I purchased a sheet of abalone from Mudhole, in a dark blue. It is gorgeous. I wanted to use it as a rod skin, but found that /if I try and wrap it around the rod blank, the abalone cracks, and starts flaking off of the adhesive, rendering it useless. I still have most of the sheet, and would like to use it for something where it would be decorative, and not subject to a lot of stress. Any ideas? Here's the product I'm talking about - [www.mudhole.com] in Starflake Blue Pearl. I have nowhere on tis rod to create inlays. Maybe it vould be used in a window reel seat.

Tight Lies and frisky fish

RJF

Update": Just watched a Mudhole Youtube video for using the abalone inlay material. After measuring, and cutting to the correct size, it needs to be soaked in boiling water that has just been removed from the stove, for about 5 minutes, or until the baking begins to separate. The, you remove the backing completely, and the inlay material is flexible enough to wrap around the rod blank without cracking. Follow up with epoxy coating to protect the natural abalone from cracking due to wear and tear.

I'll be trying this again, but on one of my personal rods first, just to make sure it works.

Tight Lies and frisky fish

RJF

There have been several articles in the magazine related to using abalone, and quite a few on Youtube. Yes, it has to be soaked in water, vinegar, etc., in order to soften it enough to wrap around a rod blank.

.................

Hello All.
Her are a few articles you can start with.

V/I Title Author Page
12/6 Abalone Revisited. By Kevin Knox. 22
11/5 Abalone, Nature's Hidden Beauty. By Kevin Knox. 22
14/5 Abalone, No-Crack. By Kevin Knox. 10



Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

There are many videos on how to prep the abalone, I'll give you my opinion.

Have your pieces of abalone cut and planned carefully before doing anything else.

The heat gun methods are very risky. It might work for some but I have not been able to make it work. Maybe I don't get it hot enough, but I've given up.

The hot water method is pretty robust; it works pretty well if you have the patience to let the product steep in the hot water until the back of it shows the water has penetrated most of the way through the backing. It will get dark as the water penetrates.

Then move quickly and apply it to the rod. I don't attempt to use abalone on blank diameters less than about 3/8 inch. Best for butt areas of the blanks, and best on larger blanks. You have one shot at it so get it aligned as best you can the first time. There is no successful second try. After wrapping it around the blank, use the backing paper to protect it from aggressive hard application of a burnishing tool to really mash it down against the blank. Then, with a piece of paper wrapped around the blank, wrap over the paper tightly with tightly stretched electrical tape. Leave the tape on overnight.