Remembering George
George was always fond of saying that he was the only member of the Barnes family since 1732 that wasn’t born in Harpswell. He was born in Lynn, MA, in 1927 to Henry and Fern Louise Barnes. His father was a yachtsman who had his master’s license by the time he was 21 years old. He later built lobster boats, some of which are still on the water today. When George came home from school one day and told his father that his teacher said he should go to college...
Classic Tapers: Two Granger Tapers
Much has been written about the Granger rods and their history, and I believe this attention is well deserved. Among the many strengths of these rods is the quality of the tapers. Goodwin Granger developed his tapers in his Denver rod shop, in isolation from the rodmakers in the East, according to A.J. Campbell. Granger was a tournament caster as well as an angler and outdoorsman who demanded much from his tackle and who developed rods to meet his needs. In 1918, Granger started...
Milling Tapered Strips with a
Benchtop Planer
Automating the beveling and tapering process is at the top of list for most rodmakers. But for many of us, the cost of a production machine is overkill. Most have made a router beveller, thought about making a double cut beveller, and some of us have even been known to search E-Bay for the parts to make a CNC machine. Automating the milling process has been a personal goal since day one. Not that I don’t like hand planing. I’d rather be hand planing than running a noisy machine...
