200401 - Issue 14 Description

January 2004
Issue 14

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To get this issue, order the 2004 Issue CD on the “Backissue CDs” page.

The January, 2004 issue of Power Fibers contains:

Heat Treating Fixture Brackets

When Martin-Darrell announced that he was having some fixtures made with “V” grooves in them, I decided right there that I wanted a set. I had been using some oak strips with 60 degree grooves in them to straighten my strips while drying them in the oven. I received the fixtures and was very pleased with them, but I had a small problem. When I loaded the strips in the fixtures and set them in the oven, a lot of times the loaded fixture would roll off the screen shelf and hang up between the screen and the inside wall of the oven. I decided to do something....

Building the “Magic Wand”

I guess there are many reasons why we become obsessed with bamboo fly rods. For some, it might be the history and tradition that goes along with them, for others it’s the undeniable beauty of the things. For me, it’s always been the smooth, delicate, delicate, precise way they cast. I have been at this for nearly 20 years now, building a couple of rods a year, tinkering with tools, restoring old rods, and always looking for that elusive “perfect” rod.

This part of the quest began about 5 years ago, when someone gave me a...

Some Thoughts

Always, when I’m working in my shop, my computer is connected to the Internet in the Rodmakers list and the Bamboo
Forums. Time to time, when I’m waiting on the oven process or dipping rod sections in varnish I take a look at a few things, new thinking, tools and bamboo philosophy. I mean the different ways that different people feel about cane rods and rodmaking. Also, I make my posts...

Making Smarter Blanks

Over the last two years, I have tried to become more production oriented in my rodmaking, as orders pile up and I frantically try to catch up. There comes a time when every rodmaker needs to consider if his or her current setup and try to maximize efficiency in the shop. One way to maximize efficiency is to incorporate everyday shop tools...

The More You Rake, the More You Rake

I could see that the project was coming along nicely. As the crew labored to achieve a smooth, flat surface upon the earth with a 1% grade from the east to west, I painted white circles around the spots that were too high or too low. This stage of the project was merely the sub-grade of a future tee on the golf course, but as is often the case in many ventures, an outstanding job is in the prep work; never mind that nobody will see it. Rakes were dragged...

Cork Ring Slicing Jig

Here is a simple cork ring slicing device that will permit the use of the band saw to saw cork rings into various thicknesses. for those who require only 1/8” rings, Golden Witch lists such a device that would be well worth considering. However, I wanted to be able to slice cork rings in half, into 1/8” thin rings and also sliver thin...

Veritas Adjustable Throat Block Planes

Like many other rodmakers, I started out on a tight budget and my first block plane was a new Stanley 9 1/2 purchased at a local hardware store for about $30. I carefully tuned this plane, grooved the sole and outfitted it with a couple of Hock irons. This plane was followed several months later with a Stanley model 60 1/2 that was treated the same way. These two planes have served me well and are perfectly adequate...

The Dangerous Petition, Part IV

Mike, and his partner Laura, operate a B&B of sorts. There is no sign and they don’t advertise. You just have to hear about the place from someone who has stayed there. I usually set up camp in their basement apartment, but a person has a choice. There are two reconstructed turn of the century log cabins , and a 33’ Airstream camper. The Airstream is the old type, slightly rounded fore and aft and pure, shinny aluminum...

Cork Boring Jig

I find reaming and fitting cork grips assembled off a rod a tedious affair and, in my mind, a hit or miss situation at best. Even when gluing cork rings directly on the rod I have not been satisfied with hand reaming rings prior to glue-up...

SRG 2003

The smell of fall was in the air and the leaves were starting to turn on the trees in my yard. The time was rapidly approaching for me to pack up the car with fishing gear, a bag of clothes, a couple of odds and ends, a few tools, and wend my way to northern Arkansas again. It was the end of October, even though the temperature didn’t quite feel like it. We were still experiencing a daytime temperature in the 80’s in Maryland...

Flyshishing

The afternoon was a beautiful one. It was early July, the temperature was still bearable and I was going fishing with a new partner. The latter can always be somewhat tenuous but I knew this time there were not going to be the difficulties normally associated with “feeling out” a new partner’s angling style...

January 2004Issue 14