North Fork Composites: carbon blanks and rod building equipment

Gary Loomis has worked with carbon since 1974. That year, he developed his first graphite blanks with a small team of engineers. In 1982, he founded G.Loomis in Woodland, in the state of Washington. That company was sold to Shimano in the 1990s.

Gary Loomis then returned to blank making with North Fork Composites, also based in Woodland. The brand keeps a proven method: cutting the prepreg, rolling it on a mandrel, curing, then sanding. The work remains largely manual, and the shop's machinists design their own tools.

In 2015, North Fork Composites signed a distribution agreement with Batson Enterprises in the United States. Today, the brand designs blanks for bass, saltwater and fly fishing. It has also launched Air Carbon Mesh, a carbon mesh for wrapping rod guides. Its HM and X-Ray series build on the scrims and carbon materials developed by Gary Loomis.