# Reel seat inserts (spacers)



## DLJeffs

Paul sent me some green osage that I thought might make some cool reel seat inserts. Here's two I finished so far. I don't have a skeleton to slip on there so you can see what they will look like in an actual reel seat. But trust me, they look awesome. When you turn them in the light, the colors change from black to green to gold fleck...really amazing. Photos can't capture that aspect. Must be the engrained mineral crystals or something. I wish I had some fly rods to build, I'd make Paul's green osage famous.

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## Patrude

nice work

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## Mike Hill

As many fly rods I have....errrrr.....seen......don't want the wife to know. I don't think I have ever seen an osage reel seat. I've got some rods to build - hmmmm you willing to part with one?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## DLJeffs

Mike Hill said:


> As many fly rods I have....errrrr.....seen......don't want the wife to know. I don't think I have ever seen an osage reel seat. I've got some rods to build - hmmmm you willing to part with one?



Mike - There's no such thing as too many fly rods. Sure, happy to get you one. I had to repair my lathe (the bushings were essentially gone on one set of pulleys) but it's good to go. Do you know what reel seat skeleton you want to use or do you want me to get one that i can match to when I turn the insert? I have to order some stuff from my buddy in Florida anyway so I can get a skeleton. I can also turn it round and then route a fingernail groove which allows for the use of two rings that slip over the reel foot - which a lot of people prefer on lighter weight rods. I will be out of town for a few days but if you aren't in a hurry, I will stabilize the other blanks Paul sent and turn them and you can choose which ever one you want. Maybe this will help you...here's the two I have turned with a skeleton on them. I plan to use at least one of these, and a buddy asked me to help him build a rod too so you'd be behind him in selecting an insert. If you're not in a hurry, I'll turn the other blanks and post photos in a week or two.

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## Mike Hill

One particularly fine blank I have is on a Payne taper - (very dense power fibers). Will probably fork out the $$ to go with a Bellinger down locking - will likely put a two-toned burl on it though. Another good blank also with a Payne taper I want to put one of Bellinger's Payne style up-locking. Others have not even thought much about except for some really featherlight and short blanks will probably do a ring on cork for the lightest one and ring on wood insert on others. Guess I would want the osage insert to be used on the Bellinger Payne style up-locking. That's too much thinking for the morning! Also have a blue collar Leonard to restore - will likely need a new seat, but not sure yet.

BTW - absolutely no hurry - have a Marblehead RC pond sailer to do before I touch any rods.

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## DLJeffs

Ooooohhh, I didn't realize you're talking bamboo. Personally for me, I like the simplicity and light weight of two slip rings on bamboo. It just feels right to me. I don't have any Bellinger reel seats (I might have a Bellinger insert I got years ago at the Denver Fly Tackle Dealer Show) but no guarantee the dimensions are the same as yours. I'll stabilize and turn the other osage blanks down to the major OD but do any final shaping until we figure it out. I'll post pics when they're done and you can decide then. You might have to either send me the dimensions of your reel seat skeleton or send me the skeleton and I'll fit the insert to it and send it all back to you. Or I can get a Bellinger skeleton, do the final fit and then send the whole thing to you. Bellinger downlocking ring

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## Mike Hill

I fish with anything - partial to bamboo, but regularly fish with a Helios (superfast and really punches thru wind) and various glass rods - sentimental - what I grew up with and like the action. I think I have something like 10 cane rods that need restoration, probably 6 cane blanks to build rods, and probably 3 glass blanks to build and at least 2 glass rods to restore. The only thing about the two rings, is that the Male chicken-eyed slanted rings after mounting drives me slightly batty. However, that lightest short blank is gonna get rings. It cries out for my 2 5/8" Hardy Perfect. I'll get the Bellinger seat and send it to you. It ain't gonna be real soon. If I get it, then I'll have to build the rod - and I've got other things I've started. LOL Heck, about 10 years ago I bought or made all the stuff to build cane blanks - planing form, winder, cane, curing/heating oven, Lie-Nelson block planes, etc... but haven't built the first one.


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## Gdurfey

@Mike Hill , I'm in the same boat. Bought 2 blanks at a fly fishing show probably more than 10 years ago (carbon fiber) and all the supplies and they are still sitting there. Wow, do you ever have a collection of rods!!! Do your read John Gierach by chance??? If you don't, you need to buy about 10 books of his. @DLJeffs , Doug, do the same thing; all 3 of us are addicts and John really pulls at my heart strings with his stories.

Now, i will return you to the woodworking forum you originally dialed into!


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## Mike Hill

I think the only 2 of his books that I've read are "Fishing Small Streams" and "Good Flies". Have some others, just haven't taken the time to break them open. At one of the local fly shops, we've got a foot locker of books that we all contribute to and anybody can read any of them they want. Sorta our own little fly fishing library. Haven't put my "good" and old ones in there though (read expensive here).

