Made in America CNY Edition: A look at outdoor products
By: Chelsea Rarrick
Updated: November 23, 2012
Jordan Ross always knew he wanted to do something in fly fishing.
In 1997 he opened up a fly shop in New York Mills, but after nearly 10 years, he had a slight change in plans.
"I just wanted to be the world's best custom fly rod builder," he said.
In 2006 Jordan decided to just have a workshop where he could work on personalized fly rods for customers all over the world.
And it was then that JP Ross Fly Rods in Whitesboro was born.
"I wanted them to be an expression of the customer, not necessarily me. It was all about the user that they would enjoy fishing with it," said Ross.
JP Ross Fly Rods focuses on making small fly rods that are short and flexible for catching small fish in small streams.
And the fly rods aren't just a hit in Central New York.
Jordan has sold more than 5,000 of them across the country, and even around the world.
"I recently shipped a rod to Moscow," he said.
Every fly rod includes the customers name, a feather inlay, and other types of customized detail depending on what the buyer wants.
And while Jordan can't give away all his techniques to making the product, he says the process isn't a quick one.
"There's machining that's been done, there's graphite that's been rolled into it and everything, so at the very minimum there's 24 hours of glue, setting up, oven time, thread wrapping no matter what you do," he said.
Similar to Jordan's outdoor craft, Andy Putrello, owner of Solo Scientific has created some outdoor gadgets of his own.
He's been inventing ever since he was a teenager and started in company in 2008 to first manufacture hydrogen fuel cells, but decided to switch gears.
"The product that first took off was the Aurora Fire starter and that has really been selling well for the last several years," said Putrello.
The fire starter is used by Navy Seals and is one of the few fire starters in the world that's protected from salt water.
After that product took off, Putrello designed the Ion Flashlight Fire Starter, which is a flashlight and a fire starter that can cauterize wounds in the field.
"It was originally designed to have in airplanes for pilots. It's just a little bit more of a modern fire starter," he said.
Over the past years, Putrello has sold over $600,000 worth of Aurora Fire Starters.
But for hi, it's not the fire starters or flashlights themselves that he wants customers to remember.
It's what they represent.
"What they represent is that you can make your own work. You can design, invent a product, bring it to market and make your own company," he said.
And like Andy, Jordan Ross' hand crafted work is more than just a fly rod.
He hopes it can get others like him inspired to design a work of art of their own.
"If you want to do something, you should do it, and you should do it yourself," he said.
In 1997 he opened up a fly shop in New York Mills, but after nearly 10 years, he had a slight change in plans.
"I just wanted to be the world's best custom fly rod builder," he said.
In 2006 Jordan decided to just have a workshop where he could work on personalized fly rods for customers all over the world.
And it was then that JP Ross Fly Rods in Whitesboro was born.
"I wanted them to be an expression of the customer, not necessarily me. It was all about the user that they would enjoy fishing with it," said Ross.
JP Ross Fly Rods focuses on making small fly rods that are short and flexible for catching small fish in small streams.
And the fly rods aren't just a hit in Central New York.
Jordan has sold more than 5,000 of them across the country, and even around the world.
"I recently shipped a rod to Moscow," he said.
Every fly rod includes the customers name, a feather inlay, and other types of customized detail depending on what the buyer wants.
And while Jordan can't give away all his techniques to making the product, he says the process isn't a quick one.
"There's machining that's been done, there's graphite that's been rolled into it and everything, so at the very minimum there's 24 hours of glue, setting up, oven time, thread wrapping no matter what you do," he said.
Similar to Jordan's outdoor craft, Andy Putrello, owner of Solo Scientific has created some outdoor gadgets of his own.
He's been inventing ever since he was a teenager and started in company in 2008 to first manufacture hydrogen fuel cells, but decided to switch gears.
"The product that first took off was the Aurora Fire starter and that has really been selling well for the last several years," said Putrello.
The fire starter is used by Navy Seals and is one of the few fire starters in the world that's protected from salt water.
After that product took off, Putrello designed the Ion Flashlight Fire Starter, which is a flashlight and a fire starter that can cauterize wounds in the field.
"It was originally designed to have in airplanes for pilots. It's just a little bit more of a modern fire starter," he said.
Over the past years, Putrello has sold over $600,000 worth of Aurora Fire Starters.
But for hi, it's not the fire starters or flashlights themselves that he wants customers to remember.
It's what they represent.
"What they represent is that you can make your own work. You can design, invent a product, bring it to market and make your own company," he said.
And like Andy, Jordan Ross' hand crafted work is more than just a fly rod.
He hopes it can get others like him inspired to design a work of art of their own.
"If you want to do something, you should do it, and you should do it yourself," he said.
Comments
Made in CNY are the products that shape our community. Thank You Great story..
Susan J.
November 26, 2012 at 3:33 pm
