Streamwalker Nets Facebook Giveaway

It's always cool to see a craftsman with an idea, the talent, and the motor to gain a following for whatever that product is.  Leif Mermagen of Streamwalker Nets has spent a lot of time over the last year honing his various net offerings and they are now showing up in anglers hands as well as a few select fly shops.

Leif decided to celebrate his one year anniversary with a net giveaway and is looking to build the Facebook following in the process. 

I am always happy to promote what craftsmen of all sorts have going and asked Leif if he'd send along a few photographs and narrative of how his nets get made for a T.F.M. post.  Enjoy.  

 

From Leif of Streamwalker Nets...

Streamwalker Nets has made it through our first full year and I just wanted to do a little something fun to give thanks to all that have gotten me to this point.  It has been an absolute blast meeting great people and seeing pictures of my nets all around the world. So thank you, truly, to all of you that have supported me and introduced yourselves, and purchased my work. I am grateful and humbled. 

It is just about time for the Fall Run of fish from the Great Lakes near me so I'm giving away one of my "Lakerun" model nets. It was built to be a good size to carry on walk and wade trips on our local tribs and still large enough to bucket some pretty large fish. If you'd like to try to get in on the giveaway head over to our Facebook page and read the pinned post at the top of the page. 

Lots of folks have asked what goes in to the build process so I popped a few pics in here to give an idea of what goes down to bring these nets to life. 

First off I  have a few guys that locate and mill locally grown hardwoods that grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York. The same hills where I grew up. Something about that is just a cool thing to me. 

 

When the wood had been sawn and dried I take the rough cut lumber to my shop to mill it in to what I need. That consists of the long thin lamination strips and the handles themselves. 

Once I have the strips cut and the handles perfectly shaped they are either steamed or soaked (depending on wood selection and size) and clamped to a form and allowed to dry into shape. 

From there begins a series of glue ups where I glue and clamp each strip on one at a strip at a time to ensure they are perfectly seated to the last one There are anywhere from 3 to 7 laminations depending on the model. 

After the glue up I hand plane the top and bottom to get the laminations all perfectly flush

The next step involves a lot of sanding and rounding off all the edged to give the net a good look and a great feel in hand. I also put a groove around the outside of the hoop and drill the holes for where the net bag will be sewn in one the net is totally finished. 

At this point the net is starting to look like something and is totally shaped and rough sanded. 

Then I fire up my branding iron and bur the logo onto the handle. This step makes me sweat. It is a ton of work to fix if it goes sideways on me.

The last step is the most rigorous. I hand sand each one starting at 100 grit paper all the way down to 800. 

All the nets are finished with up to 12 coats of hand rubbed oil to both seal the wood and give it a high quality look. Sew the net bag in and send it off to the new owner. 

Thanks again everyone for keeping me going. If you want to  see more you can find Streamwalker Nets on Facebook and Instagram or at Streamwalkernets.com. I have a few new  models that are not on the website just yet so if you are looking for something other than what you see don't hesitate to contact me. 

Cheers, 

Leif Mermagen

Go click "LIKE" on the Streamwalker Nets Facebook page and leave a comment on the pinned post to be in the running for the net giveaway.  Good luck.