Rod Update for #421509 and #421510 ( M Z's Rod)

      Started today with a nice hike on my favorite Wild Brown Trout stream with the family. No fishing today. Too hot and We need rain bad.

Flamed and split cane for the next two rods. #421511 and #421512

Yesterday the glue (UHU) on rods #421509 and #421510 was heat set in the oven.

Blanks for these two rods are now scraped and sanded.

Ready for ferrules , cork and a coat of sealer.

I will start the wraps on these two rods at the begining of next week. 

Turning Reel Seat Spacers

     Turned out a couple of reel seat spacers this morning from Koa. I use a custom made mandrel to turn the spacers. It has eccentric hubs to turn the spacer off center. This makes things a lot easier than trying to mortise by hand or with a router. For me anyway.

Please be advised that all Lathe operation is inherently dangerous. Use caution and know what you are doing before operating any type of power tool. Also use eye protection and have dust protection. Disclaimer Done. Use Your Head.

The wood block or pen blank is drilled out and mounted on the mandrel. I then turn it to the proper outer diameter (.650).

The mandrel is removed from the chuck and the eccentric hubs are added. The mandrel is chucked in the lathe again and about .090 is removed from one side of the spacer. This makes a mortise for the reel foot to fit in.

Spacers are trimmed to size and sanded. Then cleaned up with mineral spirits.

Spacers are now ready for varnish. Shown in the last photo with one coat of Tru Oil. The process of applying Tru Oil is different for everyone. I will apply 3 to 4 coats a day for a week or so. Sanding between coats. This will give the wood a great finish after it is thoroughly dried and then polished.

Cork Shipment

     Got a new shipment of cork today from Portugal. Very fast shipping and good product.

Cork from cork rings in Portugal

These will be picked through for grips on upcoming rods.

Oil Creek Smallmouth Bass

       No rod building today. Well, maybe later. Today we fished Oil Creek in Venango County, PA. The target fish were Smallmouth Bass. The Bass fishing wasn't great, although We got into enough to make it fun. Even a few on very small Poppers. Great weather, cool water and a very nice day to be out.

     My version of a Dickerson 7613 with Hariki extra short ferrules worked great for throwing small slump busters to the Bass.

My new favorite reel. 1920's Hardy St. George

White Flies should be coming very soon. Get out and fish.

Final Planing Today

 Finishing up final planing today for rods #421509 and #421510. Next step is glue up. Lots of work to get to this point. Very satisfying when everything comes together right though.

Also updated some bamboo rod photos and rod building photos.

Back at it

        After a little summer break (and a rod I made for Myself),  time to get at it again. I have two single tip rods #421509 and #421510 that are rough tapered to .050 over final dimensions. After the strips are made into rough triangles they are then heat treated at 375 degrees. The next step is running them through my beveler to get a taper on the strips that is about .050 over final dimensions.

Tomorrow the steel planing forms will be set and the last .050 will be removed by hand planing.

Rough tapered strips at .050 over final dimensions

These two rods will be based on the tapers of a Dickerson 7012 and Payne 98. Both rods will have a 12/64th step-down ferrule.

First Post / Intro

       My name is Anthony J. Pagley Jr. I live in Western Pennsylvania and have been fishing for everything I could since I was about eight years old. I began fly fishing at the age of 17. I am now 42 years old and have been building and fishing bamboo fly rods for the last eight years.

After letting other fly fishers test out my rods, I learned that people liked them and want them. So I started  putting them out there for sale. I decided to make a blog to keep a building and progress journal for anyone interested in My rods or bamboo fly rods in general. Maybe some fishing too.

I want to build rods for people to fish. Nothing over done or unnecessary.

Rod specs: Bamboo from Andy Royer

All rods are flamed and heat treated

 All rods are hand planed to final dimensions

Glue - UHU or Nyatex

I make all my own reel seat hardware

I also turn all reel seat timber

Wraps are vintage nylon tipped in fine silk

Snake Brand guides

REC Stripper Guides

Hariki Ferrules

Varnished

                                           
                                                                   

Thanks for looking. There will be much more to come. Please feel free to comment or contact me if interested in my rods.