Building a Custom Fly Rod, Join Me in the Shop - Step 1 Reel Seat Insert

If you have read my profile you know that I am obsessed with Fly Fishing.  When I am not fishing, there is a good chance I am working on a Custom Fly Rod.  Over the next few weeks or months, I am going to write a series of posts that demonstrate the steps I go through to when creating a custom rod.

First let me welcome you to my shop, it is located in a small garage at my house.

Welcome to the KB2 Custom Fly Rod Fabrication Shop

Many custom rod builders just buy components and do the assembly, wrap the guides and apply the epoxy finish.  I am one of the few who builds many of the components myself.  In a typical build, I just buy the graphite blank and the guides, and build the rest from scratch.  Today, I built two reel seat inserts.  This is always my first step as I need the reel seat assembly before I can start the actual work on the rod.  Something else I should point out is that I am a machinist, you may notice that I work the wood on a metal lathe, I don't know how to use a wood lathe, so I machine the wood the same way I do metal.

The two wood blanks I have selected today are Italian Olive, which is the lighter colored one on the right and Maple Burl, on the left.  I have worked with many different woods and other materials for reel seat inserts including deer horn.  Italian Olive is a great wood to machine, however Maple Burl can be a little more difficult as it is soft and tends to tear.

I drill a small hole for the drive screw

Next I insert the drive screw

Since the blanks that I start with are square, I need a way to grab them in the lathe to turn them round, I use a drive screw for this.




Once I get the drive screw installed, I can begin to rough turn the blank to .750" in diameter.  I tighten the chuck on the drive screw and position a center in the other end for support while I turn the blank.

Drive screw in the chuck

Carbide tooling to turn the square blank round

Rough turned to .750 diameter

Here are the two blanks rough turned to .750 diameter

The next steps shown in the 3 pictures below are to cut off the excess, face turn the ends to establish the finished overall length of 3.625 inches.

Face turn to length

Saw off excess

Length established

After I have the blanks rough turned and the length established, I need to drill the through hole. These two are drilled .375 diameter for 5 weight rods.  I drill the correct size for a snug fit on the blank, so I don't have to use any build up material to make them fit.

Drilling .375 diameter hole

Both blanks drilled and ready for finish turning

The final machining step is to finish turn the outside diameter and turn the step for the threaded barrel.  

 The picture on the left shows the Maple Burl insert being turned to the final diameter.  The one on the right is the Italian Olive insert having the step for the threaded barrel turned.

Here are the 2 blanks ready for sanding

The final step in the fabrication shop is to finish sand the blanks.  I accomplish this by holding the blank in the lathe by the step turned end and spinning at 1200 rpm's. I hand sand the inserts, working my way from rougher to finer sand paper.

I start with 60 grit sand paper

I work my way up to 1500 grit sand paper

Here is the Italian Olive Insert after finish sanding

Here are the two inserts after finish sanding and ready to go inside to the finish bench

 After the final sanding, the inserts are ready for the finish to be applied.  I do this in my finish room which is in the basement of my house.  The dust created in the shop makes it difficult to apply a clean and smooth finish, so off to the house we go.

I use Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil for the finish

Here is the Italian Olive Insert with the first coat of Tru-Oil

I actually apply 4 coats of Tru-Oil, allowing it to dry 24 hours in between.  As you can see the Tru-Oil brings out the luster and color of the wood.  Tru-Oil is commonly used on high end gun stocks and is a very durable finish.

The next post I will begin making the stainless steel reel seat hardware that will go with these two inserts, you will also be able to see these two inserts with all of the coats of finished applied.   I hope you enjoyed this post, and will check out the rest of the series as I get them posted.  Feel free to comment or ask questions below, and share with anyone who you think might be interested in my work.

Until Next Time,
Karl
KB2 Custom Fly Rods