As an aside, I've handled a number of Per's rods and the quality is impeccable. The cork is absolutely top notch, regardless of the photos posted in
12/07 on this thread.
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pcg |
#41 | |||
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As an aside, I've handled a number of Per's rods and the quality is impeccable. The cork is absolutely top notch, regardless of the photos posted in
12/07 on this thread.
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hoagy b carmichael |
re. Peter Phelps | #42 | ||
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Gentlemen: I would like to add a word or two about Peter Phelps in an effort to set the record straight. Peter was a young man when I met him in 1975 or so,
working in New York in the advertising business if memory serves. He was a very good artist and a damn good tennis player, both of which I envied. By 1977-8
Peter had had enough of the City, deciding to spend time tying flies, teaching tennis, and seeing how the winds would blow. He started to work part-time at the
Bedford Sportsman in Bedford Hills, New York not far from his home in Katonah. Peter then asked me in the summer of 1979 if I would take three weeks and teach
him how to make a rod. We did that, using all my Garrison tools, and his first rod was very nice indeed. In fact, I made a rod for him not long after that, a
3-piece 7'9" (one of my better efforts), which Peter had to sell when he got sick in 1986-7. Peter then took the vacant basement space in the B.
Sportsman and turned it into a fly tying, rod making, hook and hackle store that did bring people into the shop. He was doing well, selling a few rods, and
keeping the locals stocked in flies and materials. When he finally got sick, it was not pretty. He lost a lot of weight, looked tired, and felt worse. His
cancer was too far along, and I think he died about 1988. He did make a wonderful water color of one of my rods, and 8'0" 3-piece that I made,
complete with a bank spear. It has the taper dimensions, and other Phelpsian notations. As to how many rod Peter made, and who owns them, I am not sure about
that. I doubt that he made more than 25 rods. I do know that he was a help to Per Brandin, as was I, but again I suspect that Per was ahead of the learning
curve not long after meeting Peter. Hope this helps. H. Carmichael
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ibookje |
#43 | |||
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Great story Mr. Carmichael. Thank you.
Just another addition to the history of bamboo rod making. Jay |
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