On my first rod build. It took 2 hours with a round rat tail file. Even if I have to pay for a dream reamer I never want to use a rat tail file for that job again. I also had to ream my nickel winding check, boy was that a lots fun (read with much sarcasm)!

l know about making reamers from broken rods, but unfortunately I do not have any. So is the only worthwhile choice left a set of dream reamers and if I'm only going to be building fly rods do I need the full set of dream reamers. I see myself building everything from small creek rods to salt water rods eventually if that maters.

Tom Wilson
"If fishing is like religion, then fly-fishing is high church." ~Tom Brokaw~



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2010 02:26AM by Thomas Wilson.

Tom,
I'm assuming that you are posting about a round metal rat tail file? If so you might check woodworking shops or on-line for round wood rasps. You'll still be doing by hand but removing a lot more material (cork, composite etc). Here's one source:

[www.midwayusa.com]


or you could make one by wrapping abrasive on a metal mandrel and chucking it in a drill. You can find steel rods and long strips of coarse sand paper at Home Depot / Lowes or just about any hardware store



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2010 11:42PM by Ken Preston.

I think dream reamer is the best option. You do not need to buy a whole set i8f you don't need them all. All but the smallest size can be chucked in a power drill to make the reaming go faster.

i am thrilled with my set of dream reamers but learned a quick lesson: don't run one in reverse. the sandpaper just came right off.

If you use them in a drill, just make sure you clean them often of the dust. It builds up and causes heat, which will ruin them.

Buy a mudhole special cheapo blank, buy Flex Coat reamr abrasive, and make yourself a full set. ALso but 4" EVA grips and put handles on them, any reamer w/o a handle is limiting.

If you make your own you are better off with the tape that is glued onto the shaft. The grit can come off and stay in the handle then when a handle is slid down the blank it will scratch the blank.

Bill - willierods.com

IMO, the best are the Swampland reamers ... but I do believe production has ended. Outside of that, the Batson Dream Reamer set OR simply making your own.

On my first attempt I used a round rasp in a drill and also some drill bits, going from small to bigger in very small increments, only took a few minutes to ream the holes and the fit was great. Not knowing any better worked great for me as that is probably not the way to do it...
Joe

If you are going to power ream, be sure to run them in REVERSE to keep them from seizing. I put a cordless drill in a bench vise with the chuck pointing UP. I chuck in Dream reamer or round file and run the grip down the reamer with the drill running in reserve. Go slow and back the grip off often.

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!!

Jim, Swamplands had a grip on them, and thy usd a 1/2" wide strip of I think 36 grit abrasive. I think mudhole was selling them for a while.

Billy Vivona Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jim, Swamplands had a grip on them, and thy usd a
> 1/2" wide strip of I think 36 grit abrasive. I
> think mudhole was selling them for a while.


Yep. I have a whole set. Mud Hole started selling their own version and no longer carries the original item. I thought that Lance (Swampland) would be selling them directly now, but I only see the Batson product on their site. The Dream Reamers are good, but IMO the Swampland reamers are better.

Mud Hole still shows the reamer adhesive in 25 ft rolls

Bill - willierods.com

We also still sell the Pro Reamers.

[www.mudhole.com]

And two grades of the reamer tape.

[www.mudhole.com]

Regards,

Todd

Regards,
Todd Vivian
Mud Hole Custom Tackle

todd@mudhole.com

The reamer story is one for the ages:

Flat out truth.

The Swamp Boyz decided to get rich quick by selling the first commercial reamers at High Point about four years ago.

Remember this picture?

[www.rodbuilding.org]

The Keepers of Clyde bought Batson blanks and chopped them up to made four sizes of reamers. I will not divulge that the cost of the materials to make these reamers. The selling price did not allow for anything called profit. We just wanted to go to the show pay our expenses and have some fun!

The cost of the Batson blanks killed us!

We took 1,300 reamers to the show - sold about 200.

