201204 - Issue 47 Description

April 2012
Issue 47

Power Fibers is published in Adobe Acrobat format. To view the magazine, you must download the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can get it here.

To get this issue, order the 2012 Issue CD on the “Backissue CDs” page.

The April, 2012 issue of Power Fibers contains:

Gnarly Trim Wraps

You may have seen people comiserating/whining about doing single turn tag style wraps. I had done them on signature sections but never this style on the whole rod. Man, what a butt kicker! Especially at the top end....

Economical Vise Centering Jaws

When you make wood inserts for reel seats from 1” x 1” chunks of wood, you need a way to drill the center hole through the length of the workpiece. You want to make a the hole nice and straight. If your drill press does not have at least a 4 inch travel like mine, you will need to have a way to flip the workpiece over to drill the other end centered. There are many options...

A Divine Restoration

I have just finished restoring a bamboo fly rod made by the Fred D. Divine Company. As nearly as I can tell, the rod was made in the 1917-1920 period. The reel seat carries a serial number beginning with the letter “H”, which was applied at that time. Divine rods carried a unique reel seat, patented by Fred Divine in 1885, and used on all rods bearing his name. They are made of cedar, stained to a cherry color. The seat is turned...

Making A Simple Ferrule Slitting Holder

Some folks think this is dangerous so let me preface this with the statement that I have never heard of one accident caused by vacuum in a large glass jar.

We are using 'vacuum' not pressure. If the container was to let loose under vacuum you'd be looking at imploding not exploding.

On a perfect day you may get 28" of mercury...

Cork Mortised Reel Seat

First I take some hardwood, I mark the center and put it on the lathe...

Making Ferrules Using Carbon Fiber

My name is Christian Burger and I am a bamboo rod maker from Germany. At the 3rd European Bamboo Rod Makers Gathering in Witten, Germany in 2010, I introduced my way of making ferrules of compound materials. In this case carbon fibers and epoxy resin.

As I travel a lot and didn’t want be without my bamboo rods I needed to build them in multiple pieces so they would fit into my traveling bag. Figuring out the tapers...