The Eclectic Angler - we offer 2 books on rebuilding, plans, materials, and a line of really nice kits that can be assembled in a few hours.

The Reelsmithing Forum – I started this forum a few years ago to share information about reel building. There are over 380 members from all over the world sharing information on their reel building and reels.

Reels & Making Them by John Betts. The book is 450 pages! and free to down load and use for private use. No reposting or adding to a compilation. Linking to that page is fine. I also published a printed edition of John’s book, you can get it at the Reel Lines Press.

The Reelsmith’s Primer is my book on reelsmithing. You can get it at The Eclectic Angler or Amazon.

These mills are made in China and fall in to the class of Seig X2 mini mills. They are quite capable little machines especially once converted to CNC. I keep a log on my CNC conversion, modifications and other topics on the zone in a thread called How crazy is this for an X2 “staged” CNC conversion? I started off planning to do the conversion from scratch but as my fly fishing reel kit business started to take off, I needed CNC capabilities quick! I ended up with a CNCFusion “kit” for the mechanical parts of the conversion and decided to upgrade to precision ball screws at the same time. Although it is called a “kit” a lot of work is still required to install and tune both the mechanical parts and the electronics. The actual mechanical installation only took a day or so. I did that last December (2009). I had already built out the electronics so hooking it all up wasn’t too much of an effort. I finally had a CNC mill ready to crank out brass and aluminum parts for my fly fishing reel kits:

I’ve turned out hundred of parts for kits in the last year and am starting to bump in to the limits of this machine (primarily the short Y travel limit) so I’ve ordered a much larger machine (a Grizzly G0704) that I will also convert to CNC. No “kits” exist for this mill though so I will be doing it myself using some great plans from zoner Hoss. Unfortunately, the mill is backordered until end of January at the earliest (I ordered it in October!). It should be worth the wait. I started a thread on the zone for it too: Building a big brother for my X2.

Also, I’ve included the actual demo I put together here: Shrugh and I’ve zipped all of the files including the balsamiq source and made it available here: BalsamiqDemosDemo.zip.

Hopefully that will help everyone!

cheers,

EG

Meanwhile, my most frequented posts this year have been the Pumpkin Borani Recipe and 19th Century New York Reel Reproduction. But my posts on a Dobsonian telescope mount, soccer cartoon effects and Fly Fishing have all been visited by 10s of 1000s of people from all over the world!

Peace in the New Year,

EG

This electronic version is enhanced with full color, high resolution photographs and drawings. Rather than just convert the original book’s black and white images, I wanted to add a little extra and really take advantage of the iPad’s beautiful color screen (can’t get that on a Kindle!). I think it turned out great. Here is a screen shot of my iPad and iBooks:

Here is a screenshot of one of the pages with a color photo:

This new camera is 5 megapixels (back, the front camera is VGA) and shoots HD Video – yes, HD Video! The same touch to focus interface works in still and video mode – one of the coolest features of the iPhone camera. The back-side camera also has a 5X digital zoom – however, I recommend not using a digital zoom, take your shot and crop later. The other new – and cool feature – is a built in LED flash on the back!

I’ve started to assemble a collection of iPhone photo apps that are worth considering. Here is what I use:

Camera+ – I use this instead of the built in camera for several important reasons. The first is, Camera+ allows you to tap-to-focus AND tap-to-set exposure! Using a 2 finger tap, one finger sets the focus and the other the exposure, the newest release allows you to move these separately after setting – way cool. Another great feature is “fill light” mode for the LED flash. Basically, you can turn on the LED continuously. Great for focusing in the dark and other tasks. The software also has a stabilizer which works reasonably well. Finally, it supports cropping and dozens of photo effects. For $1.99, it is well worth it!

360 – this new app takes 360 degree panorama photos just like that Sony camera in the commercial with Taylor Swift! Very cool and works great.

Pano – a traditional panorama stitching app that works very well. Overlay of the previous frame helps you align the next frame in the pano.

NightShot – improves the night time performance. Sometimes useful.

iMovie – Apple’s iPhone iMovie app for editing movies right on the phone! Still simplistic but you can see where this app is heading. You can make a decent movie with it though.

