Hey guys heres a nice thing for everyone to get involved in on the site. Andy Dear of Lamar products has agreed to do a "real time" online Q&A session with all the members here.

The Session will last about and hour and it is going to be on October 10th at 8Pm central time (6pm west coast and 9pm east coast time)

How this will work is I will open a post on that day at that time welcomeing Andy and then Andy will spend about an hour watching that post and he will field any questions from RBF members asnd awnser them as they are asked. Andy is a very knowledgable guy on the subject of rod building as well as the one that came up with Threadmaster rod finish, a distrubitor of CTS blanks, and a very well known wood turning/insert maker in years past. So he will be fielding any questions about those topics as well as question about rod building in general from newbies so dont be afraid to ask him anything on your mind.

We did this about 2 years ago for those of you that were here back then with Alan of REC and hope this one with Andy is equally informative/enjoyable. We appreciate Andy taking the time to do this and hope that all you guys mark your calanders and make this a nice turn out.

Sounds like a great idea. I have talked to Andy on the phone a couple of times and he has been very helpful. I like the idea of doing it in a forum and not as a chat so that those who cannot make it live can read it later. Sounds cool.

*bump*


dont forget

The discussion is on for tomorrow night! Cool!!

Introducing Andy Dear of larmar custom reel seats and one of today’s truly great suppliers of burl cork and CTS blanks along with other items for turning reel seat inserts

This will be a good place to ask questions about handles weather your just getting started or even if you have turned you own for years.
Of course any other questions about the products that Andy sells will be welcome also

I see that Steve had already opened and Pinned this thread so I guess this is where we should start the Q&A.
Steve might not be online tonight, he has family maters to deal with, so if I would like to wish him and his family God Speed.
And with that we will open the session.

OSD.

Andy, quick question...

Builders often hear that the better grades of cork are becoming tougher to find. As a distributor of cork, have you had a problem getting the better grades? Or maybe more importantly... are the better grades getting harder to get?

Thanks,

Kelvin

Andy what type of Lathe setup do you like (MINI, MiDI, Or full size)?
and what brands work good for grips and seats?

Yeah....Steve is a great guy and I'll be thinking of him...

Ok, well I'll be here for an hour or so, if anybody has any questions regarding any of the products we distribute i.e ThreadMAster, CTS or we can just chat about anything and solve the worlds problems as they relate to rodbuilding.


Andy

Ok, as for the cork, yes it is getting more difficult for a number of reasons. But good cork is still out there. Part of the reaon you guys have a hard time findin it is because a lot of distributors don't want to pay the high prices to bring it into the country. Secondly, when you buy cork from portugal, you can't just buy 1000 rings of top shelf grade. They mix it in some sort of ratio, like 70% top, 30% junk...of course that's what they tell you, but it's usually more like 50% top and 50% junk!!!
However good cork is still out there. There is also a big misnomer that cork 30 years ago was much better than it was now...not really true...there was lot's of junk around back then as well, it just didn't cost an arm and a leg.

As for Lathes, I own 2 JET Minis...and they're great. However Delta, Rikon, Penn State, they're all good quality and usually come out of the same factories. You see there are only a few lathe manf. in China, and anyone ...if they are willing to buy 500 or so lathes can get their own model lathe. The interesting thing is thta in addition to specifying length of bed, MT size etc...you can also specify the amt. of QC you want in it. That's why some lathes like Harbor Freight and Grizzly ae cheaper than JET....less QC.

I just finished turning a grip out of your composite burls and I must say, it looks amazing. I have noticed a few very small "pits" in different areas of the cork though. I am by no means disapointed, but was wondering if there is a way to avoid this for the next grip I turn (since I plan on using your burls again). I epoxied directly to the blank and shaped with 80 grip, stepped to 120, then 150, then 220, then 320 and finished with 400. This was done on a jimmy-rigged drill/lathe setup (not the best but allI have to work with)

Also, I'll think you'll see in the next few years the chines starting to export chinese grown cork....it's nice and pretty white color, but really soft and pretty junky to turn. In fact a freind of mine tried to tur a sample of the chinese cork and it was so soft he smoked it and it caught on fire...

