200704 - Issue 27 Description

April 2007
Issue 27

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 2007 Issue CD on the “Backissue CDs” page.

The April, 2007 issue of Power Fibers contains:

Designing a Bamboo Rod Taper

This paper was presented at SRG6 on “Designing a Bamboo Fly Rod Taper.” Now as far as I know there is very little information in print, which describes how bamboo fly rod taper design is actually done. I am going to try and explain how I went through the initial steps in formulating a set of specifications and then how the actual taper design was accomplished, with the hope that it might give others insight as to how they might apply some of these steps in formulating rod designs of their own.

This spring I made a visit to Joe Byrd, a fellow rod maker who lives in Kingsport, TN. I live in Knoxville, TN. Some of you may know of Joe...

Comparing Various Fly-Fishing Lines

We can either purchase or make tapered leaders for fly-fishing, but we cannot easily make a tapered fly line. Since fly lines are relatively expensive to buy, we should become savvy shoppers by learning about fly line design. This article attempts to describe types of lines, their advantages and disadvantages...

Forms Tune-Up

There comes a time when one needs to do some maintenance on your forms. You may sense that something is wrong but can’t put your finger on it or you may say to yourself, “I wonder if I should do something about those nicks and scrapes?” Check out and tune-up your forms.

To start, disassemble your forms, clean and reassemble. Now, let’s do the checkout. Close the forms and using a 60° tip on your Dial Indicator...

Product Review: Reel Seat Blanks, The Right Way

It started as a search on eBay for some impregnated reel seat blanks. That’s how I met Steve Kincaid with Kinnikinnick Frame and Box Company, or K F and B.

The initial order for the reel seat blanks off of Ebay was received in lightning fast....

Dial Indicator Base

Indicator bases come in all different shapes, sizes and materials. One can be made from standard hardware aluminum bar stock from a hardware store. It can be made from a single piece of 1" x 3/4” x 2 1/2" bar stock or two lengths of the same stock. I prefer two pieces; this makes the base wider and more stable on the forms.

From a bar of 1" x 3/4" aluminum stock, cut two lengths 2 1/2" long....

Product Review: Silk Fly Lines, A New Tradition

Several months ago I came across the mention of a new silk fly line manufacturer on the internet. My curiosity got the better of me because I had been converted to silk several years ago by my fishing companion and bamboo colleague George Grant....

Is that a Winston?

It was a lazy summer day. The sky was blue, the breeze was soft, and the air was clean. In the distance a half dozen buffalo placidly grazed. The river serpentinely winding through the wide expanse of the Gibbon Meadow sparkled brightly. I had fished several hundred yards of the Gibbon with a number of strikes, but for some reason I couldn't hook a fish.

After an early retirement I had settled in Utah, but each summer it was my habit to make a number of trips to Yellowstone Park. I had fished the waters of the park for nearly five decades, and I found myself coming back to the Gibbon frequently, mainly because it was a stream a lazy fisherman....

Book Review: Positive Fly Fishing

“The way you think about yourself,” writes guide Marla Blair, “will determine how well you learn to fly-fish.” This contention might sound more appropriate for a talk show than it does for fishing instruction. But in this often irreverent and funny introduction to fly fishing, the author’s first book, Ms. Blair makes the point, beginning and ending, that the attitude you take to the stream has a lot to do with the kind of day you have, no matter where you are on the learning curve....

Making Double-Six Ferrules

Before I go into the production of our Double-Six ferrules, I would like to mention the tools and machines used.

Producing the ferrules requires a lathe, a tool-bit grinder (see photo), a screw press, various drills and reamers, a triangular needle file, a hardened precision hole-punch, and a 40 mm diameter brass rod.

For my example, I assume that we are producing a ferrule for a rod which needs a ferrule....

Dances with Hexes

I guess I love Hex fishing about as much as any other branch of our sport. Everyone has a favorite method, and if I had to categorize mine I’d have to say I'm a 'cast by echo-location' Hex fisherman. The wise angler is as prepared as an Eagle Scout, as stealthy as an owl. In order to illustrate the intricacies of this esoteric art form, I will share with you....

The Ultimate Basic Taper

Fishing rods have been around for a very long time, and before the rod, I would imagine people used anything they had, their hand, a spear or stick or even a rock. Anything they could find, just to get the fish for food. Then somewhere along our evolutionary path we reached the point where we started using a stick and a line and thus began our love affair with the fishing rod and this affair continues today. For some of us, it’s the Bamboo Flyrod and our never-ending quest to develop that one special rod, that is, at least to us perfect. Of course we never do and so our struggle continues; design after design. It is this type of rod that I would like to explore in this paper

Quite recently I was speaking with Will McMurrey about flyrod design and during the course of our conversation I asked what type of work he did. He told me he was a systems....

Making a Convex Knurl

When I presented to the group of rod builders at the Penobscot Gathering some time ago, I got a few acknowledging “Hmms” and a vast number of confused “Huhs” from the audience as I explained how to make a convex knurl. Since this technique can be used for those rod builders who want to make a rope knurl on the ends of reel seat rings or ferrules, I thought a better description of my technique as well as photos of the way I do it was in order....

RodDNA Workshop: The Devil is in the Variables

I have had a number of discussions with seasoned rodmakers about stress curves. Each has their own opinion of them, their usefulness, and idea of the ideal curve. First and foremost, Stress Curves are relative and not absolute answers. RodDNA is basically a modeling program just like a number of others models used for engineering purposes and predicting the weather. They all produce a relative answer within the context of the variables that they use or we have control of.

This point was brought home twice last week from emails I received. The first wanted to know why RodDNA stress curve values for a Garrison 212 did not match exactly....

April 2007Issue 27