Well, It’s been a while since I posted anything, sorry about that! You know it’s been crazy busy around here with the job and all! As many of you know I started offering my Agate stripping guides for sale! I was a bit reluctant about doing this until I retire because I really don’t have a lot of time on my hands. Some people have asked me if there is a 50 hour day in the Joe E. Arguello world! Well I sometimes wonder what I am thinking taking on the projects I do! Anyway so I decided to go ahead and put the word out that I was offering my agate strippers for sale to other rod builders/makers since I had received several requests for them. Another consideration was the availability of cut and polished rings… was I going to be able to get a good supply? Well I am happy to say that I have acquired a couple thousand rings in a few colors and sizes, and I have more coming with an assurance that the supply should be good going forward! As the investment has been quite substantial I guess I am now officially in the agate stripping guide business! Wow! I can’t believe the interest I have received for these stripping guides! Seems that everyone is more than happy with what they have received and some have gone as far as saying that they are the best they have ever gotten! I have to tell you I am sending these things all over the world! I am international! Cool! Well come to think about it, I have been doing that with my rods for a long time!… Even cooler!
So I am seriously considering retiring in January! I will be 62 years old then and I really want to concentrate on my rod building and related things such as these agate stripping guides! Oh yeah have I mentioned that I also make bamboo fly rods? :>) Well I do and have some orders for these as well! As it stands now I work a full day, commute the 35 miles in really bad traffic to Denver every day and then come home and put in 4 or 5 hours each evening to keep up with my new found interest! I really like my job and the guys that work for me don’t want me to leave! I have the best crew that a man could ever ask for! I am not complaining but it is getting to where I need more time to work on my rods and related projects! Then there is always the R&D as I am always trying to improve on my craft! So there is my dilemma, not a bad thing, but I am looking at this with mixed emotions! What to do?
Well, since I have filled a couple of orders this morning, I think I will go to the place where I do my best thinking, out on the river! I am going fishing! Don’t quite know where yet, maybe I’ll know it when I see it! Kinda nice to live where there are so many choices! Besides that I need to do some field testing! Maybe the answers to what I seek will come to me!
Well, as I have kept my prices down on my rods for the longest time I will probably be raising them soon! So if you have been thinking about ordering a new J. E. Arguello fly rod, perhaps you should get your order in! Just saying… a word to the wise…
So what do you guys think? Am I truly insane? Well like they say “You don’t have to be crazy to make Bamboo fly rods…but it certainly does help!”
Oh and if you look at your agate stripping guide inventory or you have a rod you are working on and need a new stripping guide, well go to the agate page on this web site and put in your order, I will do my best to get it to you ASAP!
Joe E. Arguello
Agate, lovely, lovely stuff, is best found in shooting marbles, but kids don’t play marbles any more,there being no dirt play-grounds any more to play them properly on. The great classic “bull ring” game, or pots or liners, or…… I can remember sweating something like blood in class all morning waiting for recess worrying whether I should play ” agates up” with my long big, mooned agate shooter. I did and lost it.
Now in my 87th year I have five gorgeous agates here on my desk, reminding me that spring will come again, too late for me to play but not to love.
I am reminded too that my Hardy spinning rod, circa 1955, has an agate ring in its tip top as well as the huge 3/4″ agate in the butt guide. Same agate as the line guard in my Perfect– milky white.
There is no one like Joe, no one, who can do it all as can he. All praise to him, sez, I.
I have always liked the looks of an agate stripping guide on a rod. I have also always thought they were really too large and wished that there was someone who would scale them down so they would look a little more compact on the rod. You have done that Joe! Your strippers are 20% smaller than the ones I have been using. I have a #6 and a #10 in my hand. I’m thrilled! They are the best I have EVER seen.
Thanks Joe,
Dave
Joe – If anyone is qualified to quit their daytime job, that would seem to be you. The rocking chair will never claim you, with all that you are doing. Retiring is a big decision, however, and has to be approached with care. If you have the bases covered with healthcare and income until social security and medicare kick in, it’s well worth considering. I have been retired for 5 years, and never looked back. Make the decision carefully, but it’s great if you can do it.
Joe … I’ve always appreciated your work and these look outstanding. I hope you’re on the water contemplating January. You will never have to fear about not being busy … SWMBO will always have something on the list for you.