Twenty five years ago I packed up my Volvo 240 and headed to Maine to learn a mysterious craft that involved more steps than making a violin a somewhat intimidating pursuit. It then took me three years to build various jigs put some rods behind me and find my hands. Then I was off to the races and learning new things along the way, this is what made it so special. Materials were hard to find, good materials like the perfect nickel alloy, the most flawless cork, or the best cane for the job. It has become exponentially more difficult to source these materials at a reasonable price. This is why my rods are so seemingly expensive. The materials alone for a single rod can exceed 400.00 US dollars that's some serious investment into a rod that only has a 50% down payment on it. On the average it takes me between 60 and 120 hours to make a single rod. Do the math and you will quickly figure out why my rods are between 2,400.00 and 4,000.00 as of 2025. These are rods to fish but they are also rods to last a lifetime and be handed down to your next of kin. In todays society object such as these are not a consideration for many but when understanding how many things in a six month period are purchased that are completely disposable rod prices become a drop in the bucket. What we fail to see is that there is massive amounts of time spent perfecting a craft till it becomes instinctive. Whatever we perfect is worth something, these hand made objects whatever they are have become a fading distant whisper. But for the few who wish to push on its a very difficult path indeed.
“Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.”
– Johannes Brahms
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