EclecticGuy

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

Over the summer, my publisher, Todd, called me to tell me the great news that he had been asked to create a fishing exhibit for the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. He immediately assembled his team of craftsmen to create this display of mid 19th century fishing equipment, I am one of them. Todd calls us the Van Buren Boys and there are 5 of us all together. The National Park Service has asked us to document our efforts so I have set up a blog for the group to use. The Van Buren Boys Blog will … Continue Reading

Over the last few years I have produced a number of fly fishing related items out of personal interest. Surprisingly, I get a fair number of inquiries to purchase these items – including tenkara flies, several other fly patterns, ice fishing tip-ups, hand-made brass fishing reels, horsehair fishing lines, Walton’s Engines (aka twisting or furling engines), and custom rods – all by … Continue Reading