The Root Cause For Repair,At The Very Least A Ferrule Tuning Or Resetting.

If I had to make a guess, I'd take a shot in the dark and say that most issues with ferrules are caused by the user.Some Designs are more prone to misuse than others,some designs you have to ask what they were thinking.

Another Tid Bit I'll Carefully Share is that historically some fiberglass rod manufactures ferrules are more prone to failure than others,now you know I can't say who's or I'll cause a melt down.

I'll say in the defense of the company that they Mass Produced more rods than most,the company changed ownership more times than most,the rods were priced so the man with dirt on his hands could afford a couple of rods for him self and his kids,and they never intended to have folks still collecting and fishing with the rods 60 years later.

If we want to talk ferrules I'm happy to,if you want recommendations for ferrule repairs I'm happy to help.
Can't tell you how many rods came to me as "Junk". Someone In The Know told the person the rod was junk to get rid of it,buy a new rod this junk can't be fixed.

Getting back to my choice of the ferrule union on the Roddy Boron,Boron Rods due to the nature of the material especially these early Boron Blanks have a tendency to fail.
Don Phillips machined a Nickle Silver Ferrule that he turned on his Unimax Lathe for his Boron Rods.

Knowing what I do about Boron and Ferrule Unions hedged my bet,the thought process,hand work that went into this ferrule was Big,You may have noticed that I added a STOP to prevent the ferrule from being Jammed Together Too Deeply, Also As Bill Phillipson Often Deployed A Guide Is Placed at either end of the Ferrule to hep add Hoop Strength to the blank.

This Boron Blank was originally a Charcoal Color, the blank was Painted by the same Method I Outlined For The Nearly Lost Phillipson Orphaned Blanks.

Speaking of The Phillipsons Another coat of paint was applied to just the Marigold Butt Section yesterday. the rest of the sections were all good,they received a second dip of Varnish just for good measure.

Tight Lines And Double Redundancy Fail Safe Loops
Andy M


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 10 Jan 2020, 16:41 • #1734 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Your lifetime of experience is why we with little to no experience with this stuff defer to you Andy.I will probably never build a rod but probably will redo a couple that i think are worth salvaging.As i get closer to retirement i cant wait to give away all the tools of my trade and move on to what i want to do,not what i have to do.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 13 Jan 2020, 16:17 • #1735 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello Everyone
Must apologize I've been absent last few days,one of my good ole friends passed away unexpectedly.
Just got back to the bench this afternoon,a few extra days for the paint to dry was needed anyhow ,Didn't get back to the Yellow Fenwick bling wrapping or get started wrapping the first 2 of the 6 Phillipsons.
One of the advantages of being retired the work can always wait.

The Light Tan Paint on the 5'8" "Damm Sweet Mighty Lite" looked like crap literally.
Today I over painted it with the dark brown,looks much richer more like dark Chcolate Now.
The rest of the blanks all looked great,decided to add some Chcolate Brn to the butt section of the Marigold Yellow 7'8" "Little Hoosic Bentley".
Tagged This Rod In Honor of my Good Friend Charles Bentley whom did excavation work when I built my shop on the bank of the Little Hoosic River back in 1990.
Charley was at my door almost every morning for Coffee for many many years.

We have another thread running where a member asked about masking off Ferrules and such when refinishing rod blanks,adding some pictures of the rod sections plugs and tape ups,etc.
You will also see where the L.H.B.was masked off at the 18" Mark,the point I place my Signature Wrap on most every rod I've made,the finishing touches I have planned for this rod are going to be like no Phillipson I've ever seen.
That's clear plastic wrap covering the yellow area of the blank.

Hersh no worries I'm glad to help !

