For the Love of Rod Building!
Bringing together individuals who are passionate about rod building, the vision of ThreadCentral is to be “the” place to go to learn and practice the artistic aspects of custom rod building.
Why build and decorate your own fishing rod? For some it is the satisfaction of making something unique, for yourself or others. For some it is the challenge of creating a thing of beauty and pushing the envelope of your creativity. And for some it is the sense of belonging to a greater community of like-minded souls who appreciate that it’s not just about blanks, threads and components, but a pathway to learning, friendships and the opportunity to build lasting memories.
Welcome to ThreadCentral!
About Dave
In the early 90’s, David Boyle made his first fishing rod, and from that moment onwards he was hooked on custom rod building. Fascinated by cross wraps, he wanted a way of designing his own, and by drawing on his engineering & software background wrote the VisualWRAP software.
Launched in 2002, the software is now the standard tool for working with decorative wraps, with thousands of licenses sold around the world.
A maker and tinkerer by nature, David authored various websites over the years, including the VisualWRAP bulletin board, providing a forum where thread artists could share information and patterns, long before social media was a thing. He also hosted the online guide wrap color-combo tool, introducing the concept of web-hosted selection tools for rod builders.
To promote and share his love of rod building, David launched the Sydney Rod Builders Club in 2003, which met monthly for 2 years. In 2007 VisualWEAVE was launched. Following this was Decorative Wraps Pattern Animations, an animated DVD showing wrap patterns developing thread-by-thread.
In 2018 the Taper Offset Spacing App was launched, bringing users the ability to calculate cross wrap spacings on a smartphone.
Passionate about finding new applications for technology, David combined his love of rod building and 3D Printing to create a brand new photo sweep stand for rod builders called the Snapper. The Snapper was launched at the 2019 ICRBE and is a no-nonsense, low-cost photographic kit designed to give rod builders the ability to take high-quality shots of their rods, with no particular knowledge of photography or specialized equipment required.
In 2023 David introduced the ThreadCentral Learning Center to the ICRBE. This concept of sponsored learning received great feedback after its first implementation.
David is a proud supporter of various rod builders and groups, providing sponsorship and charitable donations to many in the community. The architect of ThreadCentral, his focus is now on making the best rod building resources available to everyone interested in the craft, through online learning, physical products, teaching and collaboration. He is excited to be collaborating with Mary and making the world a better place, one rod at a time!
About Mary
Mary Christy is a custom rod builder with 12 years of experience working alongside her husband Wes Christy. Mary specializes in teaching decorative wraps to other custom rod builders using various forms of education including online classes, in person classes and live videos.
Mary’s online decorative wraps school allows her students to learn to wrap at their own pace, in their own homes.
Mary is involved in most social media sites, including Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
The Decorative Studio LLC was created to teach “All Things Decorative” and since the launch of the company Mary has also become a Foundation Outdoor Group Brand Ambassador.
Mary believes that every rod builder should have the opportunity to learn how to do decorative wraps or anything else that the community wants to learn, which is why she teaches everything she knows. Mary loves to watch the community grow. She hopes to witness the art continue to evolve, and her efforts inspire younger generations to become involved.
Mary runs The Southern Rod Builders Group and The Women’s Rod Building Alliance on Facebook in the hope that she can help others to think outside the box and challenge themselves to become the best that they can be. Wes and Mary also have a Podcast called Decorate It, where they discuss all the various ways that you can decorate or customize your rods to make them your very own. You can find it on all major podcast channels and also on YouTube.
Mary is very excited to be working with David Boyle through ThreadCentral and is eager to see what the duo can do to help the rod building community grow.