The front cap to match the rest of the grip and reel seat. The epoxy ramp blended in and picked up the blank color so well I don't even think I'll have to paint it. It looks the same color as the blank.
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Close up of the burl walnut reel seat.
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A grip a reel seat I turned from a nice piece of walnut burl I obtained from Washington state.
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Here is the simple yet effective jig for mortising reel seats for seats such as baston's U3. Thanks to Ron Hossack for giving me help and pictures of his set up (actually a friend of his). I just copied their set up and it works great.
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One of my first tries...this is cocobolo
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Maple Burl...my very first try at a mortised reel seat
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Spalted Maple...one of my first tries
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Spalted Maple on a U3 reel seat. One of my first tries
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First try at turning a real seat and wood caps to a grip
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Nothing fancy like many of the rods on hear but it turned out nice. Can tell my skills are improving. Sturblle HG15 real seat recoil single foot heavy size 2 AT titanium strippers 16 & 12 Prowrap 841 with silver trim bands epoxy ramp for winding check
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Just finished this St. Croix, Sc2/Sc4 2wt for small streams. The grip is blood wood, rosewood, tiger maple and spalted maple. The real seat is a mortised tiger maple. I had the but cap and reel seat engraved witht he rod and weitgt. First time I tried this. Put single foot recoils, size 1 with fugi stripper. This is a great casting rod and would recomend it to anyone building a short 2 wt
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Engraving done on but cap
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Engraving done on reel seat
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Here is my current project. Trying to get ready for fall fishing for trout in Arkansas with a new 3 weight. I tried something new on this rod. Used one of the acrylic blanks to see how it would work. Looks great but a little flashy on a trout rod, but will look great on a salt water rod.
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A look at the epoxy ramp so you can get an idea of the thread colors. I really like how the colors came out.
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Made of bloodwood, rosewood, tiger maple and spalted maple.
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I love my Dan Craft Signature V
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We'll be around Craig montana. Will have a 5 wt rod. The 6 if it gets windy or want to try some streamers. I'll borrow a 4wt from the Trout Shop if its not windy. The 6 is more or less a backup for rough conditions. But I want to take it and catch a trout on it. It is looking real sharp with the burl cherry seat insert and inlay into the grip.
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Here are my pics in order: 1) Recoil - great as they are supper light, flex with the blank and don't break, but expensive and hard to grind feet 2) Snake brand - if I'm not using recoil this would be my next pick 3) Any of the bastons, pacific bay or AT. Good thing about using these is if you try to repair the rod in 20 years you will be able to get a matching guide. Options 1 & 2 are
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Only used Flexcost, Flexcoat Lite and Threadmaster lite. Once I tried Threadmaster Lite I had no reason to try anything else...I love it....clear, flows well, and doesn't seem to hold bubbles as much but that may be because I moved to a mechanical mixer at the same time.
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Think I'll go with two strippers. They will be 16 and 12 AT nanolight, black with gold insert with Recoil SF 2s all they way to the end. Thanks. Drew, I'll let you know how i like the sc4/sc2 in the 6 wt. I have an sc4/sc2 in a 6' 2 wt and 6'6" 3 wt and I'd put them up against any sage or winston blank. However, my understanding is St. Croix changes their blanks thoughout the wei
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Building a 9' St. Croix Sc4/Sc2 fly rod for a trip to Montana next month. This rod will see a mixture of conditions over its life, occational western cold water, some trout fishing from a boat on tail water in Arkanasa, bass, and on rare occation maybe some saltwater fishing. I usually build lighter weight rods 2wt - 5wt and only use on stripper guide. I've got my guide spacing worked out an
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Called Mudhole and the process seems pretty straight forward. They were very helpful. Roger, I did not do as you suggested but I think I'm going to introduce that into build process on a go forward. I'm on about my eighth rod to build so I'm still learning some of the finer points...thanks for the suggestion.
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I'm calling them today. I'm hoping its some sort of impact damage. What was odd was that it greenstick fractured about 2 1/2 inches from the tip top then broke 1" below the first. So, actually broke in two places.
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