Dear Rod Builders,

We are pleased to announce that Rodbuilding.org is now a part of Composite Ventures, the parent company of North Fork Composites / Edge Rods.

If you are not familiar with NFC, we are a USA Factory specializing in performance fishing rod blanks and carbon fiber grips, founded by Gary Loomis a long time rod builder and industry pioneer.

We love rod building - and we love the rod building community. We wanted to make sure that the work that went into rodbuilding.org by builders that are still active on the forum, and those that are no longer with us, persists into the future.

As a rod builder, this forum was my first resource, and the knowledge contained within the forum is invaluable to me - I believe that this is the same for every reader/commentor/researcher/contributor on this forum. The industry owes Tom Kirkman a great deal of gratitude for starting, growing, developing this community - and we are humbled and excited to take this torch forward.

The forum will not change, we are looking at making picture posting a little easier, and the forum easier accessible from a mobile phone/tablet (though a phone app) and will have the topics that are posted on the forum, cross-posted to the app, and vice versa. We are not going to use ads on the forum, there is already an awesome list of sponsors which will continue to grow.

Tom Kirkman will remain a moderator on the forum, and we are adding a few more to help get new users registered.

This forum is a wonderful resource, and our goal is to continue to support and grow this community - the rod builders here make it unique and special - Thank you for being a part of it.


Aleks Maslov | CEO / Co-Owner | Composite Ventures LLC | dba: North Fork Composites / Edge Rods |

Congratulations and wishing you and NFC all the best and a bright and successful future!

Glad to hear Tom will be sticking around!

Congrats to Aleks and Composite Ventures and as Kent said I'm thrilled Tom will stay around as a moderator . He's irreplaceable .

Free blanks for everyone!

Thanks for getting me started Tom. I remember the day my Wife wanted to go the Barnes and Noble and I didn't. I found your Rod Building book and was shocked when I discovered you were in Highpoint. I looked you up and called only to be surprised that you quickly invited me over to your shop to help get me started on this path of Rod building. I attended the show this weekend and saw you pass by as I was leaving. You have planted a seed for so many builders like myself that you don't know about.
Thank you!

This is great news. I am very happy to see that Tom is going to stay on as moderator. or as one of the moderators, as I have a strong feeling that he has a lot to do with the civility this site maintains.

There is a family atmosphere to this site, and as with any family, there are some vigorous discussions, and some large differences in opinions on certain topics, but in the end we're all here for the same reason. We love rod building,

A definite thank you to Aleks and Composite Ventures for becoming the keeper of the flame. I have a good feeling about the future of the forum. I didn't have that same feeling prior to reading this announcement.

Bravo !!!

I wish everybody luck. It will be an interesting transition. Tom was in a unique position because none of his ventures competed with his sponsors or advertisers. So everybody on board got a fair shake. No company or product was held above another. Having a mfg or supplier run this forum may be a challenge if you are going to keep all the other sponsors on board and they are a big part of why this forum was popular. But I am old now and technology is leaving me behind. If NFC takes this place to whatever the next level of social interaction for rod builders is going to be then I am happy for it. Best of luck to those involved. Hopefully the forum archives will remain as that is a wealth of information to keep available.

Tom - thanks for your long standing work here and the continued go-forward

Aleks - “welcome” & look forward to what NFC will bring here

Looking forward to seeing how it all grows. Love this site and all the info provided by the good folks on it, so having an app would be a major plus.

Welcome Aleks...good luck and continued success.

Will Tom continue publishing Rod Maker magazine?

Mike Lawson Wrote:
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> Will Tom continue publishing Rod Maker magazine?

Yes and it will become an even better publication now as I'll have more time to spend on it.

...............

I am sure that NFC will do well here. Interesting, this website no frills list of sponsors has it being my first stop when I look for rod building stuff. I rarely even use my bookmarks, just head here and look at the sponsor list if i am trying to find something. I use it more than google too.

Great site. Is it possible to make new posts on existing threads move to the top of the forum list?

Mike,

That’s a great question - the sponsors pay a fee to advertise on the forum. They are displayed on the left hand side and can make an unlimited number of posts to the community. (Typically it is advertising a sale, a promotion, new products, etc) But often times it is also to provide support on their own products and questions. We were a sponsor prior to the purchase because we see a value in the community, in the support, and in the civility on this forum. We are not planning on changing the forum - we do want to modernize the look, make it easily accessible on a mobile phone, and make picture / content posting simple. Those are all benefits to the current sponsors. I can tell you that just in the last two days, I’ve received a number of requests for new sponsors (custom rod builders) which we will add in the next few days.

Best Regards,
Aleks



Mike Ballard Wrote:
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> I wish everybody luck. It will be an interesting
> transition. Tom was in a unique position because
> none of his ventures competed with his sponsors or
> advertisers. So everybody on board got a fair
> shake. No company or product was held above
> another. Having a mfg or supplier run this forum
> may be a challenge if you are going to keep all
> the other sponsors on board and they are a big
> part of why this forum was popular. But I am old
> now and technology is leaving me behind. If NFC
> takes this place to whatever the next level of
> social interaction for rod builders is going to be
> then I am happy for it. Best of luck to those
> involved. Hopefully the forum archives will remain
> as that is a wealth of information to keep
> available.

Thank you everyone for the kind words! We are thrilled to continue to work hard to have the forum as the leading authority on anything rodbuilding. As mentioned by many, and echoed by me - Tom had done an amazing job, and we are going to build on his efforts. To borrow one of Gary’s favorite sayings - “if I have seen further it’s by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This forum is an amazing resource, and we intend to keep it that way.

Sounds like a Win Win for all !!!!

Love the NFC group of people and the products they make! They keep pushing the ball forward with innovation. I have always felt like Gary Loomis was a man of integrity, and possessed a true love of conservation. Looking forward to the improvements - I have no complaints now.

Thanks Jay!

Jay Dubay Wrote:
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> Sounds like a Win Win for all !!!!

Thank you Leslie!


Leslie Cline Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love the NFC group of people and the products they
> make! They keep pushing the ball forward with
> innovation. I have always felt like Gary Loomis
> was a man of integrity, and possessed a true love
> of conservation. Looking forward to the
> improvements - I have no complaints now.