ChaseChrome
Banned
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2011
- Messages
- 2,448
I posted a short polemic on my blog titled What We Know. My veiled assertion therein regards an embattled elite (the expert and adept) often maligned by a fatuous politics of “equality†and “identityâ€â€”a celebration of an unimaginative quotidian. My continued meditation on this topic was recently punctuated by a brief visit I enjoyed with Robb Marquette (one of our marquee float reel fabricators—designer of the much vaunted Frogwater Reel).
Below is an excerpt and what serves as something of a report for those who have been wondering where the hell I’ve been of late…
Robb had extended a generous invitation in response to my interest in his work. Robb is one of very few preeminent machinist/designers (Ron Gardiner and Adam Demarco round out this triumvirate) fabricating hand-made, custom float reels (a fishing reel specifically designed for a fishing technique proper to the slower water of European river systems). Often called the center-pin reel, the design is not mystifying, rather it is simply a machined disk in whose center is affixed a stainless steel pin on which turns a spool holding the fishing line—it looks something like a fly reel to the uninitiated.
After what seemed an interminable drive to Southwest Ontario and equally (if not more) vexing backtracking around the hamlet of St. Mary’s, I finally arrived—via an old-world, tree-lined country road—at an enchanting family homestead. It’s an idyllic setting such as often depicted in 17[sup]th[/sup] C. Dutch landscape painting. I’m greeted almost immediately as I step from the vehicle by Robb, an amiable smile and generous offer of a handshake. We step into what would otherwise have been his garage. Now a general shop, 1/3 of its space (no more than 120 sq. ft.) is filled to overflowing with all manner of drill presses, lathes, fabricating machinery—it’s a veritable alchemist’s shop for spinning aluminum to a “gold†standard…
Over coffee Robb shares with me a brief history of the trials and success of his River Keeper Reels—we talk tolerances, design, anodizing, other reel designers, the market, and general fishing culture and mayhem. We sit among numerous, jewel-like, reel components (including his unparalleled, really COOL clicker design) in various stages of finish that will come together to aggregate the exceptional Frogwater Reel.
Not unlike the wheel or the mouse trap the knowledge and principles of physics that inhere in such devices are irreducible. Robb would tell you the same thing, “not rocket science—a pin and a spool.†Robb, like those who truly excel in their craft or discipline is generous and deferential, downplaying any reverence he receives for his efforts. I have known scholars of this sentiment also, those who are never stingy or selfish with information, insight, and guidance.
And now for a bit of a rant…
How then to design a better spool on a pin? It is left to the discerning and well-seasoned eye of the adept, engineer, artist, or designer who might finally excavate what minutiae can be re-tooled to attain perfection. Let us dispense with the proscriptive deference of the Persian Flaw…I am, it seems, arrogating the same lofty status to them as that given to omniscience. Why should we not celebrate the triumph of the exquisite craftsmanship and engineering of their “intelligent design.†It is urgent (now more than ever) that the term elitist be reclaimed to once again assume the place proper to describing those few who reside in the pantheon of great makers and artists; that such terms as objectivity, knowledge, the master painter, the expert, among others, not be allowed to be maligned by the propitious and fatuous few in this culture who can only abide bologna.
Here’s to you, Robb…
CC
Below is an excerpt and what serves as something of a report for those who have been wondering where the hell I’ve been of late…
Robb had extended a generous invitation in response to my interest in his work. Robb is one of very few preeminent machinist/designers (Ron Gardiner and Adam Demarco round out this triumvirate) fabricating hand-made, custom float reels (a fishing reel specifically designed for a fishing technique proper to the slower water of European river systems). Often called the center-pin reel, the design is not mystifying, rather it is simply a machined disk in whose center is affixed a stainless steel pin on which turns a spool holding the fishing line—it looks something like a fly reel to the uninitiated.
After what seemed an interminable drive to Southwest Ontario and equally (if not more) vexing backtracking around the hamlet of St. Mary’s, I finally arrived—via an old-world, tree-lined country road—at an enchanting family homestead. It’s an idyllic setting such as often depicted in 17[sup]th[/sup] C. Dutch landscape painting. I’m greeted almost immediately as I step from the vehicle by Robb, an amiable smile and generous offer of a handshake. We step into what would otherwise have been his garage. Now a general shop, 1/3 of its space (no more than 120 sq. ft.) is filled to overflowing with all manner of drill presses, lathes, fabricating machinery—it’s a veritable alchemist’s shop for spinning aluminum to a “gold†standard…
Over coffee Robb shares with me a brief history of the trials and success of his River Keeper Reels—we talk tolerances, design, anodizing, other reel designers, the market, and general fishing culture and mayhem. We sit among numerous, jewel-like, reel components (including his unparalleled, really COOL clicker design) in various stages of finish that will come together to aggregate the exceptional Frogwater Reel.
Not unlike the wheel or the mouse trap the knowledge and principles of physics that inhere in such devices are irreducible. Robb would tell you the same thing, “not rocket science—a pin and a spool.†Robb, like those who truly excel in their craft or discipline is generous and deferential, downplaying any reverence he receives for his efforts. I have known scholars of this sentiment also, those who are never stingy or selfish with information, insight, and guidance.
And now for a bit of a rant…
How then to design a better spool on a pin? It is left to the discerning and well-seasoned eye of the adept, engineer, artist, or designer who might finally excavate what minutiae can be re-tooled to attain perfection. Let us dispense with the proscriptive deference of the Persian Flaw…I am, it seems, arrogating the same lofty status to them as that given to omniscience. Why should we not celebrate the triumph of the exquisite craftsmanship and engineering of their “intelligent design.†It is urgent (now more than ever) that the term elitist be reclaimed to once again assume the place proper to describing those few who reside in the pantheon of great makers and artists; that such terms as objectivity, knowledge, the master painter, the expert, among others, not be allowed to be maligned by the propitious and fatuous few in this culture who can only abide bologna.
Here’s to you, Robb…
CC
