Building a 7wt.

[MontanaMoose]

Well, it started with opening the shipping that
contained the goodies, including the AmTack
Matrix blank. I started spreading everything out,
looking it over then turned to the blank and noticed
something funny about the tip. I tried to talk myself into
keeping it even though it was tip-broke. It came out of
the shipping down about an inch and a half.

Closer inspection told me that it had been broken at the
AmTack factory and inadvertantly shipped that way to Florida,
then to Hook & Hackle. Yep, called Ron and Ron called AmTack,
AmTack called me and after a great talk with a nice guy, I was
told a new blank would be on it's way that day.

Asked if that gentleman was going to send a call tag for the broken
one and 'no' he said, 'go ahead and keep it, should make a nice rod anyway'
or words close to that. Later, I felt a little guilty and even though I'd searched
all the packing and my front room for a broken tip, I couldn't find one shred of
evidence that it had happened on this end.

So now I need to make two grips and I'm mostly done with that and
I have extra time while waiting for the replacement blank so I'm
going to look for another 'green' reelseat and some exotic
guides for the blank that's on the way.

Thanks go out to Hook & Hackle and American Tackle
for the kind of service I appreciate from USA companies.
I won't hesitate for a minute to
continue buying from each.
So there you go.

Next up will be pics of the cork lathe and a little
info on how easy it is to glue up cork and shape
it for anyone that would like to give that a try.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose