My name is Trey Matheu. I have lived in SW Pennsylvania for the past 8 years, before that in Wyoming, Colorado, and Vermont.  I have worked for the past 20 years or so in hospitality/resorts, so I was able to live in some great places, and was paid next to nothing to do so.   I have always had a thing for tying flies, leaders, etc for fishing, and thought bamboo was the next natural step.

About two years ago, I was looking at the auction site, and a builder from Pittsburgh was selling his equipment.  I had just received my bonus at work and am a true believer in serendipity,  I have spent the last two years very patiently learning each of the steps of the process.  I have destroyed a few culms, have a 50 gallon trash can full of experiments, screw ups, and few bloodied scraps.  I have no natural mechanical intuition and generally learn from doing (and doing again, and again).  I completed my first glued up section on Monday after a marathon session.  So thanks need to be given to the members of the list for helping to answer a slew of questions and helping the analytical part of the mind teach the physical body.  Now I am past this stage, I hope to have a finished rod by 2012 or so...