Well, I am an amateur also, but would like to see if I can make this into a full-time job in a few years. I'm 55, and would like to stop all the traveling and worry that comes along with my regular job in 5 or 6 years. So far I have made 12 rods, and sold 10 of them (kept one for myself, and gave one to a good friend). Right now I have two more sold when I can get around to making them. Working just on weekends, and the occassional night when I am at home, I can't do too much. I did put up a little website, though, just to have some credibility. I did it myself with an outfit called Site Skins, and it only costs $7.95 per month.
Interestingly, when I was 18 and had just started fishing, I was taken under the wing of an old guy named Cal Parker, in Roswell, GA. He was retired from the phone company (only one phone company in those days) and he reparied reels and Coleman camping products, and made custom rods. I hung around his place a lot, and when I was about 20 he tried to sell me the place. I have wished many times lately that I had taken him up on that. If so, I would have 35 years in the business by now.
Steve Broadwell

Started when I was 11 years old, took a slight vacation of 52 years, back at it again for the last 4 years.
Jim Wilson

When I moved to Manchester VT in 1966, my first job was working on bamboo blanks in the Orvis factory (under the watchful eye of Wes Jordan). I only worked in the factory for a short time, then moved on to doing their catalog photography, so I stayed close to the shop. I built my first rod in 1967:a 3-pc bamboo salmon rod for my brother. It was an ambitious project for a beginner, but Wes and the other people helped me through it. I built a few, including one of the first fiberglas rods (for my mother), then managed to break free of the addiction. Fortunately, the break wasn't permanent. I started building again last year.

I started rod building when I was 23 years old, back in the Spring of 1983. That is when the first batch of factory-made fishing rods that I had purchased in 1977-78 reached the end of its natural useful life (at the rate that I was using them) before needing some real repairs to be of any further use. Necessity was the mother of my invention, as it was for many others. ... and the rest is history.

Thank God for the modern resources and flow of knowledge available in the last 2 decades and 2 years, which have made it possible to go from being an isolated pioneer to a plugged-in aficionado. Forerunners like Rod-Crafters and Dale Clemens; and the new guardian of the craft, Tom Kirkman; and Interactive Forums like TK's RBO; and the wealth of Components, Suppliers, and instructional materials out there have made it possible to improve your rod-building skills almost as fast as you can log-on, read, watch a video or build another project.

This is a great time to be a builder of custom fishing rods. And the future is as bright as ever, and as wide as the horizon, especially now that having a website can act as a 24/7 salesman to drum up business. -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****

Around 1985, mostly for personal consumption, or to help a friend out.

Jeff Shafer

April of 2001 I got started. Gee I was 41. Never forget that day cause I almost lost my little finger at work the day my first kit came. My finger got smashed in a door which turned out if I would have broke the bone, I would have lost the finger. The next day all bandaged up I started building away, and never stopped. Don't plan to either.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2005 10:14PM by Jim Rippe.

About 4 years ago - got a late start at age 64, but better late than never. Great fun. Just wish I'd started in my 20's.
Stan

I started building last year. I was having a sage xp built for me because I could not find 7 weight with a nice would insert and no fighting but. While I helped the builder select the componets I learned quite a bit about the process. I have completed three rods and I am having a great time. The cataloges are like candy and the websites are cake. This is a great pastime and I'm real pleased that I tried it. I only wish the building process would take a little longer. You can really wrap up some bucks in this game at one rod built in a few hours.

I started building a 2 years ago. I had a chance to fish with a friends custom rod and knew I had to figure it out for myself.
I now have about 30 rods under my belt, and about 6 or 7 of them I'm proud of, the rest are OK but not quite up to my best. I'll keep on trying till I can get all f them rite...I hope.

Since 1957. I was 14 years old.
Rick

Built my first one the summer I turned 15 (1974) and I am still learning new things all the time and come up on things that baffle me still.

I started in the late 1970's when I was in my early twenties. Before I ever built a complete rod, I rebuilt several rods that I already had. Some of those H-I rods barely had any finish on the windings as they came from the factory, so the rods would need a rewrap before long. My first work was very sloppy as I used Q-tips to apply varnish to the wraps. Even so, the results were still better than what came out of the factory!

Aloha Everyone. Started building in '84 at the age of 24. There's some improvement but not a WHOLE lot. Started on Fenwicks and Sabres. Still have some of them in use. Hard to beat the feeling of catching fish on a rod you built yourself with bait you caught yourself.