How It All Started Part 3...

A few years ago a couple good friends of mine named Gene Bethea & Barry Evans convinced me to try rod building. I was reluctant at first because I didn't want to totally screw up a high dollar rod blank. Gene sent me a book and told me that I'd never find out if I could do it unless I tried.

I had an old fly rod that was more of a broomstick than anything else. I decided I'd turn it into a crappie rod for my Father-in-Law. It turned out okay and would up being one of his favorite rods.

Since I developed a love for fiberglass rods, I began picking up old worn out rods on eBay and rebuilding them. That's when my Father-in-Law stepped back into the picture. He told his Brother-in-Law about what I had been doing. It so happened that he had an old Sila-flex bait caster that he wanted rebuilt.

After getting the rod, I was shocked to see the shape it was in. I did some research into the original color of the wraps and thread size and dove right in. The following are a few before and after photos.

I knew I wanted to save the old Sila-flex label. Fortunately, I was able to do so.

The old rod had definitely seen better days.

I used Gudebrod brown and gold thread in size B. I think it matched up pretty well.

All in all I was pretty pleased with the outcome; thankfully, so was my first customer.