My name is Simon Reilly and I'm new to the list. I've just joined on the recommendation of Mike St. Clair, a member I met on the Fly Fishing Forum. I also haunt the Rod Building Forum under the username Splinters. I am from Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland and have fished since I could walk. I started fly fishing about the time I learned to drive. My first fly rod was a really poor fibreglass cheapie which nearly soured me from fly fishing. Fortunately a chance meeting on the river directed me to a little shop where a kind man called Ivan Reilly (no relation) took the bad rod away and sent me home with a second hand 9' Scottie and a decent reel. At the time I had no idea how well I had been treated. Now I know I was being mentored and appreciate just how much I got and for how little. Anyway the die was cast and I have always owned a bamboo rod since. My wife bought me Garrisons book for my birthday in 2007 and I started gathering the tools to build bamboo in 2008 after chancing on Harry Boyd’s site on the net. I have completed five rods now ranging from appalling to passable and have just bought a lathe to start machining reel seat components. I am typing really slowly because I recently discovered that fingernail router bits will remove a thumbnail too. The learning curve continues.