onward...

Since my last post, things have moved forward a bit. Only measurable in geologic time, but measurable.
Last Saturday, my ceiling was 'finished.'

Beauty eh?

I don't care. I'm leaving and don't have to live with it.

Last week also brought good things...

Fully half of the friends I've made while living in the great State of AZ.
Mr. Twoshoes (Mike Johnson) left and Perry right. I will miss them both dearly.

Goodbye brothers. I loves ya both.

Mike is a brother. Period.
I have taught more than a few good folks to make bamboo in my life and it has always been my pleasure. Mike is one of the very few who took it and ran. Mike makes some of the finest rods one could hope to own...again, period. I wish I had one.

Perry is a kid. LOL. He's like 28 or something but a good heart, easy smile, and makes a damn fine bamboo rod. I was once 28...no really.

I feel like I can leave this State knowing that it's in good hands. If only one of them was the guberner instead of some nazi.

Perry leaves the shop with my set of quad forms. Mike leaves the shop with my very first set of forms.
The wall where they leaned is empty except for the one set I use(d) almost everyday.

I will miss both sets of forms for different reasons...see below...

The quad forms I bought from Kyle Druery when I lived in CA. Kyle was a most excellent rodmaker and made some of the finest quads (hollow and solid) one could purchase...again, period. I haven't heard from Kyle in about ten years. He was going to start back teaching. He lived in Bakersfield. I have no idea where he is now. Kyle made these forms from scratch in his garage. By hand and file, sweat of his brow, strength of his back. In case you don't know...quad forms consist of THREE bars. All three have to be flat and square. The middle bar has no taper to it. The outer bars have a 45 degree bevel cut in them on two sides, tip and flip for butt. The two outer bars MUST be square and equal to each other and the middle bar. Sounds easy...it ain't...and he did it by hand. With a freaking file...just beauty forms. I miss them already. Not that I make or made quads, just that a friend and contemporary made them, used them, and I got to have them.

The set that Mike took were my first set. They aren't perfect. They were made by Lon Blauvelt in Maine. He's made definite improvements to them over the years. I was able to buy these when I first started about 15 years ago. I likely never would have finished (not that I'm anywhere close to being finished) this bamboo journey if it had not been for Lon and a reasonable price for a set of forms which are essential.

Those two sets of forms meant two things to me... both purely sentimental.
First, they were my first set so...you know...close to (or over) a hundred rods on those forms. That's some time and energy, I can't get either of those back. Now the forms are gone as well.
Second...those were the only forms I could make the Lil Debbie on.

Debbie is a real person who lives in Florida. There's a story there that can't be put on paper...sorry.

...And they had to be modified to even make that happen. The first 20 or 25 inches of the tip were modified to make a tip that could go down small enough (.022") to make the ought through 2 wt taper required. It's a modification I hope I make to my Bellinger's, which I love for their smoothness and consistency of taper.

Fwiw...I had to make adjustments with a hammer on the Blauvelt's. It's all about where you place the pins in the forms. The forms would hang up in between stations because the pins were set between each set of adjustment bolts (instead of between the push/pull bolts at each adjustment station) and you have to smack them with a hammer to set set them.

Mike really didn't need the forms and I know that. He just bought a set of nice Bellinger's which I guess he hasn't received yet. He only bought them to put a couple of bucks in my pocket, but he did it out of the kindness of his big damn heart. So did Perry I think.

So...thank you both for some needed cash...I hope you both think of me when you decide to use them and I hope this hell hole of a State treats you fine for the rest of your days. Never forget to pay it forward.
I will miss you both...I look forward to visits whenever either of you can make it up to paradise. Until then...have fun fishin' in the gutter.

Little Goldens (and I) await you.