Originally Posted by chris williams
Reply With QuoteIt appears that some of you are ignorant of the modern fishing rod industry, especially how carbon rod blanks are made and sourced throughout the world.
Let me tell you what I know. If I am wrong on any point then fair enough, but I will write what I know in the knowledge that some of what I write might be incorrect, but it is there for anyone to pull apart as they see fit.
The manufacture of carbon fibre composite blanks for the fishing tackle industry is only carried out by a small handful of companies world wide. Most of them are now located in China due to the lower cost of labour. Contrary to what a lot of you might think, blank manufacture is quite labour intensive.
In the UK, there were several companies making blanks and complete fishing rods too up to about 10 years ago. Today, there is only to my knowledge, one company in the UK making fishing rod blanks and that is Harrison of Liverpool. Daiwa, located in Scotland were making fishing rod blanks up to quite recently; however most of their manufacturing is now done in China or South Korea - allegedly.
Harrison of Liverpool have probably more capablity in terms of blank manufacture than any other company in the world. It makes me smile when I read that Harrison only supply a limited range of fly rod blanks with put over ferrules.
Harrison can make any type of rod joint you care to name! Most of the other blank builders can't.
What also makes me smile is that there are those who think Harrison blanks are "soft", or "not as stiff as Sage - no tip action - blah blah blah ......... ad infinitum."
Sincerely chaps I have never read such rubbish in my life. Especially when it was Harrison who pioneered the manufacture of such blanks for certain USA clients!!!
The truth is the Harrison are at the cutting edge of blank technology! Anyone who wants to set up a business in SA making top quality rods would be advised to jump on a plane and get to Liverpool
But before that, read: www.harrisonrods.co.uk/blog/blog1.htm
Dr. Steve is only too keen to help any company in any part of the world make fishing rods using his own blanks which can be tailor made for your own specific requirements.
Don't ever believe that Harrison blanks are inferior in any way to the best USA ones. They are not. And in some ways they are practically superior.
One of Harrison's customers who builds on their blanks is Steve Parton.
What he says about Harrison blanks is interesting,
"They may not feel as sharp as some of the USA stuff but if you want such rods, to USA style buld we can do it. However if you want to pay more than £600 for 25 quids worth of components plus 2 hours labour then who am I to stop you - it's your money and if you want to throw it away it's your right."
And finally I do not work for Harrison rods. However some years ago I was heavily involved in the design of a specialist coarse fishing rod, together with Graham Marsden, the then editor of the UKs largest angling website - Fishing Magic, and Dr. Steve Harrison himself. The only "payment" I received from this work was a couple of test samples.
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