Making reel seat hardware

       Here are some of the steps in My reel seat hardware making process. I use brass tube for all parts. Nothing fancy here. Just plain cap and ring slide band type. The accuracy of My little Sherline lathe with the digital readout make this a very simple task.

Slide bands and cork check are simply made from the tube. I now make the slide bands to .300 wide. the timber is turned to .650 with a mortise of about .095. So the slide band is turned slightly larger than .650.

The butt caps are made from tubing that is then soldered to brass plate.

Here are the parts before soldering.

After soldering and before clean up. These are trimmed and then chucked in the lathe with as little runout as possible. After that they will be turned down and then polished.

Finished butt cap.

All parts finished and ready for bluing.

Final product before bluing and glueing.