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Mike H 
Group: Members
Posts: 406
Joined: Nov. 2009
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,18:04 |
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Silvio and I were fishing last season and happened to meet a friendly chap on the river who then ended up fishing with us for a good portion of the day. It turned out he was a bit of an expert on rods and we've kept in touch since. He's the contact at the bottom of this. I thought you all might be interested in a new line of rods due out in the near future that he's involved with. He's in the country shortly with a few demo rods so I'm looking forward to a cast. This is from him:
"Freestone graphite fly rods have been three years in the making. The three men behind Freestone are Len Codella, Bernard Ramanauskas and Sam Drukman.
The design and production of the Freestone graphite range of fly rods over the past three years has been very much the collaboration of the design skills and combined experience of both Bernard Ramanauskas, of Eden Cane, recipient of two ‘Grey’s Best’, awards for his innovative fly rod designs and tapers and Sam Drukman, the former head rod designer of Scott and R.L. Winston rod companies. Sam’s expertise has largely been in the development of composite fly rods and is widely known in the industry as Dr. Graphite. Len Codella, General Manager/Sales, is the third member of the team. Len brings over 40 years experience in the fly fishing industry to the team and was the former owner of Thomas and Thomas rod builders, and current owner of Len Codella’s Sporting Collectibles.
From the outset, Freestone had one goal – To produce the best graphite fly rods, regardless of price. Freestone rods are designed to catch fish across the full casting spectrum – be it 20 feet or 80 feet, Freestone rods perform perfectly at all distances.
After the blanks have been produced, they are individually hand sanded, each real seat is individually selected, the up-locking real seat, being the finest quality available, very much reminiscent of those made by the legendary Jim Payne – and in finishing the rod, the guides and silk bindings used are the finest available.
Before explaining in brief, two of the design tools developed by Sam and Bernard in the creation of Freestone fly rods, it is essential to point out that ‘design tools’ are just that – they are ‘tools’ only, they do not design rods, they merely assist in the design of rods – It is the combined design skills and experience of both Bernard and Sam that make Freestone fly rods stand out.
The two ‘design tools’ developed by Sam and Bernard:
Tuned Mass Dampening: (TMD) is, simply put, a technology that allows us to dramatically reduce, or “dampen” vibration during casting. When a rod vibrates, it steals some of the energy that should be transmitted to the fly line and converts it to useless motion that contributes nothing to the cast. In fact, this vibration is not merely useless, it’s counterproductive.
In conventional rod making, material is either added or subtracted to the shaft to make these vibrations less noticeable to the caster. TMD allows us to design a rod that overcomes these limitations without adding or subtracting material. The technology dampens gyration and vibration, making performance soar by releasing a much greater portion of the rod’s stored energy smoothly at the end of the cast. The result is improved accuracy and a wider window of practical casting distances.
Finite Element Analysis: Bernard and Sam have developed software that, in part, uses Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to create a digital deflection model of the rod under load, before the rod is built. The obvious benefits are that countless design computations and fine tuning can be done to perfect the rod blank before it goes into production.
Each Freestone fly rod is individually hand crafted by the two men that created it. A fly rod designed by flyfishers, for flyfishers – they are a joy to fish – a privelige to own."
Freestone graphite fly rods and Eden Cane split cane fly rods are represented in Australia and New Zealand by:
Garry Webster
Fario Safari Pty Ltd
Email: info@fariosafari.com
Mob: + 61 412 333 111
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Mike H
Group: Members
Posts: 406
Joined: Nov. 2009
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,19:00 |
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Just spoke to Gary and it turns out he's bringing these rods to the Conclave for people to have a go with.
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powergel
Group: Members
Posts: 191
Joined: May 2011
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,19:20 |
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hi
...here's a link to a USA shop that sells the Freestone rods. It has the models and prices in US dollars for those that are interested.[URL=http://www.bearsden.com/page27.html]
...nice looking rods with great reviews...unfortunately, it would be like feeding strawberries to pigs in my particular case!
Ross
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| Post Number: 4
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HerkDrvr
Group: Members
Posts: 474
Joined: Nov. 2005
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,20:06 |
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They do look nice but I think this pig will be eating stawberries alongside PowerGel.
