200407 - Issue 16 Description

July 2004
Issue 16

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 2004 Issue CD on the “Backissue CDs” page.

The July, 2004 issue of Power Fibers contains:

Burnout

Has this ever happened to you? You have good intentions of going out to the shop and working on a rod. But, for whatever reason, you just can’t seem to push yourself to just go out and get going. You have tons of excuses. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It’s too damp. It’s too dry. I’m tired.

Sometimes we just get so involved in other things going on in our lives, it seems like a real chore just to go out and do things like node pressing, straightening, planing, wrapping and so on. Getting the motivation....

PMQ, Revisited

Since I wrote the article in the October 2003 issue of Power Fibers on making a PMQ with a thickness planer, a lot of changes have been made.

One of the most difficult things I found is planing the side taper of the tip sections. The narrow tip ends had a tendency to twist and the plane would take a chunk out of the bamboo. I kept thinking there should be a better way...

Snake Brand Agates

It’s been quite a while since I have pounded away at the keyboard to write an article for Power Fibers. It’s not that I haven’t had any new products to write about, but more so for the fact that I have missed a few of the deadlines lately because of that four letter word “work”.

For several years now, I have been a fan of Snakebrand Snake Guides. However, it was not until recently that I have had an opportunity to...

Rattan Grip Wrapping Jig

Wrapping rattan grips by hand is not difficult but it can be a bit messy, and there are stages during the process when an extra hand, a “third hand” as it were, would eliminate anxious moments -- when packing turns to eliminate gaps for example, or when removing excess glue, making splices, or adding tension to the strip. Detailed below....

A Trip to Mecca

It all began so innocently, many, many years ago. My journey through this world of rodmaking. R.L. King who patiently taught me the basics of the craft, and then on so many occasions came over to assist while I was putting my shop in order, getting ready to make large piles of shavings and dust on the floor, will always be my hero.

What started out as an admiration of a bamboo flyrod in a local flyshop, quickly...

Cork Drill

I’ve always felt that shop made tools tend to reflect the maker’s equipment, general experience and availability of materials. I read Jerry Snider’s Cork Boring Jig article in Power Fibers Issue 14 with that in mind. Like Jerry, I prefer to glue up on the rod section, and I have never liked reaming the cork. In addition, I have always felt that if the rings are all concentric with the rod section, it is much easier to turn a concentric grip. I have been using a cork boring tool since my second plastic rod. I did not have a table saw or drill press....

Classic Flies: Royal Coachman

This is the second installment for “Classic Flies” for Power Fibers. Sitting down to write this article I thought back to my early beginnings in fly-fishing and my first introduction to the Royal Coachman. I saw this fly in a book my father had; though I can’t remember the name of the book I remember

lying on the floor for hours reading it and dreaming of fly-fishing, bamboo rods and the environs we haunt in pursuit of our sport. I thought the Royal Coachman was the most awesome fly of all. I couldn’t wait to someday have my own bamboo rod and a box full of Royal Coachmen...

Fly Rod Grips: Part I

The development of fly fishing tackle particularly rods has been almost
Darwinian. The modern rod is a direct lineal descendant from the behemoth described by dame Juliana Berners. Her rod was “cut between Michaelmas and Candlemas {from} a fair staff of a fathom and a half long, as thick as your arm, of Hazel or Willow or Aspen.” The billet was allowed...

Chicago Open House

Saturday May 1, 2004 was opening day for trout fishing in Wisconsin, but it also marked the third year in a row that Chicago area cane rod enthusiasts were invited to Wayne, IL for what I am calling “Chicago Rodmakers.” Wayne is the home of Dennis and Bobbi Higham, gracious hosts of the informal, family type meeting. Their home was opened to all local rodmakers for talk, food, fun, casting rods and visiting with friends.

Dennis is an old hand at running rodmaking get-togethers, having been involved in both Grayrock, which is celebrated during the hex hatch...

Aluminum Caps & Rings

It is important that you, the reader, understand, from the beginning that I am not a machinist and have had no formal training in metal work. The words and pictures that follow simply represent my interpretation of the words and pictures that professional craftsmen have so generously made available to us in the past. Without the help and encouragement of people like Bob Nunley, Tony Spezio, Leo Eck and many other cane craftsmen, I would not have had the incentive to invest my time and effort in such projects. I bought a lathe, having literally, never before seeing...

Grayrock Review

As I managed to miss last years gathering, having the gathering at the Rayburn Lodge was a new experience for me. I arrived on Wednesday as usual. After checking into the motel it was time to check out the new location at the lodge. What a surprise to see a chain across the gate! Now what to do? Well of course, go to Spikes!

None of the rodmakers were there but a few familiar faces from the Trout Bum BBQ were there, including Vic Edwards. After the manna of Grayling...

Just Planed Fun: The Salmonator, II

It all started back when I inherited the thing. Since then, the rate at which she has "evolved" is impressive to say the least. The Salmonator, as she has affectionately come to be called, started life as a simple 1972 Dodge Dart. As this beauty seasoned it is quite apparent she has not aged well. Father Time has done her no favors. She needs a little cosmetic surgery here and there, but it'll never happen. Such things would be vain and vanity is for the shallow. Adding custom license...

July 2004Issue 16