Spiel

Made a little progress this morning. Unfortunately the seamless hood piece broke into 3 pieces as I was parting it off, which of course slowed down my morning progress. I did however manage to salvage it and get back on track. There is one chip out you can see at the top right seam that I can repair once the entire reel seat and handle is assembled onto the blank, it will never fail nor will it even be visually marred. It will take time though to get a (near) flawless finish on it as there's many micro cavities in the wood.

Last night's Trout Fajitas. Home made vinaigrette slaw, sauteed onion and bell pepper and a slice of my home made dill pickles.

Sounds delish Doug, thank you.

Well I never did make it back into the shop today to continue working on my latest piece. I spent 6 plus hours in the kitchen, cooking of course. I had my weekend meals planned out which would have included wild Turkey breast tomorrow but when your friend drops by with a couple of fresh G'Bay Steelies, you reschedule some meal plans. However when you have meat and produce that needs to be dealt with, immediately, you deal with it. So my old school Tuna Casserole was made for future meals this coming week, a small Pork Loin was cooked and stored for future use and one Trout will be tonight's Fajita dinner, with home made slaw and the last of my my big ass Heirloom Beefsteak tomato salsa. The other Trout was filleted (custom fillet knife made by Aplumma ), boned, skinned and vacuum sealed for my daughter. The wild Turkey breast will have to wait. Happy Thanksgiving Folks.

So I went back at it this piece post dinner to make a little progress and I'm at a stall now until morning. Break outs are a problem along the burn lines slowing me down as seen here in the first two pictures. This piece will be the recessed hidden front reel seat hood in my seamless fore grip design, hopefully!

Thanks Brian. Thanks Barry, this piece is proving to be a bit of a PITA even though it's stabilized it by nature wants to tear out so I'm forced to go at it slowly and back fill as I go. More pictures added below in a few minutes.

Started on this piece this morning for a long time customer/friend. It's a rare piece of stabilized Douglas Fir that had been hit by lightening. I'v made much progress on it thus far but it is proving to be a piece that will require much TLC if I'm to get it to completion.

I can't believe that I somehow I missed this summer tour when they played in TO.

It's a damn good thing Albert that you weren't miles offshore. Good advice, if I had a kicker I'd head out right now and check it.

Thanks John. ❤️ Anytime you're down in the vicinity of your old stomping grounds I will endeavour to make time to share a meal with you, just give me a little heads up.

Thank you. Thank you Albert. Thanks Brian. IMO quality natural cork is the nicest choice every time. Mind you I did do a carbon grip from scratch once for a friend. He was thrilled with it.

Thank you.

Just finished the Blue Spruce Cone handle and awaiting customer approval for installation onto the rod blank.

Mmmmmm, Moose!

Due to the nature of the cone itself along with my router bit rotation in the same direction of the cross feed, tear out's are a big issue. Taking micro bites at a time and dropping in quick dry CA into the tear outs I was able to successfully finish this seat which is now clamped with the Dark Bronze hardware as per the customer's request. That's enough stressing for today! A quick break off my feet (and a beer) and then out for Gordie's third walk of the day, spoiled dog.

And Dark was indeed what my customer chose John.

Thank you Barry. FYI, the Walleye fillets (all 5) were delish, mind you I'd happily trade them for Halibut any time.

So today's progress has me to this point and the option for the customer to choose between light bronze or dark bronze reel seat hardware. Until he responds, the shop lights are off for the rest of the day and I have some Walleye ready to cook up for dinner.

Thanks HTHM, but after having tried numerous brands the one above is the only one I will use as it's proven to be the best brand for my needs.

I need more of this Barry, it's what gives my reel seats a hard coat, high shine finish ......

A little progress this morning until I ran out of a much needed product.

A year ago this coming October I made a one of a kind reel seat and butt cap from a Blue Spruce cone. They ended up on a Walleye rod for my SIL. Well I have been tasked with doing it again for Sage Float Rod build. First time...... And round two fresh out of the pressure vessel this morning.....

Well I managed to make the trip out to London today with a buddy to pick up my new reel. The "Tigers Eye" now has her little sister the "Cats Azz" at home. Now it's high time summer moved along and let fall get under way.

Buy your fresh cut Christmas Tree now and not only beat the December rush, also save 75%.

The one pictured is 5" and has the knurled rim, mostly worn off now. lol Yes, I too had to file down the overly large foot to get it to fit the reel seat. The 4.5" reel is smooth edged. I still have my Grice and Young as well, they were a bitch for line getting behind the spool, but the spool release was quick and easy.