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## Gdurfey

Mike Hill said:


> I think the only 2 of his books that I've read are "Fishing Small Streams" and "Good Flies". Have some others, just haven't taken the time to break them open. At one of the local fly shops, we've got a foot locker of books that we all contribute to and anybody can read any of them they want. Sorta our own little fly fishing library. Haven't put my "good" and old ones in there though (read expensive here).



you need to read one of his "story" books; the antics he lands in, talking about his bamboo collection, etc is really great.


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## DLJeffs

Mike - no worries, when ever you get around to it. I'll get those other osage blanks ready and post photos and if you see one that brings you to the surface we'll do it. I've watched a couple friends build bamboo and am always impressed but it's not something I'd be interested enough to make the kind of investment needed. There's a shop just south of here that has all of HL Leonard's old original equipment. Really cool old history. The guy who owns the shop wants to sell it but he's looking for someone who will honor the history and keep it going. He has bamboo and Spanish cedar to make rods for the next 30 years.

Garry - I like Gierach but after a few his books they all start to sound alike. Check out E. Donnall Thomas; David Ames; and James Babb. I want to read Monte Burke's new book on tarpon fishing.

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## Mike Hill

H. E, Double Hockey sticks about reading a book about tarpon fishing - I want to go!! Used to catch baby tarpon as just a lad - way back before they left the Texas Gulf Coast - Now they are back - haven't had a chance. Went to Marco Island Florida in spring of last year for business. Hoping that they had started fishing, but still too cold and didn't get a chance to throw at any - threw at snook and reds instead and had fun. But no Silver! Had booked for this year, but the stupid virus hit. 

Man, Iff'n I was a few years younger, I might take a stab at that Leonard equipment. Hmmm...let me talk to a couple of people.

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## DLJeffs

I mentioned in another post I got my lathe fixed so I worked on a couple reel seat inserts this afternoon. Probably took a year off my life from breathing smoke in the garage but I couldn't sit inside any more. I finished the third green osage insert I stabilized a month ago and also finished the curly maple insert I stabilized at the same time. They both came out nice. Can't quite capture all the figure on the maple in a photo but it will look good on a blond bamboo or a dark green rod. The osage continues to amaze me.

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## DLJeffs

Finished up a couple more. And I had one catastrophic failure. It was a beautiful dark greenish black. Had maybe one more pass to take off .02 inch from the barrel and it fractured. There was an imperfection right at the shoulder. Bummer, I really liked the look of that one. Maybe I can salvage the remnant as a handle for something else.

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## DLJeffs

My buddy came over and we shaped his grip today and started wrapping the guides. Here's a close up of that green osage insert. I really like the look of this wood.

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## DLJeffs

Spent some time stabilizing some blanks and turning a few reel seat spacers today. I bought four 1"X1" X11" long pieces of spalted walnut (not sure it's spalted or just has nice contrasting grain, it's pretty in either case) from a WB member. Unfortunately I cannot remember who it was. But the walnut turned out beautiful. I also had a thuya burl that I had for several years and decided to turn it. But what was really cool was a piece of spalted ash that I think was included with the walnut. If you were the one who sold me that wood thank you very much. I stabilized 4 walnut, 2 ash, and the four pieces of spalted hackberry @El Guapo (Andred) sold me. Then I started turning. Here's the results.

The spalted ash is incredible. I included a photo of what it looked like out of the stabilizing tank and then the final reel seat insert. I'll be saving this one and the second one for a special rod.

Edit: Thanks Rob (@rob3232 ), I believe you're correct. I got the spalted walnut and that piece of spalted ash from Martin (@lonewolf ). Thanks Martin. That piece of ash didn't look all that special but it turned out incredible.

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## El Guapo

That spalted ash is a trip! Beautiful pieces, brother!

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## Mike Hill

Ok, you whippersnappes are always putting indecorous items on classic sweet cane! You need to immediately pack that spalted ash in a package and send to me. I'll make sure it gets put where it belongs. (hint - on a very nice 4wt blank from Stone that is so packed with powerfibers it'll probably have the ability to cast itself. Been debating sheoak, walnut burl, or two-toned amboyna)

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## Bean_counter

What’s the Wood in the second pic? I love that one


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## barry richardson

Mike Hill said:


> I fish with anything - partial to bamboo, but regularly fish with a Helios (superfast and really punches thru wind) and various glass rods - sentimental - what I grew up with and like the action. I think I have something like 10 cane rods that need restoration, probably 6 cane blanks to build rods, and probably 3 glass blanks to build and at least 2 glass rods to restore. The only thing about the two rings, is that the Male chicken-eyed slanted rings after mounting drives me slightly batty. However, that lightest short blank is gonna get rings. It cries out for my 2 5/8" Hardy Perfect. I'll get the Bellinger seat and send it to you. It ain't gonna be real soon. If I get it, then I'll have to build the rod - and I've got other things I've started. LOL Heck, about 10 years ago I bought or made all the stuff to build cane blanks - planing form, winder, cane, curing/heating oven, Lie-Nelson block planes, etc... but haven't built the first one.


