Could someone recommend a wood insert for a skeloton reel seat that will hold up to saltwater?
Thanks

Any high resing content wood would be good. Any of the rosewood family for instance. Or any wood that has been stabilized with acrylic resin.

I can recommend the Customwood turning stock or inserts from Clemens Tackle.The turning stock will work only if you have a lathe or have a friend with one.I suppose you could take it to a woodshop/carpenter to have it done.Take the intended seat with you.

Pac Bay and Olympic Componentry also have seats/inserts but I have no experience with their products.

I have turned many different types of woods to make inserts, butt caps, trim rings, hostels, and handles. The only one I have found that water, fresh or salt, will not turn after a period of time is the custom wood. It is heavy and hard but you get what you pay for.

Try Mike Ludemann at Wood Stabilizing Specialists, Inc. (WSSI). You can find him at:

www.stabilizedwood.com

If you are like some of us and don't like the laminated veneer-type impregnated woods you will like this stuff from Mike. Absolutely gorgeous burl and highly figured woods (he's the only one I've ever used that sends you stuff exactly like or better than the pictures on the web page) and I have found them to hold up well even in the salt. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks for the lead. I am going to contact them tomorrow about some inserts I'd like to have treated. They have a very nice website. Nice to know it exists. Thanks again, Bill.

For the money, customwood is hard to beat. Got a question for Dick and or Don: I screwed in a new reel on my Fuji/ebony customwood fly seat while fishing this summer and later discovered that the reel manufacturer had not smoothed out the machining on the screw holes at the reel foot. The result is two small circles cut into the customwood. What's a good way to buff them out?
Clyde