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"When My Ship Comes In, I'll Probably Be At The Airport"
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| Post Number: 5
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Quentin Forster
Group: Members
Posts: 195
Joined: Feb. 2011
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,20:44 |
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Not a fan of highly polished bits but the rods do look good. pretty good marketing points but would like to see some real evedence of the claims. if they do what they say they do I think they will do well in NZ. We need more good quality competition in this country. Good find, look forward to reading some reviews of the product.
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scottrods
Group: Members
Posts: 2760
Joined: Dec. 2005
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,20:51 |
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They will do well based on price and warranty.
If they are cheap they will sell.
If they are expensive then they need a warranty as good as Sage's to compete.
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Jonathan
www.overland.co.nz 4x4 hire 4 NZ
><(((º>`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸><(((º>¸.
•´¯`•.¸. , . ><(((º>`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸><(((º>
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| Post Number: 7
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Tore
Group: Members
Posts: 885
Joined: Jul. 2006
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Posted on: Jan. 20 2012,22:07 |
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The rods look nice and I like what these guys have done in earlier years.
But at 1600 NZD and only a warranty against manufacturer's defects it'll probably be a hard sell in NZ I think. But this is obviously a "Boutique" brand not aiming to outsell any of the major brands.
The Finite Element Method and software (FEM) is quite common with the bigger brands today. Even our own local blanks builder CTS uses it. I see Nortfork Composites make their blanks, and I know they use it as well.
But no doubt top notch quality on these rods. More like a custom shop, the way I read it.
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TomWatt4642
A real man never cook!!
Group: Members
Posts: 378
Joined: Feb. 2008
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Posted on: Jan. 21 2012,06:33 |
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These rods to look amazing and I am looking forward to cast those in the conclave.
FEM and tuned mass damper sound really like structural engineering. We use them all the time.
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Flyfishing is my life and that is what I am here in New Zealand for. Nothing is more important than flyfishing IMO.
Tom Watanabe, Senior Structural Engineer,
BE(Struct.), ME(Struct, Dist), MIPENZ, IntPE, CPEng
First Class Kenchikushi (JPN)
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| Post Number: 9
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fraser hocks
Group: Members
Posts: 562
Joined: Nov. 2010
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Posted on: Jan. 21 2012,11:17 |
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Have to say they look awsome, but at those prices il never be buying one!
Having said that plenty of people that spend a fortune on tackle (the kind of people that rarely fish usualy  ) so you never know they might just sell well?
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The best things in life, arnt things.
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| Post Number: 10
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Garry Webster
Group: Members
Posts: 20
Joined: Jan. 2012
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2012,13:24 |
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Hi there Kiwi fly fishers - thought I'd join the forum and introduce myself.
I've been a crazy fly fisherman for more than 30 years, and love crossing the ditch to possibly the world's greatest fly fishing destination.
As Mike said in his initial post - it was a chance meeting on the Oreti, where I joined Mike and Silvio for a memorable days fishing - Mike and Silvio couldn't believe running into a crazy Aussie on the Oreti fishing with a 7' 4wt split cane rod - surely the definition of supreme optimism, or just plain insanity, which is possibly closer to the truth!
My association with Freestone rods goes back about 18 months when I purchased 'Critter' a 704 split cane stick, the most amazing stick I've cast - 'Critter' has his own blog on freestonerods.com
I was appointed to represent Bernard's Eden Cane in Oz and NZ - and naturally with the creation and introduction of Freestone graphite fly rods, designed by Bernard Ramanauskas and Sam Drukman, I feel greatly honored to be representing Freestone as well in Oz and NZ.
I'm extremely excited to be coming to the Conclave and meeting all of you guys that have posted, and many that haven't.
I can assure you that these Freestone rods cast better than they look, and these are without doubt the best looking graphite rods that I have laid eyes on.
But as they say - 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating' - I'm greatly looking forward to you casting our rods, and to give me your feedback and thoughts.
If you can't make it to the Conclave, I will be staying at Athol from March 5-10, I will have wheels, and would be delighted to meet anyone interested in casting our rods.
Thanks again for everyone who has posted and a special thanks to Mike for introducing myself and Freestone rods to you.
My contact details are:
Garry Webster
E: info@fariosafari.com
M: +61 412 333 111
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