Just curious but what are most guys using to inlet(for the reel seat hoods) the end of their nice wood ended fly grips?

Forstner bits,spades,or...?

Did a few searches but found limited info(maybe I'm just not inputting the right info).

Thanks,
Tony

Tony, I use a forstner bit to inlet the reel seat into the grip. It will depend on the reel seat that you've got, they all are a little bit different. I think that the last one I inset was 22mm, you'll have to measure your hood and then figure from there. Btw I usually bore the inset with a forstner bit before I drill the hole for the mandrel, this way you can use the dimple left in the center by the forstner bit to center the hole you will drill for the mandrel and the hood inset will be centered.

Great tip, Mark. Thanks!

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've used both spades and forstners, but unfortunately I've yet to find an "off the shelf" size in either inch or metric that matches the hood diameters just right. Most of the seats I use are .760", .810" or .850". front hoods. These can be bored with 13/16" (for the .760") and 7/8" bits (for the .810 & .850) which leaves the hole oversized, but still small enough that the trim flange on the hood covers it. A band of 1/4" masking tape on the hood will ensure that it's centered in the hole. I used to bore the .760's with a 3/4" bit, then open them up a little with a Dremel, but stopped after tearing up a few...

In trying to get away from the tape shim, I started playing around with modifying the bit diameters. Speedbore bits (spades) are actually very easy to uniformly reduce the diameter on, however I've found that the longer pilots on these bits can be problematic on holes for the deeper hoods in certain types of burl, as they start to chatter pretty bad once you get to about 3/8" depth in a 1/2" piece of wood, as there's really no meat to "pilot' it in at that depth, and the long 1/4" shafts magnify the chatter. If you're going to use spades, make sure you stick with an Irwin Speedbore as the spurs on the outside of the cutting edge reduce this chatter quite a bit over a straight edged spade bit.

Forstners have a short pilot and a very rigid shaft, which eliminates the chatter problem, but a good one will set you back about 10X the price of a Speedbore. Funny timing on your post, as I'm dropping off some Forstners at the local sharp shop this morning to have the diameters reduced. We'll see how that goes...

Also, Dan Craft sells a flycutter with a 1/4" pilot/mandrel for inletting hoods. it comes with several insert type cutters and covers everything from .760 to I believe .900, but It's intended for recessing hoods in pre-formed cork grips. I'm not sure how the inserts would stand up to hardwoods .

Mark Griffin
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C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

Tony.

I use a Forstners as close to the hood size as possible but a hair smaller, then a dremel to fine tune the hole for a snug fit.

Harold

I too use a Forstner bit and fine a 3/4" or 7/8" meet most of my needs. If I need to enlarge the recess I use a Dremel drum sander attachment. They work great on wood and cork.

Thanks for the tips everyone(great one about using the forstner before drilling out for the mandrel Mark B).

There don't seem to be too many sizes of forstner bits available to fit most average fly reel seat hoods and I was wondering what other options there might be besides using the old Dremel to enlarge them(been using a Dremel with the barrel shaped grinding stones to inlet cork grips for years)

A number of years ago there was an auger style bit available that had and adjustable blade. It had a lead screw and was meant for use in a brace. I do not know if they are still available. I will try and get a picture of the one my father has.

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

One other source of forstner bits that I stumbled across is at Rockler. They have bits for coin collectors that are made for boring holes that fit the diameter of various coins. Perhaps one of those may work. Metric sizes can also work well.

Penny - 19.427mm (.764'')
Nickel - 21.577mm (.849'')
Dime - 18.287mm (.705'')
Quarter - 24.257mm (.955'')
Half Dollar - 30.987mm (1.219'')
Dollar - 26.877mm (1.058'')

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN