you guys are a great help!!

are any of you doing anything for blank inlays besides feathers?

Im trying to come up with other Ideas but dont think there are many materials that flex enough ,or is the flex thing not a problem on the butt section of a rod?

I was thinking of using very thin brass or sterling cutouts curved to the blank and finished over.

dont know if it will stay put or crack finish?

any thoughts?

"Happy wrapping" John

John: Look at some of the things Jesse Buky does with hat pins! www.AMAZINGCUSTOMFISHINGRODS.com. John

Small fly tying hooks. But make sure they won't rust. If you can find stainless in small sizes 22 and below you have found a treasure. Can't find em anymore. Let you imagination go with hooks. Even use em to make hook keepers. I don't think regular hooks will rust if completely covered in the finish. Anyone know for sure?
ELrod

Just a bit different, but years ago a fellow named Wolfe was making fly rods with wrap inlays of fine copper wire. They were very elegant.


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Funny I was just now wondering if anybody has ever tried using butterfly wings. I have acouple of ideas on how it could be done, but was just wondering if it's been done.

A few years back the company I work for, (my day job), merged. We had big shots retiring by the droves with their golden parachutes, my boss was one of them. He asked me to make a couple of rods for two of our retiring VP's. I'd been doing feather inlays for years and I wanted to try something different and unique so I got some small rub on decals of my company's logo and inlaid them just in front of the hosel and inlaid feathers underneath. They were great looking rods and I received more orders and several letters of thanks from the men the rods were made for. I still receive calls from people who saw those rods wanting something similar. Right now I'm building a spinning rod for a long-time customer that he plans to give to his brother for christmas. He asked for the wraps to be in the colors of the St. Louis Rams football team, (blue & gold), which was no problem, but now I'm looking for a Rams decal which I will inlay just in front of the hosel. With a little imagination this area is limitless.

Good Luck!!

As for the rams decal, try this. Go to their website or others and find a picture of what you like. Save it to your computer. Now open the pic in any software program that allows manipulation (MS paint, Word, etc...) Once you get it like you want, either print it yourself onto high quality photo paper or heavyweight paper. Cut out using razor knife. Now find a marker that closely matches the edge color and touch up the edge of the paper (will show white where it has been cut). Use fixative, let dry, apply to blank using 50/50 CP and water mix. Another alternative is touch up the border with the same color as the blank (easy if black). One more option is have a professional printing company print it onto vinyl decal material.
The only thing I am not positive on is the long term color fastness of the ink. I have a new printer using the new Epson ink which is "supposed" to be UV resistant.
I built an anniversary Trout Unlimited rod for a TU baquet @#$%&. I downloaded the new TU logo and proceded as above. I used a black underwrap where the decal went to accentuate the decal (it was on a SCIV matte green blank) Worked great! We will see on the long term color fastness.
Just an idea.
Elrod