Mike Barkley took a good look - smiled - and said - I can make these!

When the show closed we were standing there trying to figure out if Katsup or Mustard would make them taste any better.

Then Todd Vivian walks up -

Says he - "Where did you get your reamer stock?"

We bought blanks from company X.

He laughs and says - Call me an I will send you all the stock pieces you need to any dimensions you ask for for a very good price! When we found out how much we almost passed out on the floor.

Then Tom McNamara walks up and says:

You guys want to sell all the reamers left to Mudhole?

Dump time!

We smiled and thought our trip was successful.

No one would believe how many of the Swampland Pro reamers were sold by Mudhole!

When Lance gets up in the morning he had decisions to make - fill orders, build micro rods or make reamers!

I can tell you flat out there is not real choice between the three for a guy who want's to take a lunch break for boudin and raw oysters.

The Swampland reamer was designed for the custom builder who hand reams cork of all sizes.

Custom builders who wast the time to gather stuff, get very very messed up with sticky stuff and tear their hands to pieces should think twice about making a reamer. They all simply are too cheap and work very well.

Swampland Tackle currently lists the Batson Dream Reamer on the webdite and takes orders for the original hand reamer by email contact.

[www.swamplandtackle.com]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2010 12:22PM by Bill Stevens.

I will put my vote in for the dream reamer. I used many different methods before I got a set and what a time saver. I have not tried the others but can speak very highly of the dream reamers. Very sturdy and easly switches from drill to handle for a final tuning.

I also use the Dream Reamers and like Eric, they also have been a time saver for me. I mainly use mine on a drill.

Thomas,
You can really simplify your life.
Pick up a 1/4, 516th, 1/2 and 5/8th 10-15 inch coarse round file.

Cut tne handle end off of these files and round and or grind down the ends so that they fit into the end of a 3/8th or 1/2 inch drill.

Pick up a set of 15 inch aircraft extension bits up to size 5/8th of an inch.

Use a caliper to measure the size of the butt section of the rod, and the fore end section of the rod where the handle will fit.

Chuck the round files into the drill starting with the 1/4 inch file. Run the drill in reverse and size the butt and the fore grip end of the handle to be a perfect fit for each end of the rod using the one size or combinations of files to get the holes to the right size.
This will give you velvet smooth ends on the insides of your handles.

Then, select one or more of the aircraft extension bits and drill from each end 1/2 way through the handle starting with a small bit and gradually working large until you have drilled from the butt end of the handle to be up to the size of the butt of the rod.
Then, do the same thing from the tip side of the handle until you have the right fit. Clean out the handle using air pressure, and glue up the handle and reel seat with rod bond or other epoxy.

Using this system typically takes about 2 or 3 minutes per handle. You will never have to mess with sandpaper or glue, and the bits and files will virtually never wear out or need to be sharpened as long as you only drill rod handle materials.

If you have a huge taper on the handle you can go with 3 or 4 different sizes of drill bits as you go up the rods if you want to minimize gaps on the inside of the handle. Normally, with most tapers on most rod blanks, the use of two bits - i.e. one from the tip and one from the butt of the rod size gives you a handle with very little inside space that needs to be filled with glue.

Take care
Roger

Thoomas,
Or, if you are a production rod builder of certain rods, blanks and handles, you could do what commercial rod building manufacturing shops do. i.e. have a machine shop make a custom milled reamer for each specific blank that they manufacture.
Then , they simply have an operator, take the handles, run them up and down the reamer, and in 2 seconds, each handle has been prepped for the production line. Again, the use of a milled steel reamer results in a tool that never needs to be sharpened again as long as common rod handles are being reamed.

You can get a machine shope to mill a reamer for you for somewhere in the vicinity of $100-$500 - depending on lenght taper and flute design.


Take care
Roger

Or he could just buy the premade reamers and be done with it, lol. The steel files do not work well with EVA or Hypalon, although most people don't ram foam out they just buy the right size to start with.