Tom Peters

My name is Tom Peters and have been a member of Rodmakers
for about 10 years. I now live in
St. Louis but was born and raised as a proud Cornhusker
from Nebraska. My first exposure to bamboo rodmaking came
from an article in Flyfisher Magazine about Paul Hightower
who had been employed by Phillipson Rods in Denver. Since
I was doing some work in Denver, I was able to go to Bobs
Tackle Shop in Denver and spent 2 or 3 hours talking to
Paul and looking at some of the machinery that was using
that came out of the Phillipson shop. In the process I
purchased 2 bamboo blanks that Paul had made and brought
them home and finished them. This interest in bamboo
rodmaking started me looking for info on the internet and
that is when I found out about the Rodmakers website. On
the Rodmakers website I found out about the SRG gatherings
in Mountain Home, Ark. I started attending my first SRG
gathering in 1999 and have attended each one since. I
was also lucky enough to attend the beginners rodmaking
class that was put on by Wayne Catanagh and
our glorious leader Harry Boyd in 1999 and the next 2 or
3 years. It took me about 2 years to gather the basic
tools to make a bamboo rod starting with making my own
planing forms out of cold rolled steel. That was quite a
challenge since I had never worked on steel or never had
drilled and tapped threads in my life. In my short life
as a rodmaker, I have made about 20 rods that have been
given to relatives, a benefit for my niece who had
cancer, sold some rods and given away to FFF gatherings.
I will always appreciate the time and help that I have
received from Harry, Wayne, Tony and all of the members
of Rodmakers. The highlight of my day is logging on to
the internet and going to the Rodmakers website to see
the news and what I can learn from all of our generous
members.

Again, thank you all for all the good memories.

Tom