Another question for the great ones here.

I've been buying the ready made graphite 'foam' arbors for my reel seats. I've seen several posts referencing using 'brick foam' to make these yourself.

Is this the same stuff that florists use, THAT 'brick foam', or are we talking another animal altogether? I know it was explained in an old issue of Rodmaker, but I just started my subscription....(I really should get the back issues...)

And has anyone tried the two part expanding epoxy foam stuff (they sell it for making floating lure bodies) to make arbors? You could fill an entire reel seat with this stuff, then drill and ream it to fit like cork, and it's very lightweight and strong. Just a thought.

Thanks,

Buddy S.

The arbors we mentioned in RodMaker are the ones supplied by both Fuji and Pac Bay. Clemens also used to sell the stuff in "stick" form and you could turn and size your own. Many times you see them listed as "graphite" arbors but that is a bit misleading. They are better, in fact, than true solid graphite arbors would be as they are almost as rigid but much, much lighter.

The florist type foam is not as rigid as these, but may be every bit as light or lighter. I suppose you could experiment with some but I don't think it is going to work as well. I also tend to remember that the florist stuff tends to break down over time.

I have heard of people using the expanding foam for making seat arbors, or just filling seat and then drilling it out. Good for them - always worth trying something new.

For me, the quickness and ease of use of the brick-foam arbors just outweighs anything else I am currently aware of. The strength and light weight they offer is the best of anything I have yet found.

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A couple of years ago I got a request for a special rod. I was asked to bu ild a 6.25' spinning bass rod for a physically impaired lady. She needed a rather large diameter grip and reel seat. For that I installed a H.A.P.S. #26 (1" I.D.) reel seat to a 7/16" O.D. blank. For this, I turned some EVA foam grip down to ID of the seat and cut it into rings. I glued the rings into place as you would apply masking tape and then pour the gaps full of epoxy holding the rod vertcally as I slid the seat on. It worked.

I never did continue to experiment with arbors. I build most of my rods on blanks of about 1/2" OD with #16 Reel seats and simply build up tape rings and fill with epoxy. Or I use exposed blank real seats.