I have bought fancy burl cork from you and made some sweet looking grips but I found that it was kinda hard to turn.
Do you have any tips for next time?

ya...it DID take a few charges of my drill battery before even the 80 grit got it shaped

Like really small almost pin-hole "pits"? No...that's just an artifact of the manufacturing. We order that stuff in the highest density possible, but being made of a natural material theyre will always be anomolies. You can use some wood putty (mix shades to get a color match) to fill them, and you'll never see it.
I usually leave mine as is....I like the "rustic look"
By the way, we have some really exciting new patterns in the works. These new materials will be different thna the Exotic stuff. The Exotic stuff is very hard and durable because it is heat treated to get the "colors"

These new materials will not be heat treated and will feel and handle more like natural cork....the patterns are amazing. I am hoping to have samples in 6 weeks or so.

Andy, thanks for the reply.

Here is a CTS question for you: have you tried any of the CTS 'Vintage' blanks? There seems to be a bit of a resurgence of slower action rods (fiberglass, cane, superfines, etc) and I was wondering what you think about them and how the might compare to other blanks on the market.

Thanks,

Kelvin

Looks like we are having a few problems with the site
it has just slowed down to a craw
we might need to postpone the Q&A untill it gets fixed

OSD.

I enjoy the pinholes. The only spot that bothered me is about 1 mm by 2.5 mm and about .5-1mm deep. It almost looks like a piece wasnt properly glued into the burl and it was pulled out by the sandpaper. It was in the burnt burl and was small enough that I didnt care to fill it with any of the pile of cork dust I finished with. I am guessing this was just "one of those spots" but want to make sure it had nothing to do with my turning method

Yeah,
Go down to Home Depot or Lowes and get a Stanley SureForm File. It's not really a file, but more like...well I don't really know how to describe it....looks like a cheese grater actually.

That will REALLY take the exotic mateial off in, well....like acheese grater. It reduces the diameter very quickly so you can get the grip down to a manageable dia. and get on with shaping. I usually start with 60 and end wt 320.

Yes I have some Vintage blanks in stock. They're very nice, but not a quick action like what were all used to seeing. Beautiful light line blank for a relaxed casting stroke. We don't sell a lot of them because everyone likes faster and fatser and FASTER....which is usually not always better in my opinion. My favorite at the moment is the MAxim Series. It's just a great alla round blank and very moderately priced because it does not hae the 57msi material in it like the Affinity's do.

By the way that grip is un-stinkin-believable...I love to see you guys doing stuff like that with my cork...really very gratifying.

It seems better now..I was thinking it was because I lived way out in the middle of the sticks and my wireless was on the fritz

Ha...that's a good one. We also have a series called the Quantum which i a moderate action blank. Then there is the Quartz Series which is a glass series of blanks that is a moderate action as well.

Andy

I am truly Sorry for the Slow web site problem we are having

Slow actions fly rods I like, slow internet I hate.
I think Steve will need to plain another Q&A when were not having problems




BOb

Now if you could make a 7 wt bamboo that you can light a cigar on the back cast we MAY be talkin....Fly fishing is one of my life's ways of making me slow down and enjoy everything...I dont need an ultra fast rod to fight with and ruin that for me. Back to questions for andy...Have you used anything to thin down threadmaster (acetone, denatured alcohol, etc) and is there a recommended limit to dilute it? I havent used the stuff yet but I know rovercat is a fan (I got my ear talked off when i was there late this summer!)

OK, here is a 'deeper' question for you Andy if you have the time...

Some folks might say the quickest way to take the fun out of a hobby (in this case fishing) is to try to turn it into a business. Quite a few folks on these sites earn cash guiding, building, tying, etc. Any tips you can offer them in terms of keeping the sport enjoyable?

