* You are viewing the archive for the ‘reel building’ Category
Wow, I get lots of hits on my reel building posts! It has been a very interesting couple of years. I wrote The Reelsmith’s Primer to teach others how to build reels. That led to making and selling kits and starting my company The Eclectic Angler. I also conduct Reelsmithing Workshops all around the country – over 150 anglers attended my workshops this year (2011). Here are some additional resources if you are interested in building your own reels:
I’ll be posting how I created the ePub version of The Reelsmith’s Primer in a future post but it’s done and now published on iBooks! I used this experience to really dig in and understand the electronic publishing process from start to finish. I began with my original manuscript (in Apple’s Pages format) and converted it to ePub with Sigil. I applied for and became approved as an iBooks publisher and then helped my publisher set up his account on iTunesConnect also. Finally, I uploaded the book and entered all of the required information (pricing in … Continue Reading
My book, The Reelsmith’s Primer, is now shipping! I spent the better part of the weekend packaging books for all of the pre-orders and fulfilling the new orders that came in after the availability announcement on Friday. Now I have one more major event to look forward to – “The Reviews”! I did have very positive feedback from the dozens of people who I gave access to the draft version of the book, so I hold out hope that the reviews will be favorable.
In any event, … Continue Reading
As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I was asked to contribute to a fishing exhibit being created for the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site.A group of 5 of us – The Van Buren Boys – are creating a period rod, reel, horse hair line, creel, flies and baits. Our ringleader, Dr. Todd, is documenting the work and Van Buren’s fishing history in a book that will be offered at the museum.
My contribution is the reel and a horse hair line. I’ve already blogged about how I rediscovered line making, so I won’t cover … Continue Reading
Here is the book overview, description and author information for my book.
BOOK OVERVIEW
148 pages • 107 B&W photographs and illustrations • includes full scale reel plans and design templates • 8.5” x 11” hardcover • spiral bound to lie flat on your workbench
BOOK DESCRIPTION
In The Reelsmith’s Primer, author Michael L. J. Hackney has finally made reelsmithing accessible to the inspired angler. With a few basic hand tools, an electric drill, and Michael’s proven techniques, material selections, and clear step-by-step … Continue Reading
Here it is, my new book! It went to press on Friday and it will take about 5 weeks to print. With its completion, I’ve fulfilled one of my personal goals – to write a how-to book. I’m not sure why that has been a goal, perhaps it has something to do with being a fan of the second Bob Newhart show, “Newhart“. In this series, Bob played an innkeeper and a do-it-yourself book author in Vermont. Throw in fly fishing and it would … Continue Reading
I’ve just completed the cover design for my book The Reelsmith’s Primer! I am now completely done with everything. I wanted to feature a photo of some of my reels on the back cover so I set up this photo. I call it a “family portrait” since it includes my very first reel (the one sitting on the deerskin pouch) to my most recent (the black and brass one).
I also took this photo of my most recent reel.
This … Continue Reading
The manuscript for my book on reel making, The Reelsmith’s Primer is finally done! I will send a copy of it to my publisher, The Whitefish Press, tomorrow. I feel really good about it and learned a lot in the process. Early on, I created a reelsmithing community and used it to solicit ideas, provide feedback, and sanity check my writing and instructions. It was a huge success!
One of my goals for the book was to make it practical for … Continue Reading
I found this 19th century treadle lathe a couple of weeks ago. I finally got the leather drive belt material so I am ready to getit up and running. Although a lot of the plating is missing, mechanically the lathe is quite functional.
There are more photos here: Boley Treadle Lathe
My second article in PowerFibers was a collaboration with Peter Dallman. It is our story on how we got started building reels and how I met Peter. It is in the newest issue but here is a copy of just the article: Its_Reely_Pretty_Easy_PowerFibers_Issue_37
This is good timing as my book “The Reelsmith’s Primer” is nearing completion!
The current issue can always be downloaded here: http://www.powerfibers.com/html/current_issue.html