I was at the book store today, and was paging through a book about turning pens on a lathe, and found some cool looking stuff in there. The one thing was something called either color board or color wood, I forget, but it was basically a block of wood laminated together from thin peices dyed different colors, then when you turn it down it had this really cool looking striped pattern. They showed you how to cut it on an angle to get diagonal stripes and whatnot. they said it was about the same as regular wood as far as how easy it was to turn. But, they didn't say where you could get the stuff. Has anyone seen this stuff? do you know if it comes in blocks big enough to make reelseats out of? I think it would be really neat, I never saw anything like it!

I bought some at the local WoodCrafter's Supply store in Richmond, VA (they are on-line at woodcrafters.com, I think, and have retail outlets at various cities around the country). It came in a block a little over 3/4" square by about 5" long, which is enough for a size 16 Fuji DPS insert.

I bought the interlocking diagonal pattern stuff -- not the regular Pakka wood type which is in a straight, horizontal pattern -- and it looks unique, to be sure. I used the color pattern with black and white checks, or diamonds, or whatever you want to call it. I used it for an insert on a display model on an 8-wt fly rod built for bass and used the bottom inch of it as the base for a wood/cork fighting butt. Some folks liked it, some looked over their glasses like it was a booger on a birthday cake. If you look at it long, it takes you to the 60's and plays Jimi Hendrix rifts in your head. Anyway, one guy liked it enough to take it home.

If you don't find the web site and want to, drop me an e-mail and I'll look up the store on a flyer I have around.

started answering my own questions. found colorply at [www.willardbrothers.net],
and also dymond wood at www.pennstateind.com

Most of the pen turning supply houses have materials that can be used for making some nice reel seat inserts. The only problem is the sizes are usually limited to 5/8 inch diameter. By the time they are turned round you are looking at 1/2 inch diameter max and that may be small for some reel seats. Just be careful when you order than get something large enough to actually use on a seat.

By the way, I spent 3 days this past week turning some inserts, inserts sections, winding checks and caps out of actual marble. Beautiful stuff. With the proper lubricant (water) it cuts and bores easier than you might think, but requires many hours of hand wet sanding to get the proper look. It is also very heavy compared to any type wood, but I could never find any of the "look-alike" acrylic marble blanks that really looked like marble. So I just used the real thing. I will find an application for these pieces. They are too nice not to use.

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Tom - "look-alike" acrylic marble = Corian??

You may want to try a knife making supply house such as Koval. I dont't have their address in front of me, but they do have some interesting laminated woods and other materials. Bob Vasko

I recently bought some corian on @#$%& and plan to use it in reel seats as a substitute for ivory/bone/antler. But you guys are right , it doesn't look anything like marble. It came in 3/4x3/4x5" sticks. Turns and polishes well. Probably could scremshaw it. StickyLine

Texas Knife Supply has the wood, and many other materials, in blocks suitable for turning. www.texasknife.com