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Bertram, Dennis

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I’m Dennis Bertram from Defiance, OH.  Although not a frequent contributor to the list, I am a regular lurker.  I have been retired since ’99 having spent 40 some years in manufacturing.  My degree is in engineering but being in upper management they would not let me have the fun of hands-on engineering.  So my hobbies had to fill the gap.   These included building an AuSable river boat, many fine furniture projects and recently a CNC machine to final taper rods.

I started making cane rods in 1996 guided by Wayne Cattanach’s book and a number of help calls to Wayne as I was building my tools and my first rod.  My favorite tapers are those of Paul Young and Llyle Dickerson in the Michigan tradition, which are ideal for fishing my favorite rivers, the AuSable and Manistee.

Besides rod making, woodworking and building equipment, I like to tie flies.  My signature fly is the Quinchat, a 19th century salmon fly originated by Major John Popkin Traherne in 1895.

Attendance at many rod gatherings in the past years provided the venue for meeting many new friends and learning new techniques.  I am grateful for the help of numerous fellow makers around the country in developing my skills.

After 12 years in this hobby I have come up with a number of innovations to already well established tools that I believe improve our processes.  I am now offering two of these items, the Multi-Track Beveller and the Two-String Binder, to the rod making community.  Check out my web site.