Finally, myZenfolio. I use Zenfolio as my photo sharing (and remote backup) site. This app gives me direct access to my photos. Very cool!

My son and I drove through WBSF yesterday morning on the way to drop him off at Boy Scout camp. Nick asked, “Do you think there are any trout in there Dad?”. I replied, “I don’t know but it might be fun trying sometime.”

On the way home after the drop off, my mind turned to Willard Brook. It seemed to be a perfect spot for tenkara fishing for Brook trout. I could not resist the temptation to pull over and try it out. No need for waders, net and all of the other accouterments that normally accompany me on larger rivers. I grabbed my tenkara rod and line, a spool of tippet and a small box of my favorite flies (that included a small nipper for cutting tippet). That was it – me, a simple rod, and a beautiful cascading stream.

I found a likely spot, a deep pool with crystal clear icy water. I always sit and watch pools like this for a few minutes before casting in. Many times, a Brookie will give away their hiding spot or come up for a quick bite. I didn’t see anything after a few minutes so I cast in to the cascade and let the current propel my simple tenkara fly. It was a bright sunny day and there were spots of bright sunlight and dark shadows on the stream. I used my favorite red body, grizzly hackle fly. I fished that pool – about the size of a Volkswagon Beetle in size and depth (the original Volkswagon Beetle) – making sure to cover every possible trout lair. No luck.

I moved down stream a short distance to pool #2. This pool was significantly smaller but deeper and was flanked by a large boulder that diverted the water rushing in to it.

I sat quietly on a large boulder and peered in to the clear water. I spotted a long slender shadow on a rock deep in the pool. It still amazes me how a trained eye can locate these tell-tale signs of trout! I focused on the shadow and, sure enough, it moved slightly to the left just as I spotted the Brookie hovering about a foot above it. This was a nice small stream Brook Trout! I watched the trout as he rushed to the surface, grabbed what looked to be a small tan caddis, and headed for the depths of his pool. He was feeding and I knew where he hid – a perfect opportunity! As I quickly found and tied on a small (size 18) tan Elk Hair Caddis (one of my go-to dry fly patterns) he came up for another morsel. This time I got a better look at his colorful spots and white edged fins. This was an exceptional fish.

I waited for 60 seconds after he fed and then gently “cast” my EHC about 6′ upstream of his lair. I like to use the “slingshot” cast on short, precision casts like this. In this case, it was perfect and the fly landed gently on the water in a cluster of foam. I raised the tip of my rod so only the fly and 6″ of tippet were in the water. As the caddis imitation drifted over Brookie’s hold, the fish moved forward and gave a look up, but no take. At least I got his attention. I let the fly drift well downstream – staying alert in case another fish hit. After retrieving my fly, I slingshot cast it to the exact spot. This time it was on the outer edge of a little foam raft and clearly visible. I waited patiently as the fly swirled and slowly made its way down stream. This time Brookie saw the fly and darted to the surface – a good 5′ or so – and grabbed the fly with perfect precision.

As Brookie darted to the bottom with my EHC in its mouth, he realized something wasn’t quite right and turned to head downstream. A quick redirection with my rod and I began the retrieve. Tenkara rods have no reel so the retrieve basically consists of gently pulling the fish towards you until it is close enough to land. In small streams and small trout a net isn’t necessary. I landed the fish and admired his colors and healthy appearance. I always keep my camera at the ready so I wasted no time snapping a few photos.

I like to get the fish back in to the water as quickly as possible so sometimes the photos are not quite focused. That happened in this case. I wanted a shot of the fish next to my rod handle so I could measure it later. The photo was slightly out of focus but suitable for its intended purpose. A little work in Photoshop turned the out of focus photo into a pseudo “art shot”.

Satisfied, I packed up and headed up the bank to head home. The entire experience lasted all of 30 minutes from the time I parked!

In any event, with the book finally shipping, I am now officially “an author”!

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 that again. The reel I recreated is based on a reel I borrowed that is attributed to the period and location – mid 1800s, New York. I had permission to carefully peek inside the reel so I could more accurately reproduce it.

