I never thought that I would need to write a Bio and never seem to know what to say. First let me start off with a note about my last name, its derived from my German ancestors. However the original immigrants that carried the name from Germany to America in the middle of the 19th century couldnt afford the vowels to have an easily pronounced name so Im stuck with this one. It is pronounced bla (with a sharp A, like black) bomb, many pronounce it blah-boom and many other derivatives and I will however, answer to any of them. I also have a Cornish, and Norwegian heritage as well, so I like to dig in the back yard (from the Cornish miners), and become easily confused (Norwegian), so take it easy on me.
I have a wife and one child (a boy) that is almost ready to take the wheel of a car. He's 15 and ½ and really starting to make me feel old, and scared for my life. My wife was born on a dairy farm and because of that we have several unusual pets: 3 horses, 50+ chicken, 1 pigeon, 1 dog and a couple of cats. I make an honest living as a parts (inventory) manager at a local Ford dealership. After dealing with mechanically challenged people every day I really enjoy the relaxation of turning wood into something unique. I'm new to the rod building world, I started building rods in 2006 because I wanted to save a couple of dollars and wanted something different then every one else. I have made something that not every one has, but the less expensive rod has never really materialized. It has been a lot of fun and I have met and been befriended by many great people in this hobby. I also have been fortunate enough to help out with the K4K rod and have found this to be an exceptional group and a very worthy cause. Its really a lot of fun to build rods and I look forward to being an honorary Texan and hope to make it down some time.
Mark you left out the part about how sneaky you are. Good to see you putting your stuff up here. Your wood work is trully exceptional. Definetely in a league of its own. I am glad to see you use my bud cans from time to time. It has really been a pleasure to work with you on the K4K program. Thanks for your friendship too.
Mark, like myself, you obviously have a love affair with wood, but IMO, you have raised the bar my friend.... an inspiration to us all who love craftsmanship and wood.
All I can say about Mark's work is that one is almost compelled to keep going back and looking at it over and over.
Mark only the truely afflicted will spend thousands on the equipment it takes to build a handle they hesitated to spend hundreds on Love your work bloke!
