Christan Hörgren of Fine Tackle continues working on the Swift Fly Fishing Epic 580 build and in this post covers the steps in creating and gluing the cork reel seat insert together.
It can get quite expensive for custom fly rod builders to source and work with top flor grade cork and it's not uncommon for a reel seat and grip to cost over $40 to produce in cork material only.
Christian wrote... "I prefer short reel seats. I see no reason to make the reel seat much longer than 6-8mm extra from the standard foot, unless the customer has other demands of course. I use the best cork I can get and I have a few different suppliers in Portugal. You have to buy a lot of cork and grade the batches after delivery. This is the only way to get top flor cork. I use polyurethane glue that swells when it gets in contact with water during the curing process. This is the best way to get a good fit. Watch your hands, it’s highly toxic."
Click on an image to view in a larger format.
Check out the Fine Tackle website and Facebook page for the latest shop news and most recent builds. Christian always has something interesting going on to check out.
It can get quite expensive for custom fly rod builders to source and work with top flor grade cork and it's not uncommon for a reel seat and grip to cost over $40 to produce in cork material only.
Christian wrote... "I prefer short reel seats. I see no reason to make the reel seat much longer than 6-8mm extra from the standard foot, unless the customer has other demands of course. I use the best cork I can get and I have a few different suppliers in Portugal. You have to buy a lot of cork and grade the batches after delivery. This is the only way to get top flor cork. I use polyurethane glue that swells when it gets in contact with water during the curing process. This is the best way to get a good fit. Watch your hands, it’s highly toxic."
Click on an image to view in a larger format.
Check out the Fine Tackle website and Facebook page for the latest shop news and most recent builds. Christian always has something interesting going on to check out.
4 comments:
Well, this is the first time I see someone mention short reel seats.
I hate when reel seats are too long (added with a way too long screw potion!). Makes the whole appearance look out of proportion.
This is looking interesting! I enjoyed the wooden boat build, showcased in a similar photo sequence, too.
I agree on the length of reel seats, isn't it weird that the standard reel seat is a lot longer than what a standard reel foot actually needs? I'm pretty much a beginner in rod building, but how often do you find a reel foot that's longer than the standard? I have only seen normal and shorter ones.
Jay...I agree. I tend to like shorter reel seats most of the time myself.
TFP...thanks. I think it's important for readers to see how things are made and the craftsmanship that goes into the process. It helps make sense of the price of things sometimes.
Martin...I think it depends if the builder is having components made for them or mis matching components that were made for a larger weight fly rod on a smaller fly rod.
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