Tight Lines And Back At It Loops
Andy M
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Tapped Female Ferrule.
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Tape Removed.
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The Bentley Masked Off Ready To Get An Accent Brn Color Added At The Butt End.
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Plugs and Bit's Used To Plug Rod Blanks For Finishing.
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The Plug Far Left Was In One Of The Blanks From Vince Cummings,Note The Wire Loop.
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Post 15 Jan 2020, 08:40 • #1736 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
Just a quick update,The 9' Yellow Fenwick has been completed,removed the Gaudy Orange from the butt wrap,decided the wrap was fine just as it was,less was more,finished up the thread work yesterday,applied the U-40 Lite in the afternoon ,let the rod turn overnight,"Lights Out" woke this morning to a great good looking finish.
Need to add my scrip,some other minor finishing touches,Bag Tube and this rod will be ready for Next Months Expo.
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The Orphaned Phillipson Blank refinishing is finally finished,Managed to get the Butt Section of the first rod wrapped yesterday,Started the thread work of a 6'8" "Farm River Special".
At last all the Phillipson blanks are completely refinished.
It's sorta ironic that these Phillipson Based Rods came to be very likely my last Mini Series.
It could be said that I'm Doing Quite A Bit More Than Just Putting My Name On These Rods. ;)
Only those in the know will understand what that means.
My Goal Is To Get the first 2 rods into final finish by days end today,that will put me back to my schedule.
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Tight Lines And Some Classic Fiberglass Rod Making Loops
Andy M :)


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 15 Jan 2020, 16:24 • #1737 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
That Fenwick is killer klassic! I like the sagey green color of the other blank. It reminds me of the old golden eagle rods. Nice work.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 17 Jan 2020, 19:57 • #1738 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
Thanks Pat I appreciate your loyalty and kindness.
This was a busy week,my busiest week since April 8th 2018.
After devoting considerable time and my best efforts reworking the Orphaned Phillipson Blanks.
Rod assembly's and finishing went very smoothly and relatively quickly.
Managed to get 4 rods completely finished this week as of noon today.
1@ 9' Yellow Fenwick, 2@ 6'8" Phillipson Farm River Specials, 1@ 7'2" Homonassett Slayer.
Tight Lines And Classic Fiberglass Loops'
Andy M
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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 20 Jan 2020, 18:37 • #1739 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
Great stuff. I very much like the copper-brown wraps over that sage green blank. That's going to be a pretty one!


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 20 Jan 2020, 21:16 • #1740 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
The Glass Master wrote:
Hello
Thanks Pat I appreciate your loyalty and kindness.
This was a busy week,my busiest week since April 8th 2018.
After devoting considerable time and my best efforts reworking the Orphaned Phillipson Blanks.
Rod assembly's and finishing went very smoothly and relatively quickly.
Managed to get 4 rods completely finished this week as of noon today.
1@ 9' Yellow Fenwick, 2@ 6'8" Phillipson Farm River Specials, 1@ 7'2" Homonassett Slayer.
Tight Lines And Classic Fiberglass Loops'
Andy M
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Glad to hear it. Sounds like you kicked butt this weekend.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 21 Jan 2020, 20:28 • #1741 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
Sorry guys the work got ahead of my Sharing.
Since my last post all but one of the 6 Orphaned Phillipsons are nearly finished.
The Little Dam Mighty Lite is under wraps for now, I'm holding that one back as the cliff hanger of the bunch.
Finished the wrapping on the Mighty Lite and The last of the Hamonassett Slayers today.
Both rods are in the drying cabinet for the night.

The Hamonassett Slayer was wrapped in some very hard to find Phillipson Thread.
The Thread Has a Nylon core with a Vinyl Coating Phillipson used the stuff on several rod models in Yellow,Green,Black,White,and Brown/Tan The Tan was used on some Fly Foxes and Some of the Johnson Profile rods.
Decided since nobody's banging on my door asking for the stuff,what's the point of hanging onto it any longer.
Really nice material to work with and easy easy to lay down,fast I wrapped the rod start to finish in less than 45 Min.

