Bob Summers: (Part 2)
fly rods and realities
By Greg Frey
It would seem that Summers was about to
enter some rocky times, but the transition to building rods under his
own name was incredibly smooth. "A lot of notable people had come
into the store, one of them being Ernie Schweibert," Summers said.
"He was always poking his nose in the shop and seeing I was the
one working [building the rods.] He gave me tremendous mention
(in the magazine Trout) and it told about me being with the Young
Company.
"Well, my phone hardly stopped ringing because there were a lot
of people who knew the Young rod. There were a lot of people who
also knew the story because they had seen me in the back room. They
spread the word."
One thing that Summers brought with him from the Young rod was the
action.
"They all have a different style that was unique to the person who
built them. The Young was a more parabolic action that flexes
into the handle. Dickerson had a little more swelled butt. Payne's
were a little in-between. Mine are closer to the Young actions,"
Summers said. One of the major differences between a Young
rod and a Summers rod is that Summers builds all the components
to his rods, including the tube and rod sack, which is sewn by his
wife, Evie. He makes about 50 rods a year now and his customers
wait up two years for their rods to be completed. The cost of Summers
rods range from $1,200 to $1,400. Most of the cost is for labor - each
rod takes about 50 hours to build.
"In my case, it's mostly labor because I make all the parts. The reel
seats start out as a piece of aluminum or nickle-silver bar stock.
I prefer woods locally grown such as maple, black walnut or cherry.
Ferrules start out as nickle-silver tubing. Most of the builders are
buying their own material," he said.
When you enter Summers' workshop, it's plain to see that he is a fan of
the late Henry Ford who was known for getting the most out of his
workspace. Older machines and components fill every nook and cranny,
with small pathways leading through the maze. Summers answered my
astonishment with a smile. "A fat guy wouldn't work here," he said.
The shop itself is a shrine to Summers' ingenuity and problem-solving
abilities. The lathes, mills and presses are mostly all vintage 1940s or 1950s
machines. Almost all of them have been rebuilt or modified with inventions
by Summers to build betters rods and components. A clever system of
ducts designed by Summeers sucks dust and metal shavings from each
work station. Entering the rod-building business out of high school and never
attending a college or trade school, Summers has been naturally gifted with
his problem-solving and engineering skills.
"I think we're getting a society in which everybody thinks they need
to be told how to do it and they have to read a book on it," Summers
said. "By the time I was 17, I was putting a crankshaft in my Ford V-8
car. Nobody ever showed me. Take it apart and as you take it apart
you look at it. If I had my way, we would have been making all the parts
before I was 20 years old. But they thought you had to farm that out."
~ Greg Frey
Next time the conclusion!
This article is excerpted from the July/August issue of
Midwest Fly Fishing.
We thank them for use permission.
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