Hand crafted reelseats.

[Hardb8]

G'day all,
I'm about to start a light baitcaster,And I'd like to do something a little special.I'm hopeing to make my realseat and rear grip combination by hand carving it from a single piece of timber.

Would any one on board have any experience in this field?Or a reasonable knowledge of timber?

To anyone who could recommend the type of material I should select for this purpose,Your comments will be appreciated.

Thanks for you time.

[Bearclaw]

Hardb8,
Make sure it is stabalised or it will end up cracking.

[blaze]

I think HUON PINE would be a good timber for what you want, do a google and check out the properties of it. Its a minor species from tassie. Was use in ship building and furniture making.
cheers
blaze

[Bearclaw]

Blaze is right, Huon pine has a nice tacktile feel, easy to shape and I think it is naturally stablised. Find a bit that is really burl (knoty) will look great.

[blaze]

another thought I had was horizontal timber, grows horizontaly along the ground in rain forests in the nw of tassie (dont know if it grows else where), they use it a lot in making pen cases and crafty type things, nice fine grain and timber is a bit on the darker side as aposed to huon being of the lighter color
cheers
blaze

[Hardb8]

Bearclaw and Blaze,
Would just like to say a quick thanks for ya time and knowledge.Sounds like you guys are both thinkin along the same lines with the Huon Pine.This in turn tells me I've found the timber type I need to select.

Cheers guys.

[robyoung2]

My brother makes split cane fly rods, and turns his own reel seats etc. He's in NZ right now and will be for another month or so I would imagine.
But if you give me an idea of just what kinda design you're thinking of, I can run it past him if you want. When he returns of course, there's no phone were he is. (He's building a house on the Buller River. I was hopeing to be there myself right now).

There's no saying he'll know shit from clay when it comes to a baitcatser though either, but he's pretty switched on with timbers, and until his house is finished in NZ, is staying with my parents in Tasmaia, so he might know something. he hangs around timber yards all the time.

If you want me to run it past him, send me a Pm with a rough idea of what sorta reel seat you want to make. If nothing else I'm sure he'll know of a decent book on the subject if you're interested in that?

cheers
rob

[Hardb8]

Hi Rob,
My vision (LOL) is a baitcasting trigger style reel seat and rear grip all to be turned,Drilled,Carved,And sanded from one piece of timber.The real seat will be based on Fujis' ECS (Exposed casting seat).It has the blank exposed to the index finger on the underside.It will also have some influence from Mr Ito,Megabass founder and designer,Who initialy hand carves all his products.I have a couple of his rods on which the reelseats are as close to ergonomicly (Is that the right word?) perfect as it gets.

The floating adjustable hood and thread will be cut off a brand new one I have at home,And it will be cut as short as possible to suit my reels,Application and removal,To minimise unused material/thread.I feel would be too hard/impossible to make this threaded section by myself from wood.It will be finished with a winding check,And the rod will have no foregrip.

The rear grip will be straight and around 7" long.

Thanks for the offer m8,Don't go out of ya way though.As this will be in the works for quite a while.I'll be chippin away in my lunch hours.Any info your brother has will be welcomed,All in good time.

Cheers

[robyoung2]

I'll raise the idea with him when he gets back then mate, I'll try and remember to Pm you with what he reckons. As I said, maybe he's useless, he doesn't even own a baitcaster, but if I forget to get back onto you (I really do have a bad memory), maybe you can PM me, because I know he'd have decent book title for sure if nothing else.

good luck

[finga]

Huon pine is good but be careful of the knots. They tend to break out or break off. And Huon is pretty hard to get now.
Another easier to get timber is good old Aussie red cedar.
Cedar has a very straight grain, light and is easy to carve etc.
No matter what you use make sure it's well dried out and preferably old as anything.
A trip to the tip or second hand shop can find some pretty amazing timbers.
I made this butt for Lucky Phil out of a really old decrepit rod I brought at a garbage sale for 50c and hence returned/recycled to suit Phil's rod.

[Stuart]

Finga

Cedar is to soft for rod grips, I have tried this timber years ago in differing forms and the wood dings very easly. Fiddle back, Mulga, Cape york burl. are very nice and make great reel seats.

Stuart

[Bearclaw]

Stu is Cape York burl the same as Cooktown walnut.

[finga]

Finga

Cedar is to soft for rod grips, I have tried this timber years ago in differing forms and the wood dings very easly. Fiddle back, Mulga, Cape york burl. are very nice and make great reel seats.

Stuart

I thought it was important to have the butts etc as light as possible.
I may be really wrong here but some of those timbers are pretty heavy.
What about silky oak or teak??
What about apricot is really light, hard and has a beautiful grain but hard to get some that hasn't split when it's dried.
Thanks for opening my eyes on these things fellas.
I was going to make a cedar butt in the next week or so. I might have to visit dad's shed again and have another boo-peep. I know for sure he has a bit of mulga and fiddleback there.

[Stuart]

Let’s make one thing clear, I’m no timber expert. Cedar is light but the timber is soft and as I said can ding very easily. There are some very figured timbers around that are heavy but once machined up and bored out to fit on the rod the weight is barley noticeable. Myles, I’m certain those timbers are different from one another mate. Finga, use the fiddle back mate, actually use both together.

Stuart

[finga]

Funny you should say that about using two timbers together Stuart.
I was talking to Lucky Phil about this a little while ago.
Using two contrasting timbers veneered/laminating together is an easy way to make a piece of wood turning very strong, personal and different.
I've experimented with the laminating with a few file handles and chisel handles and if they stand up to me bashing the crappers out of them over the years then they'd be strong enough for a rod.
Also using the two timbers in different sections ie butt and foregrip is an easy way of personalising your rod.
Mmmm... more ideas coming in my noggin'
Ta guys