The last of the bunch The "Little Hoosic Bentley" is getting some Mylar, Not sure what thread yet ? got some other colors of the Vinyl coated to consider ?
Maybe the last of the Phillipson Variegated Jaspers Green and Black ?
I'll sleep on it. :P

Tight Lines And Orphaned Phillipson Loops
Andy M
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The Guide set for the Bentley
You may find these to be an odd pairing but when I explain you will see the method in my madness. ;)
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Post 22 Jan 2020, 15:11 • #1742 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello Again
The Orphaned Phillipson projects/series are as of lunch time today all nearly completed.
Wrapped the last of the rods this morning,added a little Mylar for the Governor,Used the last of my Phillipson Green and Black Jaspers, Wow did I cut this one close with less than 4' of thread to spare.
The rods are both on the turner for the duration,you will see my guide choice,I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have about the guide choice.
That's all for now was off to a very early start this morning,time now to rest a bit.
Tight Lines And Coiled Loops
Andy M
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The Hook Keeper Is The First Wrap You Can See What I Started With For Thread.
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The Tip Top was my last wrap look what I ended up with for thread.
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Just Add Water .
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The Orphans When They Had Little Hope Of Ever Getting Out On The Water .
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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 22 Jan 2020, 18:29 • #1743 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 01/26/07
Posts: 1385
Location: Ada, Oklahoma
Those orphans should have no worries about adoption.

Larry


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 23 Jan 2020, 19:41 • #1744 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
Jasper love every time! I got just a 1/2 spool of brown & orange left. But the green/black is sick!


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 24 Jan 2020, 09:17 • #1745 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello n Good Tidings To All
This project/mini series has been keeping me very busy,kinda sad to see it finish.
Went out yesterday and purchased 10 sections totaling 50'of 1 1/4" PVC Pipe with all the end caps they had.
Time to make rod tubes,looks like I'm going to be making bags as well.

Have a few more glass rods I'm putting up, the work on the blanks has been running behind the scenes in conjunction with these orphaned blanks.
1 Blank is a 7'6" 3/1 made with a StCroix Master Blank from the Cummings blanks ,The Second a 6'6" 2/1 Has A Phllipson butt section with StCroix tip."Two Brothers Of Different Mothers"
Started wrapping the Phillipson/StCroix last night in Jaspers thread,these blanks were ferruled in house and both have different styles of fiberglass ferrules.

I'll get some photo's up of the Last Orphan today "The Dam Sweet Mighty Lite" I think you will find my grip and reel seat kinda interesting.
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A Sneak Peek
Tight Lines And Tubular Dude Loops
Andy M


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Post 24 Jan 2020, 14:37 • #1746 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
I'm getting closer to the C.F.F.A. Expo only 7 days away now.
Fortunately I've met my goal and these rods are finished in time.
Really need to spend more time now getting other things ready and sorry to say less time sharing with my friends here.

Your probably getting sick of all my doings anyway ,you probably want to get back to to reel seat inserts and the other more interesting stuff on your benches,if I interrupted your exchanges I'm sorry,hopefully you will pick up where you left off.

I'm going to wrap this up here and move back into the shadows.
Please Let's See,Please Share What's Doing On Your Benches

Tight Lines And Classic Phillipson Series Of Fiberglass Fly Rod Loops
Andy M :hat
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The Little Mighty Lite Grip and Reel Seat have Red Cedar Hossel/Winding Check and Butt End.
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Casting The Little 5'6" rod with a DT # 3 The Rod is a # 5
Still Managed to get 50' of line to turn over the 16' Leader.
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Always Something That Needs Doing :lol
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After I Had 4 Strokes 2 Years Ago, Rod Wrapping Gave Me Blinding Head Aches.
Between The Headaches and my Poor Hand Eye Coordination making rods was out of the question.
It's been a very long and difficult daily battle to get to where I am now.

I'm No Quitter,I'll Continue With The Help Of My Friends & Loved Ones To Do What I Love Most, I'll Do The Best I Can To Put Up A Few More Fishing Rods.
When The Rods Are Not Good Enough I'll Stop.
This Contraption Has Made A Huge Difference,It's Made it Possible For Me To Do The Close Work Again Nearly Headache Free.
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The Current Rod On My Bench,Lets See What's On Your Bench !
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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 24 Jan 2020, 15:58 • #1747 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
Tough bird manchester is. And i knew it all along. Ruff and gruff, but also powderpuff .