Sorry for the dumb question Mike, but where, and what do you flyline fish for in Tennessee? I always thought it was a cold water/high country kinda thing. Never did this type of fishing, but it intrigues me.....

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## DLJeffs

Mike Hill said:


> Ok, you whippersnappes are always putting indecorous items on classic sweet cane! You need to immediately pack that spalted ash in a package and send to me. I'll make sure it gets put where it belongs. (hint - on a very nice 4wt blank from Stone that is so packed with powerfibers it'll probably have the ability to cast itself. Been debating sheoak, walnut burl, or two-toned amboyna)


Yeah, don't think that's gonna happen, sorry. That one turned out kinda special. What was interesting was the raw wood did not show any of that black spalting. It was cream and tan colors. I guess the stabilizing resin darken it, or the baking afterwards. We'll see how the second one turns out and maybe I'll entertain some sort of deal.


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## DLJeffs

Bean_counter said:


> What’s the Wood in the second pic? I love that one


Hi Michael, 
That's the thuya burl from Australia. I got a lot of blanks over the years from a place called Burl Dog and he imported quite a bit of Australian burl and stabilized it. The last time I checked my link didn't work. I googled them and it looks like at some point he changed the name to BurlSource but I can't get any of those links to work either.

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## Mike Hill

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## Mike Hill

barry richardson said:


> Sorry for the dumb question Mike, but where, and what do you flyline fish for in Tennessee? I always thought it was a cold water/high country kinda thing. Never did this type of fishing, but it intrigues me.....


People mistakenly limit fly fishing as only trout fishing. All fishing requires something on the end of a line that entices a fish to want to eat it. There are 2 types bait - live bait and lures which are not live. Fly fishing is the lure type of which there are 3 types, hard, soft, and fly. The lures we fly fishers use are so light you cannot cast them as a bass lure. A bass lure is cast and the lure pulls the line with it. In fly fishing the line is cast and the fly is pulled by the line. - That is the main difference between fly fishing and the rest of fishing. Tennessee is a lesser known fisherman's paradise. We have both the warm water species AND the cold water species. AND the salt is just a short 8 hour drive. We have all the catfish (yes, they do fly fish for catfish - ask Georgia, but I've caught 2 species myself), all the sunfish/perches, all the true bass (including the Stripers and Hybrids), all what people call bass (largemouth, smallmouth, spotted, red-eye, etc...), carp and other bottom feeders as well as gar, sturgeon, paddlefish, walleye, sauger, and others. All of which can be caught with the fly (well, haven't heard of a fly caught paddlefish). Heck, I've even caught a tilapia on a fly. We have four major species of trout (brook, brown, rainbow, lake - we do have an instance of a cutthroat being caught, but it was an escape from a hatchery) as well as pickerel, pike, musky, and even a few salmon left over from stocking experiments . We even have river musky - now that's a hoot - catching a musky on the fly in 2' of water in a rock filled stream, not much wider than your bedroom. Tennessee, in general is not a trout state. We do have a native trout population - brook trout in the Smoky Mountains, but the rest of the state's waters are too warm for trout. The exception is tailwaters of dams. The water released from many hydroelectric dams is usually far below the surface and cold enough to hold trout. We have quite a few tailwater fisheries - some quite good. One other group of fishes we have abundantly is the little bitties - namely minnows, darters, rollers, and the like. There has been a fishing culture build around them called micro fishing. It is sorta like bird-watching as you take a good picture of what you catch and keep of life log, like a birder's list, of how many types you have caught and where. There is a very large number of little-bitties. I go after them with tiny tiny flies. I'm running out of them though, my supply of size 32 fly hooks is dwindling.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Great Post 1 | Informative 1


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## barry richardson

Thanks for the schooling Mike


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## DLJeffs

Turned the second half of that spalted ash (or oak, or whatever it is) and it looks almost as good as the first. Not quite as much swirl but still really nice contrasting figure. The second half is the one with the skeleton on it.

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## Mike Hill

Danged, these addictions. Just ordered a 10' 3wt blank. Don't ask me why - I just happened! Now have 4 or is it 6, cane blanks to make up. Gotta get busy turning some reel inserts!

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## DLJeffs

Mike Hill said:


> Danged, these addictions. Just ordered a 10' 3wt blank. Don't ask me why - I just happened! Now have 4 or is it 6, cane blanks to make up. Gotta get busy turning some reel inserts!


