October 2013
Issue 54


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The October, 2013 issue of Power Fibers contains:

Is Node Work the “Speed Bump” in Your Rodmaking

Of all of the steps in the making of a bamboo fly rod, the node work has to be my least favorite. With those pesky humps, kinks, doglegs, dips and lips, nodes can cost us a large investment of time. To straighten them out, rod makers use a variety of different tricks: heat, hand pressure, a vise and some compression. In short, we do whatever it takes....

The Saga of a Para 15

I met George Aldrich on the Rodmakers list in about 1999. We had a mutual interest in model airplane engines. I had a number of them at the time. These were old spark plug gas engines. George was in the business of building the engines. We kind of bonded with this interest. George also had a real interest in Paul Young's rods and owned several of the original Young Rods, but he did not have a Para 15 and wanted to have one. I told him if he could get up here.....

Mobirise

Engraving a Reel Seat

There's not much that hasn't been said well (and often) when it comes to rodmaking, so I thought I'd share something unique to my own process. I recently completed a custom rod with some pretty high end details, and thought I'd share my process as I'm finishing up the engraving of the reel seat.

For me, the creative process begins on paper. A few quick and dirty sketches...

Traveling Angler:
     Bonefish Beatdown

The other night I received a text from my friend, Craig. He was going to fly fish Saturday morning. I didn’t have anything planned in the morning, so I asked him what time he wanted to meet. His reply was 5:15am. I had to think hard if I really wanted to get up that early to fish. After a bit of debating I set the alarm for 4:30am, got my stuff ready, and sent him a text that I would meet him. I figured since I needed to get up early I better get to bed. Before I knew it....

Fly Rod Guide Study

Background: An unfortunate accident saw me destroy the tip and of a SAGE RPLXi 9wt rod (my fault) that I had built using the wisdom of the time – double foot guides, large for shooting line. As this rod was called the broomstick, I took the opportunity to use the replacement tip and rebuild the rod up – changing to small single foot Fuji titanium guides and a 40+ line. The rod was transformed from a hard stick to a rod you can feel load andbe happy...

Morgan Handmill Corner:
     Another Way to Hollow, Part I

Several years ago I wanted to try hollowing some cane in an effort to remove some weight. I fish the Chesapeake and was looking for a rod I could use for striped bass and redfish, but didn’t want the heavy weight of a solid cane rod. However I did not have the hollow fluting attachment for the handmill, and at the time, couldn’t afford one. But I did have an idea....

Todd Talsma, Editor - 8412 N Maple Ct  Zeeland  MI 49464  (616) 239-5786
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