Roger, sorry if I wasn’t clear the reel seats are two piece. Between the two pieces I have a pine bark insert spanning that distance 1.5in. What I have in mind is finishing the bark including the insert previously mentioned and the rear and fore grip which are also pine bark. After finishing I’d like to go between the two piece grip on the pine bark insert and make a couple simple trim bands ther
Forum: rodboard

I’m building a 2 piece reel seat with a pine bark insert between the two. Does anyone have any experience applying tru oil to pine bark, wrapping with thread and then epoxying over the tru oiled pine bark. Problem I’ve definetly found is nine bark rapidly soaks up epoxy so I definetly need to seal the bark first before epoxying the thread. HELP!
Forum: rodboard

The only real challenge I ran into with the bark grips was getting the face or glueing surface square so that the ring was the same thickness all the way around. Since it was my first attempt I only eyeballed this and without a micrometer you wouldn’t notice the difference. I did however end up with each individual ring (about 30 in total) varying in thickness from one to another. The reason bein
Forum: rodboard

Yes took the bark from a tree, dried them down, cut plugs with hole sole on drill press. Glued them together and sand them down. It went really well just a lot of dust and a lot of waste as in it took a lot more bark than I expected to get quality rings that I could glue up.
Forum: rodboard

I’m working on a casting rod for panfish for a customer. The knowns as of yet are the blank which I have from North Fork and the grips which are 5 1/2in long straight rear grip made from long leaf pine bark. It was my first try on the bark grips and they look great thanks to the help from the board here. I’m aiming for a dark grip, unfinished blank, a black thread and very modest pops of color wi
Forum: rodboard

Guys I'm placing an order for a group of blanks from NFC. Any experienced feedback is appreciated. I'm looking for blanks to fit the following techniques. Drop shot/ shakey head 7ft range with nice power fishing around deep cover 3-6lb largemouth, a 7'6-8ft punching rod and a 6-6ft med for poppers and floating rattling rogues. Then 3 other casting blanks outside of those that would cover most bas
Forum: rodboard