Gathering of the Clan

I bought my planing forms.

There is a tutorial on the internet that tells you how to make your own forms. It is a lot of work. Access to some metal working machinery would help....or even better, a machinist with the necessary tooling.
Even with that, you really need to know what you are after. The machining has to be quite precise from flattening and squaring the bars, down to cutting the tapered grooves.

I could have made a set with the help of a co-worker who has a pretty impressive machine shop.
But in the end, I don't think I would have been satisfied with the end result. I'm pretty anal about that sort of thing.

I decided to buy planing forms from Bellinger. After doing my homework, I decided that the Bellinger swelled butt planing forms were the ones that I wanted. They weren't cheap but I could justify the cost by the features, precision, and attention to detail that those forms have.

I've read several articles on making them and I have always felt they undersold the effort involved in making a good set. Had I ever decided to take the plunge, I think I would have gone the same route you did.

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"Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire..." Exodus 12:9

Brian, your work is really impressive. BTW, the Kushner you built is my favorite rod.

John

Beautiful work, Brian, you have become a true craftsman! YPJ

.....ok, back on track.

Now that winter has left us it is now time to fish.

I am headed out tomorrow morning to meet up with my two buddies. More like brothers.
It's tough to get out three schedules coordinated enough to get several days together to fish but I think we're going to pull it off.

I've completed the two Dickerson 8013 rods for my buddies. I made their two rods to match my own.
It was a little painstaking to match everything exact but I think I pulled it off pretty well. On their two rods, all of the nodes match each other, the guide spacing is *exactly* the same as well as the silk guide wraps. I counted the number of wraps on each guide foot to make sure that they would be the same width. Without the writing on the rod and the tips you couldn't tell one from another.

As a little surprise, I also bought them new Orvis Battenkill click & pawl reels and put some new 406 fly line on them. I recently got back from a bamboo gathering that had a fly line lab set up for the weekend. In the line lab there were a bunch of different lines to try on your fly rod. All sorts of different manufacturers were represents. (Rio, Scientific Anglers, Airflo, 406, Cortland, and a cheapy overseas model) It was very eye opening to see the difference that a line could make....even rated the same line weight. Any preconceived notions that you had about a particular line or line manufacturer went right out the window when you could cast one line right after another. It was a very nice, rare opportunity.

The 406 line won for my 8013 rods. It would flat out lay down the line nicely at all distances. 30 foot cast, the tip rolled out nicely.......50 feet, no problem......even at 70 feet, the line still turned over the leader and laid out nicely.

Here are some finished pictures:

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Nice work!

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“I dream of an America where a chicken can cross the road without having its motives questioned.”

My goodness Brian. What beautiful work you've done on those three rods. I'd like to see their faces when you give them their treasures. A couple of very luck fellows for sure.

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Duct tape can't fix stupid, but it can muffle the sound.
Nurses can't fix stupid, but we can sedate it.