Getting back into rod building. I have a couple projects going now! Being from WI, I make mostly walleye jigging and musky casting rods, with an occasional UL or fly rod for panfish and trout. I have done several feather inlays which looked really nice. I am doing a walleye rod for my father who uses buck-tail jigs, almost exclusively. Anyone ever pull off some sort of whitetail deer - buck-tail inlay that would resemble a lead-head jig?

Tough project. Bucktail is rather course. Might present some issues with height and finish depth. But worth some creative consideration.

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Perhaps incorporate into the handle. Seen a rod that had a hair jig inset in the handle. Don't know how it was done. Was a cork handle. Looked like a section big enough to fit the jig was cut out to the center line. That section had the jig in it. Then it appeared as though the section was filled over the jig with clear pourable resin, like used to fill voids in natural wood slab furniture. I assume some kind of mold was used to achieve the same contour as the grip. Or maybe the grip was turned and polished on a lathe after pouring. Wish I had more info to give you. But at least it's another line of thought to consider.

Hmmmm....veeerrrry interesting. I have fished a lot of bucktails.....even shot my own deer and made jigs from the tails.
Maybe find a very small jig head......split it in half somehow on the centerline ...applysome hair...and then work out something like Michael describes. Perhaps in the space in a split grip handle?
I would love to see some pics if you get it done. Good Luck

Like Tom said, it's going to take a lot of epoxy to cover even a small jig. Why not do a pen & ink drawing on the blank.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Build the bucktail jig on the blank. Hammer out a small piece of lead and shape it.

Has anyone tried to carve out a cork handle to inlay inside it? On a cork handle with enough material you could carve the handle down in the shape of the jig. Then place the full jig in and fill it with epoxy. Then clean and flush the edges to the cork and seal the cork with U-40.

Scot, could you do a weave of the bucktail

Out of curiosity, I planed down a jig hook on my orbital yesterday. It worked well and the hook was half of its thickness upon completion. I put it in a vise and radiused the bent portion of the hook. Had it almost done and broke the hook. Next time I'll use a little torch heat to soften the metal before bending it. I know if I can get the hook to lay flat on the blank that creating a "half" bucktail and a flat shaped lead head would work.

Mark Brassett Wrote:
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> Out of curiosity, I planed down a jig hook on my
> orbital yesterday. It worked well and the hook
> was half of its thickness upon completion. I put
> it in a vise and radiused the bent portion of the
> hook. Had it almost done and broke the hook.
> Next time I'll use a little torch heat to soften
> the metal before bending it. I know if I can get
> the hook to lay flat on the blank that creating a
> "half" bucktail and a flat shaped lead head would
> work.

Mark.....why incorporate the hook at all? I was thinking the head and the hair would be enough. The hook is implied. :)

I didn't think of that. I'm sure it would look nice but the hook would make it super custom.

Great ideas! What I am going to try is creating a mini-jig sort of "thing" about the size of a feather inlay using dyed buck tail strands. I'm going to tie them off to resemble the thread-wrapped collar, and speck of fluorescent paint to resemble the jig head. I was planning on omitting the hook. I like Mark's idea of thinning one out and wrapping it with the natural curve of the blank. With it scaled down, maybe a fly hook that resembles a jig hook. This is a couple weeks out. If it turns out, i will post a picture. Thanks for the ideas!

Hey Scot.......any update on this? I am very curious.