I just bored out a zebrawood reel seat with a bastard file and elbow grease. There has got to be a better way, and I am hoping someone can tell me what it is. I bruised the crap out of my hand doing it. The only good thing was the pain took my mind off the fact that the only thing on TV was American Idle. What is the best way to bore a hardwood reel seat?

Hi Mitch,
Flex-Coat sells a set of spade bits that have steel pilots on the front that follow a 1/4 in. hole.
You can get them from several of the sponsors. One I can recommend highly is @#$%&.
Mark Griffen and Colleen are top notch!!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I try hard to select hardwood seats that are not so boring. Going through them all can be quite a task. Ok, I could'nt resist! Give me a break.

Tom Nair Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I try hard to select hardwood seats that are not
> so boring. Going through them all can be quite a
> task. Ok, I could'nt resist! Give me a break.

What you should have said is "quite a pain!!" LOL!




Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I know what you mean Mitch. I solved that problem with the purchase of a wood lathe. I don't know why I put myself thru that all these years. Also I never could get them centered very well. If you have a drill press there are several articles, I think, in RM that tell you how to turn your drill press into a lathe. Good luck.

Big John
Rio Hondo, Texas
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting

Even with a drill press it can be tricky to remain perfectly centered on a piece. The best way is to spin the work and hold the drilling bit stationary - ie., the wood lathe. Your rod lathe will also work for too, though not as fast, if you have a tailstock boring tool.

Lou

Get a mandrel from Andy Dear. (new type with collar) Drill it first, put it on the mandrel, then turn it on the wood lathe. Your hole will always be centered on the reel seat. I have been very pleased with mine.

I would not recommend the Flexcoat bits. They are fine for cork, but the 1/4 inch tube is epoxied on and melts if you use it on wood. I ruined one trying it on wood.

Ed Smith

The best thing to do is find a seat that is as close as possible to the bore size you need but hardwood reel seat bores can be enlarged by using sharp drill bits rather than files if you do it by hand in incremental steps. You need to have a drill chuck that can held by hand and chuck a bit in it one size larger than the bore. Work this bit into the reel seat bore by hand until you have opened the bore to the bit size you are using. Repeat this operation increasing the bit size each time until you have reached the desired bore. I do this in increments of 1/32, It isn't fast but it is easier than filing and reduces the risk of splitting the seat.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Mitch,
I'm going to take a little different tack on trying to answer your question. It sounds to me that you reamed out the reel seat insert with the Bastard file rather than bored it out. I can not think of how you could actually bore the initial hole through the reel seat insert with a file. If I am correct in my assumption, then I would recomend that you mount the Bastard file in a hand drill and run the drill in reverse. This will allow you to ream out the reel seat insert in about one or two minutes with no problems. You MUST run the drill in reverse or the file teeth will bite into the wood and you'll never get it out withoput destroying the insert. I hope this helps.

Jim Smith

We'll have a new and improved way of enlarging the hole on an existing reelseat witout a lathe, drill press and without using a rat-tail file......stay tuned.

For those of you coming to Charlotte you'll get to see the prototype!

Andy Dear
Lamar Mfg.

Add one more thing to the Charlotte to do list.Thanks Andy.I can only attend on Saturday so I will have my work cut out for me.I have to make it back on Sunday by noon for a charity event.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Thanks a lot, wow so much information. I'm glad there wasn't any football on today so I had time to read it. Jim was right, I was reaming it, not boring it. ( There's a really dirty joke there, but I'm not touching it. Damn it!!) However, all the information is great because I am going to be trying to build a reel seat next. But, that's a couple rods down the road.

Andy, I'll keep watch your website for the new products. Thanks for the heads up. I'm afraid the more I get into this, the more likely it is I'll end up with your paypal account on speed dial.

Jim I tried the drill, but I didn't know to put it in reverse. I'm still not certain how you would keep it true. I had the same problem with the lathe, I wasn't sure how to keep it from getting skewed. I would really hate to screw up a high end wood reel seat, or end up with the reel not sitting true to the rod. Is there just some of that you just have to live with? If someone is going to pay me for it, I want to do it right. When people use a rod I custom built, I want them to be impressed. Not just with the looks of the thread, but with the complete performance of it. The looks are amazing, but I don't want to sacrifice any of the performance. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to write and help me minimize my mistakes.

Thanks,
Mitch

Mitch,

If you are using a drill, you must first cut off some/most of the tang on the Bastard file. This will allow the file to be placed into the drill chuck and held tight. Then you have to adjsut the file in the chuck a couple of times to get it to run as true as possible. Once you have this accomplished, you can begin to ream out the reel seat. Remember, ALWAYS run the drill in reverse for this operation. It will not be micrometer exact, but that will not be a problem. Do the reaming a bit at at time and check it often to make sure that you are not taking out too much material. When you get the insert to slide smoothly down into position without having to force it at all, you're all set. The Rod Bond that you will use to attache the reel seat and insert to the rod will fill any minor gaps. Keep in mind that reel seats with metal/composite inserts are not fit this closely and must have arbors fitted to ensure a tight fit on the rod. Your reel seat will do just fine and if properly glued to the blank will give someone a lifetime of enjoyment.

If you're using a lathe, you will need a self centering lathe chuck on the powered end of your lathe and a drill chuck on the other end. You would then use a long drill bit to drill out the hole to the correct diameter.

Good luck and keep building.

Jim Smith

I use rat-tail files (chucked into a hand drill) first, then move up to larger reamers chucked into my lathe for more reaming. The reamers used in my lathe are pieces of rod blanks or golf club shafts that have had the flex coat adhesive belt epoxyied to them. Despite the fact that I've been told that wood would destroy the flex coat abrasive, I've reamed quite a number of wood grips/inserts/etc. with them. They're still going strong.

Now, you must understand that I always use non-stabilized wood (it's cheaper). If you're using stabilized wood, then you're on your own. I don't know how to get that stabilized stuff reamed--it's incredibly hard. I wrecked a whole set of rat-tail files on one stabilized insert awhile back.

I haven't tried it yet but I plan to try a rat-tail file in the lathe tail stock drill chuck -very, very carefully & slowly to see how it works. It might split the reel seat, but it 's worth trying. Stan