Retirement Present

[Mark Fisher]

G'day everyone,

I've attached some photos of my latest rod. It is a retirement present for a mate of mine who finishes up soon after 32 years as a copper. He is a keen fisherman so, what better present could there be for him. The blank is a Lamiglas XMG784 fitted with Matagi fittings, inlayed EVA checkers in NSW Police colours, butt cap with Police crest, small opal in front of fore grip, Silver Eagle cross wrap and Blue zirconia AMTAC guides (Thanks Ross at the Rodworks). The split grip area is metalic blue and metalic silver underwrap, CP'd with Chromaseal and then wrapped with dark blue gudebrod overwrap, No CP. This wrap really sparkles in the sun. The finishing touch will be a silver decal waterslide sticker with his name and length of service with N.S.W Police Force.


Regards
Mark[ATTACH]sum[/ATTACH]

[Pete62]

Mark, beautiful craftsmanship, your friend will be stoked and I am sure he will use it more than the gold watch. Good Karma to you. Cheers, Pete.

[Ross van Enckevort]

Mark,
Very, Very nice. I luv the colors outstanding craftmanship. This will be a fishing rod he will cherish I am sure for many years. See-Ya at the trade show this week-end?

Ross.

[Mark Fisher]

Thanks Pete and Ross for you great comments. I appreciate them heaps.

Ross, unfortunately things didn't work out for me this year and I can't make it to the show. I'll miss catching up with you, Myles and the boys at Pete Williams stand (GUSA/Hastings). Maybe next year with any luck? I've sent Pete up a few rods to exhibit for me. Mate, have you tried the new Chromaseal CP? I imported a couple of bottles and have to say, with limited use so far, it appears the best CP I've yet used. No snowflakes in the darker threads. I used it on this rod and I was really happy with the results. Just thought you may like to know if you haven't already tried it.

Best Regards
Mark

[dogsbody]

Looks great Mark. A new police baton to subdue the fish.

Can you explain what snowflakes are?


Dave

[TonyM]

That's a piece of Art Mark.

Fantastic craftsmanship, and as a present would be very hard to beat.

Cheers
Tony

[Mark Fisher]

Thanks Dogsbody and Tony M.

DB, snowflakes are when you use CP on dark thread eg black, d/blue, d/green etc. The solids in the CP when it dries leave a slightly hazzy effect in the thread. You usually don't see it until after the epoxy is put on. There is no way around it unless you choose not to use CP on darker threads. Th3e Yanks have been raving about Chromaseal for a while so I decided to try it and I have to say, I'm happy with the results. There is no evidence of "Snow" in the dark blue thread.

Thanks again
Mark

[dogsbody]

Thanks Mark. I've asked Ross for a price on the Chromaseal as I want my current project to be the ducks dusters.


Dave.

[Owen]

That thing looks great Mark.
I'm sure he'll love it.
I'd be interested in some better CP results on dark threads too.
Might try some of that stuff.

[jan]

exceptional piece of work Mark. Something to be proud of. Really like the burnishing job you did on the tiger working from the center outwards, Looks fantastic.

Cheers, Jan.

[Toddy_again]

Beautiful.


Toddy

[HOTRODS]

flawless as usual Mark...really like the inlay on the butt..caps it of nicely !

[Mark Fisher]

Thanks guys for your comments.


Regards to all
Mark

[Gagga08]

Very nice rod Mark....any chance you could knock up something similar for me! I'm thinking something in Collingwood colours!

Just out of interest excluding the man hour costs how much would a rod like that cost you to make?

[Mark Fisher]

Gagga,

Thanks for your comment.

Mate, if you are serious about a rod please feel free to contact me at fishrod@bigpond.com and we can talk about what you want. I refuse to build on rubbish blanks and no 2 rods are exactly the same unless a customer wants a matching set. The cost of a custom rod is like the old saying, "how long is a piece of string." It depends on the blank you want, the fittings, the guides and the time making something original. There is quite a bit of time in making the inlayed handles and the threadwork. You'd be pleasantly surprised, I bet it won't cost you anywhere near what you think!

Regards
Mark

P.S and yes, Collingwood colours are easy to put together. I did one for another mate 12 months ago.