Hi Guys!
Another question here. Who do you recommend for turning custom reel seat inserts? I like to offer my customers a wide selection of exotic woods, including dyed burls and the like so I would want to have the option of ordering many different types of woods from the same craftsman. I did a search on the web and found Dave Winslow's site. Do any of you know him? If you know of anyone else, please let me know. Thanks for all of your help!!
Andrew

P.S. Does Andy Dear still turn wood inserts?

Inserts by Les (on the left) is a sponsor of this site.

Mike

make your own and cut out the middle man ??? Even just simple wood inserts natural or even colored and cleared. Gives them some thing to get an idea of what you can do. Same as turning a handle only smaller.

Bill,
That's a great idea!! I have a hobby lathe sitting in the garage that I've been planning on using for quite awhile but, as you know, those things we want to do the most usually end up waiting the longest! I need to invest in some good tools and figure out a finish product in order to start turning inserts. Do you have a finish that you recommend? I guess you would need something scratch resistant, waterproof, and flexible enough to allow for expansion and contraction of the wood grain. Thanks for any info!
Andrew

Andrew, Cutting your own seats is a lot of fun. If you turn nonstabilized wood, a regular wood lathe will work, if stabilized wood, I use a mini metal lathe, just easier to work with. As far a sealing the nonstabilized wood, I highly recommend Birchwood Casey, Tru oil, which is used on gun stocks, it gives a very nice finish, very tough, as far as water, and if scratched, just reapply another coat. The Tru oil is sold in most sporting stores that sell guns.

Andrew, I would HIGHLY recommend that you get Andy Dear's excellant DVD on turning for the rodbuilder. He goes into detail on reel seat inserts and butt caps as well as tools, turning tips, etc.

Like Galen said, Tru Oil is the ticket!! Great stuff


Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I do a lot of woodturning and can tell you that turning stabilized wood on a wood lathe is very simple, really no different than turning unstabilized wood, just slower because of the resins in the wood. Andy's DVD will get you started, but I would caution you about tools because a spindle gouge is not the right tool to use unless you're turning spindles - that's why they're called spindle gouges. For straight grained wood, basically everything except burls, the correct tool to use is a skew. I have three spindle gouges and have not used any of them in months. I use a skew on all straight grained wood, and a round nose scraper on stabilized wood, burls, antler and acrylics. I normally start sanding at 320 grit. Email me if you have questions.

Your lath is sitting in the garage ?? Heck I got a home made one. Works OK. Break that puppy out get some books make your own.

Heck - wish I had a garage ???? You can color with some tints mixed into thinner. Wipe on, wipe off, grasshopper. Many different effects you can get

Andrew,

I always try to support the sponsors of this board in appreciation for their efforts in providing this resource. It has been a tremendous help to a lot of people. As Mike mentioned, Inserts By Les is a sponsor and I can tell you first hand that he is excellent to do business with and makes a very good product. I would encourge everyone to provide as much support to the sponsors as well but to directly answer your question: I have also done business with Dave Winslow. He does excellent work and is extremely helpful and accommodating.

I second the use of the skew. I generally start with a roughing gouge and then go to the skew once it's round. If I were going to turn many reelseats I would probably choose a metal lathe; it just easier to maintain tolerances.

guys,
thanks for the info! After talking with my dad, I think I have a better solution for turning reel seats than my hobby lathe. He owns a CNC machine shop that has a CNC lathe that we can use to turn our own seats on. Now I just need some help with the finish. The True Oil is a good suggestion and I will probably use it when applying a satin finish to my inserts but if I wanted to apply a glossy, hard finish, what product(s) would be a good choice? Thanks for your help.
Andrew

That's the nice thing about Tru Oil. Any type finish you want. High gloss = more coats
Mike

Or you can get a glass like finish with CA in about 15-20 minutes rather than a week.

I like to use lacquer or CA glue to get a hard finish, finish sanding up to 1200 grit and then buff. CA glue is great I tend to apply it with a paper towel and then shoot it with accelerator (wear a mask).