 I'm planning to build a new 5 wt. My existing 5wt is an old RPLx and it doesn't have the backbone I want. Plus I want to put one of those burl spacers on a rod.

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## DLJeffs

I got some spalted hackberry blanks from Andrew ( @El Guapo ) a while back. I stabilized them and I think they came out really solid. Making a lid for a box from a couple of the blanks and decided to make reel seat spacers from another. Frank ( @2feathers Creative Making ) asked about how it machines. I don't have a planer but it worked well on the lathe. I use a metal lathe so the cutting tool is more less perpendicular into the blank, I guess that's like a scraper to you wood lathe folks? Anyway, it turned fine to me and made a gorgeous spacer, no finish, sanded to 1500 and then buffed. This one is stiff competition to those spalted oak burl I did earlier (just above this post).

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## Mike Hill

Ok, I know there are probably those on here that just adore and get jiggly over the smell of a new car. I don't get it, but........ And I know that there are those on here that just adore and get jiggly over the smell of a new tool - hey, I get that and I will say my arm gets jiggly when a new tool comes my way. BUT what gets me all jiggly is the smell of a new fly rod - especially sweet cane. Now, that I have regained composure and can actually sit up straight in my chair - here is a pic of that 10' 3 wt blank I ordered back in Feb. Got it today. Dennis did me good again! I thought it was only going to be 1 tip - he made 2. Did not know he was going to ferrule it - first blank he has ferruled for me. AND he built - at least the butt section - hollow (because of the ferrules cannot tell about the other sections). This may be better than getting my first kiss - but maybe not as good as getting curly koa!

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## 2feathers Creative Making

Nice. I see you will be busy with cane poles, so why dont you just pack that piece of maple over here and I will find somewhere out of the way for it. It is obviously in the way of your rod work.

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## Mike Hill

It's reel thin - veneer!


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## 2feathers Creative Making

I know. And I would hate to see it get broken from being under foot


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## Mike Hill

It's some of that just awful birdseye - you'd just throw it away!

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## DLJeffs

Very nice of him to fit and pin the ferrules on for you. Can you dip it once you've wrapped it or do you send it out to be dipped?


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## Mike Hill

I used to dip - I got a slow rpm motor and geared it down even more with an RC plane gear case and a piece of pvc - and set it up at the fly shop so all could used it. But some youngster dismantled it and don't know where all the parts and pieces are much less if they exist or not - guess I will have to rebuild one or do a drip tank instead. Or more likely use Tru-Oil this time. Also thought about impregnating a blank or two (soaking in warm linseed oil for a day o so). Hopefully going a little east of here to meet up with some makers and see what the different finishes look like and what their opinions are. AND I know there will be some slinkers on the forum that will say something about the word for soaking bamboo rod sections in warm linseed oil - but just ignore them. They know who they are. Another word for the process is "stabilizing"

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## DLJeffs

When it comes to boo rods I've always heard it referred to as "impregnated" rather than "stabilized". Most of the bamboo I've seen that has been impregnated were slightly darker and heavier than rods that were just dipped. Then there are the "flamed" rods which are very dark. I wonder if soaking in linseed would effect the glue? I think they usually impregnate the six sections before gluing but could be wrong. It's a fascinating skill for sure.


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## Mike Hill

I have to confess on having 2 of the Orvis Impregnated. But then again, I did do some holiday work for a outdoors store here that sold Orvis - I earned the right. Yeh, I know the trout in some parts of the county turn up their noses to Orvis rod presented flies, but around here they are not as picky. I did not get to go see those builders as I thought I might. Only two were to show up and could not get reservations where they were staying. It would have made for a long day trip and with no time for fishing. I wanted to ask them about the timing of the Orvis Impregnating.


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## DLJeffs

I saw in the paper that Orvis CEO Leigh Perkins died May 7. Orvis went through some rather extreme changes over the years but they always seemed to hold onto a share of market. I think most of the changes caused them to drop out of the top quality fly fishing companies but lately they've put out some decent stuff. Still a little more costly than you can find if you look around and compare though.


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## Mike Hill

Only have their lightweight rods - well except for a 5 wt Helios that was a pre-production rod. Only bought off secondary market so didn't pay near new price. I like their lighter stuff. Never fished an or is heavier than a 5 at - only parking lot cast. Have a superfine 2 wt that I really like. Want the 1 wt and the one ounce but haven't found ones around here to buy.


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## 2feathers Creative Making

To those who really like this sort of thing... local sales network Crossville TN rod equipment
Home made fishing rod machine 120 bucks. @Mike Hill may be close enough to make a run on this...


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## Mike Hill

Is there a link?


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## 2feathers Creative Making

I tried. https://www.lsn.com/fishing-gear/home-made-fishing-rod-machine-/6494434.html try that


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## Mike Hill

Got it - worked!

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