Nice job

thanks fellas. I'm still working on my rod pictures, which are notably terrible. I used spar varnish on the threads and the pictures don't really do it justice.

Well done. Great project and worthwhile pics. A simple starter enhancement: brighter but more diffuse light, and a background slightly darker and less reflective than the rod so the camera (presumably auto exposure) perceives the rod, not the background, as the important bright light level to adjust to. Too much light from the bright background is confusing the camera to set the exposure for clarity of that light level, which would be overexposed/washed out if it perceived the darker rod as the "correct" exposure.

Nice