I like what i see.

After a couple false starts i hope to post here some pics of Yellow Sally. It's her new look.

Cheerrrrrsssss.


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 27 Jan 2020, 08:50 • #1748 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
Outstanding work, especially in the face of adversity. Thank you for showing!


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 27 Jan 2020, 10:43 • #1749 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
Thanks guys ! your kindness is always appreciated.
Working toward getting back to being able to make fly rods again has been very good therapy for me.
Admittedly this last Phillipson mini series was a little too much to take on,then accepting an invitation to take part in the C.F.F.A. Expo put me in a position where I needed to push myself.
The last time I had set deadlines for my self it literally almost killed me.
Hence the reason I'm retired now and not suppose to be taking in work for anybody. :evil

Saturday 3 of my Grandsons were hanging out ,the 2 older guys helped me get the 6 Orphaned Phillipsons into rod tubes.
Gave the guys another lesson in the difference between Custom Bench Made,and Factory / Import Foreign Made.
The rod tubes were getting white Cedar end caps in the bottom end of the tubes,the guys couldn't figure out why I was taking the time to make end caps for one end of a PVC tube.

Then I explained how the added cost of making the P.V.C. tubes and the hand made rod bags was more money out of pocket that you would never recover from the sale of the finished rod.

We actually had 12 rods in total that needed bags and tubes before I could offer them to folks.

While we were working we had the 8 year old doing the math,figured it was a good opportunity for them to see how important math is in real life.

We started with how each plastic P.V.C. cap cost 98 cents with tax 1 Dollar X 12 Caps = 12 Dollars.
12 tubes at 5 Dollars cost per tube = 60 Dollars.
12 Rod Bags at 4 Dollars cost per Bag = 48 Dollars.
12 White Cedar wood end caps cost ,$1.00, 48 Copper Brads 48 cents = $1.48
We just went over the rod storage tube costs along with the time it took to make them not counting the trip to the home center or my gas.
5 Hours lost labor CT Min Wage = $11.00 per = $55.00
Estimated Total Loss for a dozen rod storage tubes = $176.48

After we got all 6 Phillipson Orphaned rods in the tubes I was using masking tape to mark the tubes as follows Phillipson 6'8" 5 Weight $175.00 and so on all the same price.

My elder grandson was having a fit,he's been hanging around the shop off and on watching the work that's gone into these rods.
No matter how hard I tried to explain my guy couldn't understand that it's not about money,it can never be nor should it ever be about money,it's gotta be about the rod work,the pride of doing the rod work,the art of rod making,the pleasure of people catching a fish on a custom made /bench made fishing tool/rod you made.

The little guy the younger brother he's 8 might have gotten it,he said "it's like when you paint a painting stupid'
Who knows maybe there's hope yet for an apprentice ???
But Maybe I Need To Start Whittling One Just To Be On The Safe Side. 8o

We all Watched Pinocchio Saturday Afternoon the 3 year old Oliver was precious.
They watched the show I was watching them watch the show. :eek :D :P :lol
Man It's great to be alive !

The Real Lesson The Boys Learned last Saturday is that Rod Making is not a good way to Obtain Wealth,Nor a Steady Source of Income.
At the Same Time Hope they fully understand that at any price there's Never Any Substitute for Custom Bench Made Performance,Quality or Craftsmanship 8)

Gotta get back to work now I'm starting to get packed up today for My Show Next Saturday.

Tight Lines And Whats On Your Bench ??? Loops
Andy M


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Re: What's On Your Bench
Post 27 Jan 2020, 11:10 • #1750 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/27/07
Posts: 645
Location: Missouri
The new rods sure look great, Andy. So good to see your still building a few, thanks for sharing your insight with us.

Tim


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