![A close up shot of white acrylic jigs, several feet long by about an inch wide, are lined up next to each other on a workbench](https://imrccenter.umaine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/471/2023/06/IMG_6468-e1687977510739.jpeg)
Thomas Rod Company: A Community Tradition
![Thomas Rod Co. fishing rods displayed on top of an antique trunk](https://imrccenter.umaine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/471/2023/06/image4-300x300.jpeg)
Thomas Rod Company of Brewer, Maine, approached the IMRC Center with a request to use contemporary technology to support traditional techniques going back well over a century.
The company creates hand-hewn Tonkin cane bamboo fishing rods, using practices not far removed from those used by F. E. Thomas when he founded the company in the late 1890s.
Thomas fly-fishing rods are renowned for their exacting detail, and IMRC Center fabrication technician Sean Taylor cut Delrin-style jigs to assist in production: “These jigs have super specific measurements,” Taylor states. “We were able to help them continue this ancient craft.” Check out a short video of the saw in action below.
![A close up photo of a fishing rod production jig being cut](https://imrccenter.umaine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/471/2023/06/image3-225x300.jpeg)
![White acrylic jigs, several feet long by about an inch wide, are lined up next to each other on a workbench](https://imrccenter.umaine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/471/2023/06/IMG_6467-225x300.jpeg)