what tool do i need to mortise my wood flyreel seats?i have a router and think there is a bit for this. i have been doing it by hand and it is a pain. thanks.
Phil Dooley

If you watch @#$%& Bob Venneri sold a few on @#$%&. I have one if interested Email me.
Thanks Dave

I'd be very interested in finding that out too. Is anyone out there curently making mortised inserts for slide band seats?

I recently ordered a "Fingernail" bit to make my own mortised inserts but it's not quite right. The radius seems ok however the height of the tool is too big. I could probably grind the tool down and make it work but I'd like to know if there is anything out there that will work as is. I might just try ordering a different size.

Mark

I am aware of 2 types of the reel seat mortise "inset and surface".
What I call a surface mortise is a bigger radius milled into the insert - there are no "wings" only a "flatter" spot.
What I call an inset mortise is a similar radius to the insert, and when cut it leaves wings on a visible groove.

An oversized fingernail bit will do the surface mortise, but there is no commonly manufactured bit for the insert mortise.
The inset mortise needs the top and bottom profile to come back to about 30-45deg or parallell to the bit shank, so a fingernail bit will need to be reshaped..
On a surface mortise you don't want the top and bottom profiles doing any cutting so no need to reshape.

I took an insert I ordered to a local sharpening/router bit place. They charged me like $35 for the fingernail bit and re-shaping it.

HTH,
Christian

The reel seat needs to move horizontally , and rotate . While the router needs only a small bit. You should be using a ROTO-ZIP, or DREMEL , over head with a vertical adjustment, then locked in place. Then move the seat, ( or any part, foregrip, etc.) left & right & lengthwise .

Dave von Doehren
PRRODS......If man built it , man can fix it.and if man built it man can break it !

David,

I was thinking of a solution that I could use that would basically do the same thing you propose. I work in a machine shop and I could set something up in the CNC millng machine and run a surfacing program to do just that. However that is a lot more cumbersome than I'd like. I really want to just set something up in the router table and do it in one shot. I will probably end up grinding the fingernail bit that I ordered to get the profile I want, but I was really hoping that there was something out there that would work off the shelf.

Mark

Re the question about pre-made mortised inserts--REC sells these in many natural and stabilized woods. You'll need to specify diameter and there will be an additional charge if you need a diameter that isn't a standard size in their production line.

Where did you get the bit??
Thanks Dave

Mortising Reel seats isn't difficult if you use some tipe of router table with an adjustable fence.
The fingernail bits can be perched from [www.mlcswoodworking.com]
Make sure you get the right size for the reel seat or insert that you will be mortising (slightly less than the OD. size of the wood to be mortised)
You will also need to make a Jig to ride aginst the fence.

[www.rodbuildingforum.com]

Good Luck

Bob







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2005 12:19AM by Robert Farrand.

Dave,

I got the bit from MLCS (the link is posted above.) The probem is that the radius is the right size but the depth of the bead is too high. So if I were to use the tool as is it would make an appropriate sized mortise but the mortise would not have the small flats on the side. I really like the flats because they keep the reel foot from moving side to side.

It's not really that big of a deal but if I'm going to take the time to make my own inserts I'd like them to be exactly what I want. I will just have to spend some time at the grinder to make it work.

Mark

Robert Farrand Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Make sure you get the right size for the reel seat
> or insert that you will be mortising (slightly
> less than the OD. size of the wood to be
> mortised)

In the example I am using a 5/8 fingernail bit and the OD of the reel insert is larger than 5/8
this produces a small bead on each side of the cut.

This medthod I copied from Wayne Cattanach book on bamboo rod making.

Bob