Curious to know what others thought was the most innovative new product introduced at the Expo this past weekend. My vote goes to the new Rodgeeks blanks. Maybe I'm a sucker for the color stuff but I thought these really stood out from the crowd!

I have to agree. The colors are fantastic and the blanks are first rate. I bought several and cannot wait to build on them. The folks there are really great people and i look forward to seeing them again.

As much as people hate to admit it, looks sell more than function. I walked over to the Rodgeeks booth and saw the prices, and just assumed it was jst a quality paintjob on a low quality blank. Sitting at my booth all I saw on saturday were NEon Green blanks walk by. THen all The NERBs started showing up with white pearl, orange, green blanks. Sunday I finally got a chance to walk over and speak with Bob. FIrst thing I say, hey Bob can I break one of your blanks? He looks at me perlpexed, "uhm No". lol. Well I finally got Jason to convince him to let me and 10 NERBs to try to blow one of them up in the loading dock.

Well, we had the blank doubled over, I high stuck the blank with a lot of pressure on it - and was thoroughly impressed with the blank. I have a quick video of how far we had it bent over, pretty impressive!!! We're all looking forward to building these and fishing them. Time will tell how good they fish, but if what we did in teh loadin gdock is any indication...they are going to be a VERY popular blank for people to build and fish.

HEre's a pic of us bending the blank, we ended up pulling the tip all the way to the floor while lifting up higher trying to make the blank explode. We didn't have any luck. [www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2014 06:43PM by Billy Vivona.

Can't argue with any of the above, but me it was the new decal making machine. I told the guy if he could go on the web, pick up an image, work out the logo and wording and have a decal made before I got back around the floor I'd buy one. He said don't walk off, he could do it in under three minutes. He was wrong. It took two.

Billy,

Did you try to scuff, scratch of dent the paint at all? If so, any luck?

Not sure that break strength or durability really defines blank quality or performance (Shakespeare Ugly Stick is pretty tough to break, too) but if you read the company's information as to the origin of these blanks, you'll know why it's among the better quality products out there.

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While it won't be for everyone, the new Renzetti "stay in place" lathe, which allows you to remain stationary while the lathe moves left and right, was one of the more innovative things I saw. Andy says he's not quite ready to market it for sale, but the prototype he brought appears to be the ticket if you have the room to use it.

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For me it was the next generation of Batson's new reel seat they released last year.

The new ones won't be out till July, but they will improve vibration transmission from blank to hand. Tried my best to talk Bill Batson out of the prototype, but he held steadfast.



My vote for best of reception is the spring rolls!

The Spring Rolls are the only reason I continue to do this.

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St Croix had a lot to do with these according to Jason. I let my Wife pick one and to my surprise she picked the Burnt Orange! Had to get some advice from Billy on color selections too!

any photos of that prototype "stay in place" lathe

Yes, but I'll need a few days to sort through and find it.

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Being a new rod builder, everything was great to me. But I have to agree my favorite product was the Rodgeeks. Liked them so much I bought one in lavender to build for my wife.

My favorite rod building tool was something I saw some demonstrating at another booth. Not sure if it is a prototype that he was trying to sale or the finished product. Since I was not close enough to talk with him, I do not know who might or will be selling it.

But, it was a small yellow colored plastic tool with a semi-rounded trench in the bottom where your blank will fit in and slide through, with a spring held china marker mounted, point side down, across the top of the trench and rod. Using this you could easily mark the entire spine of your rod for exact guide alignment. If anyone knows who makes or will be selling this, please let me know.

My favorite booth, Mudhole. Spent way too much money there, but at the sale prices, couldn’t pass on them.

Lastly, I think my most educational experience came from the American Tackle Microwave Guide challenges. I was amazed at the differences between the microwave and regular guides. My next rod will have microwaves installed on it.

Thanks Tom for a great and educational show.

Over the years I've had a number of wrappers. Never truly satisfied with any of them I built my own sliding wrapper using a custom large-bore headstock (big enough to allow rod grips to pass through). The Renzetti sliding wrapper prototype is a logical evolution to their latest model. If it is introduced to the market some day, it should be the best of show that year (equipment wise) I didn't take a picture of it, but basically imagine affixing a larger base to the underside of the thread carriage and bolting that to your bench. Then mount two rollers to the underside of each end of your wrapper. Now when you turn the knob the thread carriage stays put and the wrapper moves left and right. If you have the bench room, this is a more convenient method than moving yourself and all your tools up and down the rod.

To me, the lighthouse rod really had the wow factor to stand heads and shoulders above the rest. It was my best of show. The creativity and attention to detail was first rate, the last time I saw something that had that kind of effect on me I was looking at a picture of Jim Upton's woven dragons.

A close second for me was some of Bill Ballou's (sorry if I misspelled Bill's name) airbrushed wooden grips. Bill's work was very inspirational for me and led me to attempt to airbrush a brown-trout pattern foam core grip (which was about 90% done for the show). I got a lot of compliments on the progress I made on the grip so far, but without someone like Bill pushing the envelop I never would have considered trying something like that.

These guys are the true artists among us, they stand above the rest of us "competent forgers"



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2014 12:40PM by John E Powell.

I didn't see Andy's new wrapper, but for me the new product that I was most impressed with was the vertical and horizontal cork from Cork 4 U. It will be absolutely stunning on a handle. The development for both finished in February I believe. The horizontal can be used as rings now, in my opinion, but I am waiting for the vertical to be available in blocks. It will, in my opinion, be too busy in rings. Now Don is thinking the vertical in rings will be just the right amount of obnoxious for him :)

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

Ken or Tom,

Do you have any details on the decal making machine? Manufacturer, vendor, etc? I'm always looking for a way to improve a process.

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2014 01:07PM by Chad Huderle.

LRT Group. Larry Tobin was the gentleman's name. He will probably join us as a sponsor in the very near future. In the meantime you can google the company and get his contact info. I don't have it right in front of me at the moment.

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1. The decal machine-took me 2 minutes to make the decision to drop $200. Phenomenal product;

2. Rod Geeks-Ditto what has been said;

3. DBlue-Great new products in the catalog;

4. Swampland-Lance is a class act and his wife is precious-his booth was organized and spacious, like walking into a retail store. Components were on racks, not in buckets and the blanks were vertical and organized. I didn't need anything and didn't buy anything, but Lance is a hoot to talk with and is a great friend to rodbuilders;

5. Morris Schlesinger showed me how to sharpen my spindle gouges. What a resource for the woodturner;

6. Tom Kirkman-This Expo has become a yearly reunion in addition to being a show. I know how much work he does on this Expo, this forum and the magazine and I know how much grief he has endured from jealous knuckleheads. I am proud to call him a friend.

John, thank you for the kind compliments. This project has been a trial and error. Finally have some of the kinks straightened out.
Your work on the Brown trout is exceptional. Very crisp clean colors and has given me some inspiration to start one soon.
Keep up the good work and post.

Same thoughts on the label machine. I bought the larger of the two. Only wished that I had seen them earlier before they sold out, but mine is on order. We now have the capability of printing out professional looking metallic labels on different colored backgrounds at a very reasonable price.

Lance