Bamboo Tips - Extreme Rodmaking
Whoops!

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I am new on the scene and have a goof to share with you all. Two years ago I spent a week with a professional rod builder learning how to build rods. We built a blank and varnished it. I returned home and finished this first rod on my own. I was proud of it having spent many hours on it and it casted beautifully. I would  go to the back yard and practice casting with it and learning the differences between graphite and bamboo. In between practice sessions I would lean the rigged rod next to the grandfather clock in the hallway. My rather compulsive wife was vacuuming the hallway one day and caught the fake yarn fly and tippet with the revolving head of the vacuum and pulled the line and rod into the head of the vacuum and turned rod to kindling. She is still alive but I seriously thought about you know what but refrained as she basically is a good person. (Bill Walsh)

Though it didn't involve personal injury (though your wife was close to it), I think this deserves to be added to the "Extreme Rodmaking" portion of the tips site!  (Todd Talsma)

First thing Mama taught us was put your toys away! Ed Engle also writes about putting your rod away first even before taking your waders off. This is a first though, "Fly rod eaten by monster vacuum cleaner!" Sounds like the makings of a good sci fi movie! :>) (Joe Arguello)

About 26 years ago I build my first fly rod using a Lamiglass blank.  I finished it on Easter Eve and decided to get up early on Easter morning and ride my bike to the local pond for the maiden voyage.  I was preparing to turn into the pond when I thought I heard someone yell my name (don't ask me why I thought someone would be calling my name at 6:00 AM on Easter - maybe it was the Bunny or the Lord) so I turned to look over my shoulder and stuck the rod in the back spokes.  You guessed it, I broke off both sections at the ferrule.  Maybe it was the Lord and he was punishing me for being so bold as to go fishing on such a holy day.  However, I didn't let the experience deter me from building more rods.  By the way, even though Lamiglass guaranteed any rod broken while fishing they would go for the "while going fishing argument."   (Tom Key)

Talking about bikes and spokes makes me think of 2 bike accidents I had as a kid - One riding up a long a hill  on my way home from school I figured if I look straight down at the ground for a while when I look up again I will be nearer  the top. I rode straight into the back of a parked car. Luckily no-one was in the car to witness me slide off it still enmeshed in the bike. The other, I tried putting my feet on the front wheel nuts while going down the same hill on the way to school. The obvious happened frightfully quickly. While still airborne I heard the terrible clatter of my bike spreading itself over the road behind me. I miraculously landed very briefly on my feet after what my pride tells me was an elegant somersault with a full twist. Any delusions of elegance ended there however as I proceeded to do some undignified spreading of my own. When I came to a stop, and before the pain registered, I looked around in the hopes that no-one had seen. It was just as well the  guy who was walking his dog on the sidewalk had stopped or he would almost certainly have tripped over his jaw and joined the mayhem. In both cases I got away with minor injuries but the latter left me with a seriously bruised foot for a seriously long time. I have had a healthy respect for bicycle spokes ever since!  (Stephen Dugmore)