The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I too have enjoyed reading this thread over the past few days. Even if it's to just confirm ones own sainty. Sometimes I think to myself 'Maybe actually it's me'....then I come on here and and have scim read and....phew nope there are a lot worse than me out there. Spend your money what the chuff you want, my own budgets are not too strict when it comes to tackle but I am strict on designs and feels of rods....as one poor rod maker knows too well. Hahah. Whether you order a Davis, Cook, Brough, Bryns or Barder just one thing......use the bl@@dy thing. Ttfn

Absolutely Brock!.. how would you feel if you spent all year making a rocking horse for your first grandchild and at Christmas they didn't want to ride it? Worse they hid it up and from then on prayed you would die young so it would increase in value! What a way to live your life...

This from a friend of mine and fellow rod-maker Jimmy Chang while discussing the matter of rods on a US rodmaking forum which I thought would put things in perspective:

This is all a personal choice, during the boom of rod production up to the second World War, the factory rods were made on machines that cut and tapered the strip, bad strips were simply thrown out. The hand planing and node straightening in a vise and our use of planing forms is the domain of the hobbyist. The problem with this system is it is slow, it is physically demanding on the builder and really only suits builders with very low production. It makes for a nice hand made product and suits the basement builder well. Morgan Hand mills are also for the hobbyist as they are fussy and slow too but the quad, penta option appeals to many and they typically need a good powered rougher too as the MHM needs well prepared strips or the final result will not be great.

There are very few builders who sell more than twenty rods a year and for those that do they need a methodology that is faster and more repeatable so tapering machines, bamboo saws and the like make sense for them.

I agree that castabilty differences are negligible but a keen eye will see the differences but who can say which is better?

You are limited only by your budget these days as many options are now available including CNC machines. It does not matter how you make the rod as long as you the maker are pleased with the result. There will be nay sayers to every methodology so you need thick skin and head down the path that you like. In the immortal words of Ricky Nelson "you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself "

Barder used to say 60 hours a rod, now it seems to be 80.

We all slow up when we get older

ATB Macko

Beresford wrote:Barder used to say 60 hours a rod, now it seems to be 80.

£25-£35/hour to include overhead and administration is nothing money and frankly for the pleasure he has given he deserves more than £2000 for a rod. Limited edition, by reputation the best in his craft, payable in 2 years or whatever. Gentlemen I would say that is worth consideration.

Beresford wrote:Barder used to say 60 hours a rod, now it seems to be 80.

Yes he has increased his hours simply because he has increased the quality of the rods.
I have several early Barders which are lovely but when I acquired a nearly new MKIV this year I was staggered by how much of an increase in quality from an already high base there was and hence it takes another 20 hours to make and costs more.

Based on what you have seen then Snape would you say he is ahead of the pack and if so by a country mile or a mere margin?
We value your opinion.

From what I have seen I would say that although other rod makers are excellent, Edward is in a league of his own because only he can afford to make rods of this quality because people will pay large amounts of money for his rods. It's almost a chicken and egg situation.
I am sure other rod makers could produce rods of equal quality but not for the prices they charge but if they put their prices up to match EB's they wouldn't sell enough.
Edward deliberately sets out to produce the finest quality rod with no expense spared.

Was there a post earlier from MHC with a http link to a US builder which one could view or was it somewhere else ? I can't now see it on this iPhone and I even have my glasses on too !