Hope the question makes sense!

Kelvin

Yeah....the site was really ssslllooowwwwww last night. I'll be happy to do this again anytime. As for Kelvin's question, boy, that is one I struggle with a lot. It's a difficult balance for sure. I always tell folks that I didn't have much of a choice that this business chose me I didn't choose it. I was just very lucky in that great opportunities kept presenting themselves so quickly I would have been really stupid not to take advantage of them.
However, there is always a dark side! I don't get to fish nearly as much as I used to...a few times a year at most, so I have to REALLY take advantage of the fishing days I get, and pray for good weather! And as many of you know I am sure, being self employed is no cake walk....especiall in this industry...it is very cut-throat, and customer loyalty seems to be on the downhill slide, because of the price driven mentality.
There are days when I can't wait to get up in the morning and get started, and then there are days I wish I was flippin' burgers at McDonald's rather than selling Rod supplies! I think the key is never to forget why you get into the business side of it, it's because you enjoy fishing.
Not too long ago, I was in a local department store, and for as usual I was really stressed out over some deadline I was trying to meet, or some new product that wasn't working. Anyway, I was walking through the fishing aisle and there was a man there with his 2 kids, a little girl and a little boy, and the boy had a fairly serious birth defect of some sort with some physical disfigurement. The were looking at fishing rods...snoopy rods as a matter of fact! And the dad was talking to the little boy about fishing and how it wasn't just about catching fish, but also the joy of being out doors and spending time with family and friends etc....It just reminded me that man....this is fishing, not triple bypass surgery...do't take it so seriously.
The other big problem is that if you get into this fulltime, you have to make sure you allow for things like Health Insurance, retirement etc....because all those things can add to the stress level that comes along with being self employed. I'll be the first to tell you that it's near impossible to get measurably rich in this business. Even some of the BIG companies that appear to be moving massive amounts of gear are usually working on small margins that make it difficult to survive. Having said that, I don't regret getting into this, my wife says I am a much nicer person now that I don't work for big business anymore.
I think the important thing is that the minute that you realize it's not fun anymore, it's time to take a break. Extend your lead times, raise your prices, or take some time to reflect on why you're doing this, and if the costs outweigh the benefits, then it's time to re-evaluate whether you want to continue or not.
I can tell you that if I ever get to the point where I don't want to go fishing, I'll go back to full time employment at a big company in a second. I'll ALWAYS keep Lamar even if it was in a part time capacity because I believe we have some unique products that have helped you guys out a lot. Exotic Cork ThreadMAster, CTS...it would be stupid of me to give those things up. And besides I really enjoy the interaction with the builders, so man of you guys have become good friends. But being able to pole through the marsh and watch RedFish tail on the flats, to me is just the greatest thing, and I still get excited by that. But if it gets to the point that I start to lose the passion for that.....BREAK TIME!!!

I guess I could have just written "Don't lose your perspective" instead of 6 paragraphs of stuff....that would have answered it.


Andy

Sorry I wasnt here for it but thanks for getting it set up for me Bob. Also sorry to hear the site was experiancing tech prob's...just bad timeing I guess.


Andy I'll get in touch with you very soon and we'll set up another date and see if we cant get this next session to roll along more smoothly without the site probs.

Steve

Interesting thread. I too was busy last night (Ricky Skaggs concert, man it was sweet). Hopefully this can be resceduled.

Seems we had some site problems (SLOW) for this interview. So I just got off the ohone with Andy and being the nice guy he is he has agreed to try this again for all of us. New time will be Tuesday October 24th at 8central/9pm EST. Try to make it if you can, Andy is a guy that has easy to talk to and very helpful with questions.

RBF staff

Reminder- Tomorrow (Tues) 8central/9pm EST

Tonight


*bump*

This thread right here so we can keep ot all in one place



I'll actually go ahead and open it up for some questions right now. Andy probably wont be on for another hour or so but this way we can have some questions lined up for him for when he gets on in a bit. He'll be here for about anf hour 9-10EST so feel free to go head and start asking anything that you may be interested in asking and we'll get this rolling along for Andy.