My goal was not just to make a “looks like the original” but to actually reproduce the techniques and use the same tools the original reelsmith used. Although there is no way to know for sure, there are always tell tale signs that are left as evidence. For instance, metal spinning leaves a distinctive pattern of concentric impressions on the curved surface. This was the technique used to make the spool plates. It is an old technique and an art form. At first I thought the front plate cover was spun too, but close scrutiny under high magnification showed that it was actually hollowed on the lathe.

It was through careful scrutiny and studying 19th century tools and techniques that I was able to piece together how this reel was made. The only deviation that I know I made was the reel foot and bracket. the original are obviously cast and are most likely bronze based on their slightly reddish coloration. I don’t currently have the means to cast brass and bronze (it is on my list of things to do!) so I used solid brass stock and formed it by cold and hot forging. Not quite the same but a reasonable alternative. Next time I’ll cast these parts!

Here is the construction process as I approached it. First, here are some photos of the model reel:

This reel is a multiplier – meaning that for each crank of the handle, the spool rotates more than one revolution (2 1/2 in this case) – and has a stop latch to lock the spool from rotating). It is about 2″ in diameter and has an original, unmolested long reel foot. The screws are all hand cut and the grip is most likely ivory.

To fabricate this reel, I started with the front plate and cover. This was turned from a 2″ diameter section of brass rod.

The cone in the center was also turned and slightly hollowed on the inside with a graver. The decorative bands were cut with a graver on the lathe. The plate has a small rebate around its edge for the cover to fit on. The cover will be fastened with 3 screws.

Next up is the reel foot and bracket assembly. The foot was formed from .064″ brass that was pounded in to shape in a concave wooden mold. The bracket is just a bar of brass that was hot forged to make it flow a little to simulate the cast part on the original. The concave cradle for the foot was cut with a half round file. The bracket is riveted to the foot with two 1/8″ brass rods.

The back plate was fabricated similarly to the front plate. Here are the front and back plate assembled to the reel foot bracket.
I hand made the screws from drill rod. The originals appeared to be #3 and maybe 50TPI. I only had 4-40 taps and dies so I used those. But I took care to make the screw heads the proper shape and size. Here is a bottom view of the assembly with the front cover in place.

The pillars were turned from 1/8″ D brass rod. The end that attaches to the back plate is turned down to 1/16″ to fit holes in the back plate and will be peened in place. The front end is also reduced in size (3/32″) for mating holes in the front plate.
The spool was a complex part to fabricate. The spool plates were formed using lathe spinning. This is how the originals were made. It was an easy technique to master. The spindle is my design since I could not take the reference reel apart to see how it was put together. But, it makes sense based on close scrutiny and similarity to other reels that I have completely disassembled.

The spool plates are silver soldered to the spindle. Here is the completed spool assembly.

An 8 tooth pinion attaches to the 1/8″ shaft on the right side of the spindle.  Here is the frame and spool dry assembled.

With this work complete, it was time to turn to the mechanicals – the stop latch and multiplier mechanisms. The stop latch consists of a small lever and a brass spring fitted with a steel pin. The lever lifts the spring and pin out of a hole that passes through the plate and spool. The ball head on the lever was tricky. The original lever end is egg shaped and appeared to be shaped by hand, not turned on a lathe. I used files to fabricate mine. The end opposite the handle has a 45 degree bevel to act as a wedge to lift the spring. You can see it in this photograph.

The handle is attached to the main gear (20 tooth). The gear pivots on an idler post fabricated from steel. I attached this from the back with an oval head 2-56 screw. I don’t know how the original was done but this made sense.

The main gear was re-shafted and turned to final shape. The end was cut to a square with a file to mate with the handle crank.

The handle assembly was straight forward. The crank shape was copied from the original. The brass is thicker at the hub end than the handle end. I tapered it with cold forging and files. The hub end has a square hole to receive the main gear shaft. The grip is “vegetable ivory” – Tagua Nut. I started the fatiguing process of it.

Here’s a top view of the mechanical assembly.

The last thing to do was peen the pillar ends to form a nice rivet head. Once this is done, the reel can not be disassembled. Here are some photos of the new reel next to the original reel.

That completes the assembly of the reel. The last task is to lightly distress and patina it to look used. I am going for the “10 year” look of a used and cared-for reel. Photos to follow.

And here is the reel attached to the reproduction Porter’s General rod created by Drbaits.