At this point I pretty much just build rods for myself. I have
sold a few but at this point its not worth the hassle to me to build them for other people.
I have developed my own internal thread reel seats so there aren't any threads showing on the outside of the rod. The first few rods I built I used a traditional design reel seat and it always looked awkward to me to have all that turning and engraving with machine threads stuck in the middle of it all. So I got rid of the threads. Well got rid of them isn't correct. I actually just put them inside the reel seat.
I tend to be one of those guys who says, " oh yeah, hold my beer and watch this." when someone tells me I can't do something or says something I made can't be both pretty and functional. I participated on a few rod building forums for a while and the common comment by the "Experts" was that my rods had to be too heavy to actually use because of all the "pretty". I took that as a challenge to build a rod lighter in
weight, higher in performance, and definitely prettier than what they were making. The rod in the last picture is a 7 1/2 ft 3 wt flyrod that weighs right at 2 1/2 oz.
I started doing things like using high grade titanium for parts and since I machine my own I can design them to be both strong and super
light weight. I have started finding attractive ways to reduce the
weight in the reel seat. Have used techniques like ultra
light plastic cores, skeleton reel seats from stabilized woods, and fluting the reel seat to add decoration and remove un-needed material. This also allows me to get a very good balance. I have also developed a way to make my handles with a balsa wood core. What you see is a skin that is only 3/32 to 1/8 inch thick. The interior of the handle is high grade RC plane balsa. This handle weighs about half what a natural cork handle does even with the stabilized wood trim. I have found that these features make the rod extremely sensitive and great casting by reducing the weight in a balanced way.
If interested I have more rod pictures I can post.