Archive for July 2011

Tackle Trade World (TTW) is one of the two largest and most widely circulated fishing tackle industry trade magazines. It’s certainly a very important publication and is highly respected among companies and individuals who make their living in and around the sport fishing fishing business. This morning I learned that TTW plans to do a…

Morris Schlesinger loves to turn wood. In fact, the only thing he loves more is teaching others how to turn wood. Therefore it’s no accident that he’s one of the most acclaimed teachers of the wood turning craft anywhere to be found.   Morris was featured at the 2009 and 2010 International Custom Rod Building…

How many rod builders start a rod building project and then never finish it? I seem to do that more and more these days.  It’s been almost 15 years since I last built a rod for sale and since that time I’ve not really had much reason to build more rods for myself – I…

In August of 2007, in the Volume 11 #4 issue of RodMaker Magazine, subscribers got a surprise along with a free gift – a high quality window decal featuring the brand new International Symbol for Custom Rod Building.   Non-subscribers weren’t left out, however, as I quickly put up a website with information on how…

Let me tell you a little about a rod builder named Joy Dunlap. Joy may be the oldest living, active rod builder. He’s 89 now and has some trouble with arthritis and other ailments, but he’s still “at the bench” as often as he’s able. He began building way back in the early 1940’s and…

I’ve heard it said that life is 50% facts and 50% personal perception. I won’t argue with that.   A day or so ago a post popped up on my companion forum, www.rodbuilding.org. A user claimed to be having trouble getting in touch with a specific component supply dealer.  Nothing sinister about the post whatsoever.…

I’ve been very pleased with the number of rod builder survey forms that have been received back over the past couple of weeks. We’re nearing the 4,000 mark and will hopefully reach the goal of 5,000 before the end of July.   The aim of the survey is to provide the industry with certain facts…

Abraham Lincoln has been credited as saying, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”   Without expecting the same notoriety, I’ll add my own take on the theme with, “You might…

I wish things had been this easy when I announced the first National Rod Builders Show back in 1994. Then, such an event was a hard sell – few believed it could be done. Now, less than 72 hours after announcing the 2012 International Custom Rod Building Exposition, my phone has done nothing but ring.…