Have fun guys.

Steve

I am actually here a little early.....so if anyone decides to show up, fire away. Hopefully the site will cooperate this time!!


Andy

Andy

What do you think will be the next level of graphite blanks to be costructed. That is, what will be the next major improvement that you see in the construction of rod blanks??

Randy

Hey Andy
How are you tonight?

I am thinking I may want some of your burnt cork (the dark stuff)
do you have it in the 1/4" wide ring?

Good question, everyone seems to want to make blanks lighter and lighter, which MOST of the time sacrifices durability. I think the next major advancement will be an increase in toughness in the laminates we are currently using. Many blanks now have such thin walls that they'll take the bend but they wont take subtle impacts.

So I would say an increase in toughness...manf. have taken the current materials about as far as they can design wise to achieve light weight.

Yes, we have the 1/4" in stock, and next month we'll have the burnt in 1/8" thickness as well. SHould be really cool for thin trim rings.

1/8 great that's even better

Is there any rod builder shows in the near future?

In addition I have about 8 new patterns of Burl thta should be here next month. I don't want to say too much, because I have only seen pics of tha material, but it looks very exciting....nothing like what you currently see on the market...much more "wood" looking.

The big show inHigh Point in Feb.....we'll have some cool stuff there. Lots of ne CTS blanks, couple thousand AllStars, new cork stuff etc...

DOes anybody on this board ever organize any local get togethers? I used to do this here in Texas at the AllStar composites factory in Houston, and it was great fun.

Did youget the CTS I sent you yet? I sent 2 of them to Steve last week, and he's evidenty been very pleased.

Andy

Steve and I will be setting up at the fly fishing show in Detroit in December with FTF, RBF & TFF but it's not exclusively a rod building show

Mine hasn't made it yet

That should be a god one. Will y'all be displaying rods for sale? I know some guys that sold custom rods in Charlotte, and he's still getting rpeeat business from it.

Steve will have rods for sale, but I can't keep up with the orders I get now.
You see I have a regular job

Andy

Two part question....

With a number of rod blanks being manufactured outside of the US., do you see the market leaning towards the outside manufacturers, or do you see the US companies balancing that with price reductions to compensate???

Also, I've noticed that some outside manufacturers have improved in their construction,(example Forcast). Do you think that their construction capabilities will "catch up" to the US made blank??? And will it affect price???

Hope you don't mind us picking your brain about this. Just curious to see where the rod market is going.

Randy

Ha...I don't mind at all. Yes, the asian market will eventually catch up in terms of quality and technology....actually, they're almost there. The problem is that the import market is VERY VERY price sensitive, so there is just no possible way you'll see fly blanks being made from 57msi material and bieng sold for less than $100.00. It just can't happen because of the cost of the material.
You guys would be appalled at some of the deceptive marketing that goes on in this business. A company can take a blank made from industry standard 33msi and wrap a 1" strand of 57msi in the butt and call it high modulus...when it obviously isn't!
Ask yourself this about these companies that advertise Boron in their rods. Ok, Boron is something like 10x (that's a guestimate...it is exponentially more expensive) the price of carbon, and yet they are selling blanks supposedly with Boron in them for about the same price as an all carbon blank...how much boron can be in that blank if Boron is 10x the cost? Not much if any is the answer.
So with the asian made blanks you have to be very suspect if someone tells you they have a high modulus blank for under $75.00 or so. If they do, the have had to cut corners somewhere, and it's usually in the Quality Control. SOme companies like Beaulah have a very good import blank
By the way, here is the funny thing about modulus. You can advertise any material as high moduls...it just depends on what you're comparing it to. Fiberglass is high modulus if in fact you're comparing it to wood...

So whats the craze over extra fast rods all about?
is this somthng that we really need?
my timing just isn't what it once was, so I have been trending toward slower blanks

OSD.