My name is Greg Kuntz.  I live in the Pittsburgh area, and I think I joined the list in maybe 96 or 97.  I grew up in northwestern PA, where if you didn't hunt or fish, (The cool guys did both)you didn't really have much else to do outside of high school athletics.   I started throwing a fly rod in the '60's when my grandfather thought that at age eight, it was time to learn how to tie flies.  My first serious rod was a Fenwick feralite 8 foot for a 6 weight.  I started to build rods when I bought a kit from Cabela's so that I could give fly rods as Christmas presents when I was in grad school.  I graduated to cane when an old shop owner in the Poconos gave me a stripped Phillipson Pacemaker blank.  I taught myself how to mount ferrules, wrap silk, varnish, etc., Had I only known a tenth of what I learned while building that rod, it would have come out a whole lot differently.  Since then, I've gradually developed my finishing skills, and have either refurbed or restored about 30 rods, most of which I haven't been able to let go.. I think that without really planning to do so, I'm gradually assembling a whole collection of Heddons.  Most of the rods I do now are either fund-raiser donations, or restorations/refurbs for friends.   I've mostly lurked, read posts, delete most of them, learned a ton about rodmaking, and wait every year for Harry's Christmas missive.  I've not yet taken the "planing plunge", but haven't fished anything but cane for about 15 years now....

Oh yeah, I hate grits.......The posts are a hoot, though.