About | tomz

Ever since I can remember I have always gone fishing when I was old enough to go by myself in Philadelphia I would take the bus and go to the end of the line and thumb to the fishing holes all around the area and after I started to drive I would go to the mountains and lakes in Jersey and Pa.

In the 60's you had to either volunteer for 3 years in the service or be drafted for two, So I joined and became a computer repairman. Computers were very basic then and I guess if I had taken the job that a small computer company in Philly offered me back then I might be a millionaire. Who knew what would become of technology back then in the 60's. But one mistake many people make is that you should never measure a mans wealth by how much green he has. Then I decided to go to art school and went fishing and hunting as much as possible and attended school on the GI Bill and got a job in an art studio in Philly.

By the time I was about 30 I went to to New Hampshire, opened up an art gallery and a commercial art business of my own and was learning how to be a master carpenter working with a contractor who sold his business in Boston and retired in upstate New Hampshire and built just one house a year. The economy fell apart back then and I had to come back to Philly with my two children and wife for work. I worked at Berm Studios, one of the largest trade show design builders where I picked up the skills to build professional trade show displays.

Later worked in art department building models of battleships in Moorestown NJ at RCA and after a couple years the Human factors and Industrial design department for a while in helping to design other military and private sector equipment plus consulted on computer programming. Then I decided to move out to the pacific northwest. There I went in to carpentry again and was quite accomplished by this time in the craft and worked for a few contractors and a journeymen in the carpenters local plus did many jobs with non union contractors and a couple friends and my son. I also worked for the Boeing Company for nine years in the model lab and made many classified projects, custom models of airplanes in almost every airline marking. This is where I became very proficient in using epoxy resins carving and building models to exact specifications. The average price for a small model ranged from five thousand and up. I have built models for dignitaries all over the world including a model of Air Force One that went to the White House. This is where I perfected my skills on finishes inlays, use of all types of resins, carbon composite and fiberglass applications and extreme design details. This department included a elite group of very highly skilled craftsman that knew how to use all types of precision machinery and woodworking equipment to create anything that you could imagine.

When I retired and decided to become a videographer. I had no problem learning the film business and then became friends with a rod builder that sponsored me for my shows. But I soon learned that most custom builders do not even come close to building a rod that I would design. For the most part they seem to focus more on the intricate wrappings with decals and fancy colors and inlays rather than the part of the rod that requires the most which is the fore-grip and handle. Even the most expensive rods on the market have round straight handles and that is not the way ones hands are shaped. So then after going back to doing a few high end custom jobs on my own and finally deciding to follow my dream of building custom rods I started Blue Heron Rods.

With my background in art, design, model making and high end finishing it did not take long to get up to speed. Ive found I can take a little bit from all my over 40 years of experiences and truly build custom rods with handles that no one else has even remotely conceived. A work of art with true beauty and function like nothing else in the market. To give the sportsman products that work better.

I dream of things that never were and say why not.