This blog post is about my fly rod company, RScott Bamboo Fly Rods: https://rscottbambooflyrods.com/ and why I started it.
I am one of those people who has too many hobbies, too many interests, too spread out, unfocused and when I do get interested in something I do a deep dive into it. I read everything there is to read about it. I watch ever video made on the subject, I attend shows, take classes, and totally immerse myself in it. I enjoy the learning process and I love the challenge of mastering new skills. It's kind of an exploration of the world, of reality, of what life is all about.
Even as a kid I was always curious about things. I remember getting in trouble because I took apart my fathers pocket watch and couldn't get it back together again. I was constantly tinkering with things and I remember watching birds and being fascinated by flight. I built model airplanes from balsa wood and silk when I was 12. Then I learned how to fly them -- both control line and RC. Later I got my pilots license. I loved woodworking and making all kinds of things. I took up blacksmithing, built a forge, and made knives. Then I bought a lathe and taught myself how to machine parts. I learned how to solder, braze and weld metal. But all of these things were always hobbies, things I did when I was not working for a living.
After a 40 year long career in finance and investing I had built a business that didn't need my full time attention and I knew at some point I would retire from it completely. In preparation for that day I made a New Year's resolution to "find my passion." I wanted to discover one thing that I really loved to do and to focus on that one thing. I gave myself one month to find it. I made a list of all the things I enjoyed doing and pondered each one of them to see if I would enjoy focusing on just one.
I ending up choosing fishing because it checked off a lot of boxes. It involves being outdoors, it involves writing and photography, it involves travel and exploration, and it involves (or could involve) making fly rods. And making fly rods, especially making bamboo fly rods involves thinking. Unlike making fiberglass or graphite fly rods, making bamboo fly rods require an understanding of tapers and how they affect the action of the fly rod. Every rod I make starts with the design phase -- how long, what weight line, how many sections, what action ... etc. It can easily take a full 8 hour day to complete the design phase and it involves a lot of thinking, which I also enjoy. There is actually a philosophy component to rod design.
The reason that I took up designing and building bamboo fly rods is that it gives me a chance to make something with my hands that I can see and feel. That's something I never had in my career. Finance is almost entirely a mental exercise and there is nothing to see except numbers on a page. I wanted to create physical objects and then use them in the outdoors and in far away places. Bamboo fly rod making is the perfect avocation for me! I wanted to make a business out of a hobby and a hobby out of starting and running a business. I've been self employed my entire life, so running a business is second nature to me but I've never run a manufacturing business. Making bamboo fly rods one at a time is not a complicated nor a big manufacturing enterprise but it is nonetheless manufacturing.
And the best part is that I don't need to make money at this enterprise. Part of the challenge is to sell a few rods, maybe a more than a few, but if I don't I can still afford to do everything I want to in life.
--RScott
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