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| logo by Silver Doctor |
Featured Topic History of Fiberglass at Winston | |
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softstick |
Who rolls glass today? |
Lead | |
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Anybody have an estimate on how many true glass rollers there are in the U.S.? Who is rolling glass and who do the big companies have rolling glass for them. I
looked thru the archives and don't think I saw a topic on this.
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bulldog1935 |
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When I ordered an Izch from Japan, it was rolled from scratch.
Mark Stefen rolls all his own blanks.
the rods are never obsolete - the marketing is.
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flyfishing4goldentrout |
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Steffen rolls his own glass, Lami rolls there own tradmark glass and tapers for McFraland, aside from those two, there are not any I can think of today.
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softstick |
re: Glass rollers | ||
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Well, I see from Tom Morgan's website that Kerry Burkheimer is making his blanks. What about Scott?
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flyfishing4goldentrout |
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ok your including some high end stuff, I dont normally buy blanks in those price ranges, but yes, there are a couple more ultra high end custom makers rolling
their own, Tom Morgans are one very good example, so are Scott's and I think Thomas and Thomas and Winston still offer custom glass blanks in the three and
four figure range
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softstick |
re: Glass rollers | ||
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To me the price range doesn't really matter. My original question was who is rolling glass. I think if I remember correctly that Hal Bacon purchased all
the Fisher mandrels and has someone rolling blanks down in Florida?
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Cameron |
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Richard...Mike McFarland has mentioned several times here that Lamiglass does not roll his glass blanks...but does not elaborate on who does. One of those
little mysteries...
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gearboy |
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softstick wrote:Terry rolls his own blanks and also uses a small amount of graphite. |
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jgestar |
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As far as I know there are a very limited number of people rolling GLASS blanks in the US. The production techniques are much the same for graphite and glass,
but the mandrels and material patterns have different dimensions, so the shop needs additional equipment to do glass. I can't think of a company making
glass that doesn't also make graphite.
Definitely making rod blanks in the US: Mark Steffen - rolls all his own fly rod blanks from S-glass on his own mandrels with his own designs. Lamiglas - rolls everything in house from E-glass or glass/graphite composite. They make blanks for many of the private builders around the country too and they are proud of it. Scott - their S-glass blanks are made at their facility. They also make some glass/graphite big water rods. Kerry Burkheimer - works with E-glass. Kerry is best known for his graphite spey rods, but he learned rod building from Russ Peak and knows glass too. As noted above, he is making the blanks for Tom Morgan's line of fiberglass. Possibly making blanks in the US: TL Johnson - E-glass and glass/graphite composites. I'm not sure if Terry makes the blanks in the US or at his overseas facility. He builds up the TL Johnson rods in the US. Thomas & Thomas - T&T fits here because I don't think they are currently making glass at their shop. They did recently produce the Heirloom blanks. Harnell - they are still in the process of getting setup and may go into production in the next year or two. The company is now owned by a Harnell descendent. Great Bay Rod Company - Dave Gibson tells me his rod blanks are made in the US, but not by Lamiglas. He indicated he is under a non-disclosure contract with the maker. Mike McFarland - Mike also will not divulge who makes his rod blanks. Anything else in glass is most likely made overseas. There are glass production facilities in Korea, China, and New Zealand. As far as I know, none of the big US based companies are building glass in early 2009. That includes Sage, Winston, St. Croix, etc. If a company like Sage brought back their S-glass line from the early 80s, it would change our quiet little niche of the fly fishing world. Tom |
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softstick |
re: Glass rollers | ||
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Thanks for the info Tom. You're a wealth of knowledge
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davelrods |
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jgestar wrote:Well, let me just pass this along. I personally, as a Sage dealer for more than 20 years, think it wouldn't take too many nudges to get just what you want. They are the industry's leader and glass is getting a lot of attention now, so it is doubtful Sage is going to ignore that forever. Honestly, how far a stretch is it for a company that already has the tooling to simply "go back in business again with glass." They are bringing back most of the XP line to be sold as a special run through two dealers this year. They have a small series of bass rods. Gosh, glass is just an obvious thing to do. Ring their bells a bit. Nothing would suit me more than a Sage glass line, obviously, since I am a Sage dealer. Doesn't help much for a little guy like me to make such requests, but if all the readers of this forum would drop them an email from time to time you can be sure they would listen. |
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mdwwhw |
If Sage starts making glass | ||
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Somebody's going to have to perform an intervention on me.
"Everything's better when wet...."
Steve Miller Band |
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OhioOutdoorsman |
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Seeker and Calstar roll glass in the US.....not fly rods, though.
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wb4tjh |
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I just wish I could get hold of some of those Lamiglass S glass blanks like I used to love to build up and fish. I think they were some of the best casting
flyrods I ever got my hands on. They had a lightness and quickness in the hand that was delightful and they made a beautful to look at, translucent flyrod too.
I wish I had stockpiled a bunch years ago...oh well, hindsight is allways 20/20.
Bill Anderson, Sarsota, Fl. "Bamboo is the Benchmark in flyrods". |
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David Anderson.clarksclassicfl... |
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I would love to see Sage make some glass rods -
If the could apply the same sort of rod design as the ZXL's to glass, we would no doubt get some sweet rods.. Think I better send them an email - winkwink.. |
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