Questions: Using wood to preform a nickel-silver job

[shipwright]

Or you could try a heat fitted metal ring over a turned wooden ring. It could be the best of both media.

Paul M

[------------------------]

As I was looking at those rings, my first thought was of an Abalone shell ring. It would be beautiful! Although I dont know how strong it would be.
Mark

[pennview]

After lunch, out of curiosity, I boiled up some veneer to see if it could be wound around something relatively thin in comparison to the bracelets mentioned earlier.

It works!

I cut strips of walnut veneer (.024" thick), mahogany (.027), and some birch edge banding (.032). The strips were 5/8" wide by about 8" long. The banding was 13/16". I cut two pieces of walnut, one with the grain and one across the grain, then put them in boiling water for five minutes.

The cross grain walnut easily wound around a ceramic rod, 5/8" diameter, although there was some cracking and breaking, some of which I believe was from defects/cracks in the veneer itself before boiling.

The other walnut also wound around the rod, with some minor splitting along one edge that followed the grain about 1/16" toward the interior of the ring. This could easily be trimmed off later on the lathe.

The birch banding worked well.

The mahogany broke into little pieces.

Now, whether that would be strong enough to hold a reel on the rod is something that would take some testing to know for sure, but I think it would if epoxy was used with veneer/banding cut with the grain. The cross-grain walnut doesn't look like it would hold up.

Perhaps I'll try some finger rings with this technique.

Art in Western PA

[mickyd]

Ain't this forum great for ideas! We should all start a company. We'd either all kill each other within the first week or it would be the most creative, dynamic company in history. Lots of real good gray matter in this group!!

[shipwright]

Pennview

You might try combining the ideas by alternating long grain and cross grain layers in your glue up. Would be more resistant to splitting.

Paul M

[horologist]

Ivan and Ed have both covered my first ideas.

When making Shaker oval boxes I boil the strips so I can bend them around the forms. Boiling heats the wood and softens the lignin that binds the fibers together. You have to bend the wood quickly before the wood cools. This can be tricky and I would imagine it would be even more so on this project.

Thickness is another factor in the bend radius. You might try thickness planing a board to the desired width of the band. Then plane the edge with a well tuned hand plane. This will give you shavings a couple of thousandths thick and the length of the board. Coat the shaving with epoxy and wrap around a form.

Troy

[dlbristol]

Ain't this forum great for ideas! We should all start a company. We'd either all kill each other within the first week or it would be the most creative, dynamic company in history. Lots of real good gray matter in this group!!

I agree! I have no real reason to do any of the things being discussed here, but I find these discussions very interesting. I also come to problems on a project and often think " wasn't there a thread on SS forum?". And for just plain old fun and entertainment, there are some pretty funny guys on this forum.

[nllaeder]

Flyfishing is my first love, much higher on my list of hobbies than woodworking.

As a fellow fly fisher, who has already had to spend a day 2+ miles from the car fishing with a reel in my pocket because a reel seat failed, I would not mess with this idea.

If you do, make sure you've got some duct tape with you. You can always tape the reel back onto the seat when the ring fails or the cap fails.

If you want the look of an all-wood seat, I have a friend who is a machinist, and he machines a screwlocking seat that is designed to have a wood sleeve glued over it, effectively hiding the ugly metal hardware. It's not cheap, though.

[Ed in Tampa]

Flyfishing is my first love, much higher on my list of hobbies than woodworking.

As a fellow fly fisher, who has already had to spend a day 2+ miles from the car fishing with a reel in my pocket because a reel seat failed, I would not mess with this idea.

If you do, make sure you've got some duct tape with you. You can always tape the reel back onto the seat when the ring fails or the cap fails.

If you want the look of an all-wood seat, I have a friend who is a machinist, and he machines a screwlocking seat that is designed to have a wood sleeve glued over it, effectively hiding the ugly metal hardware. It's not cheap, though.

Nick
I tend to agree with you, why chance it?
I have read many articles on fishing where the author claims the reel seat can hamper your chances. Many actually recommend cutting off perfectly good reel seats and taping the reel directly to the rod. Their claim is this makes the whole thing (rod adn reel) on and thus transfers tiny taps of the fish to you better. I will say these guys aren't fly fishing types, usually they are talking about spinning or bait casting.

However I also can understand wanting to make the "special" rod and trying this idea.

[nebraska]

Outstanding! Thanks everyone - I truly appreciate your ideas.

I've invested almost two years in this project and will be giving the rod to my brother this spring, Lord willing. I'm tempted to try some (or all) of these ideas, but for safety I'm thinking a wood sleeve glued over metal components would be best... perhaps the metal edges could accent the wood.

Here's a quick shot of the 'almost' completed fly rod - first split into 24 strips from a 12' culm of bamboo, then torch flamed, hand-planned to tollarance of +/- .002, glued with URAC 185, sanded, wraped in silk, and dipped in Spar.