For Christmas I received a kit to build a this neat little brass and aluminum reel. The kit is manufactured by fellow Massachusetts-er Michael Hackney at Eclectic Angler. In addition to making ands selling classic fly reels and kits, Michael is the author of The Reelsmith's Primer, and administers an online forum for reelsmiths.
The kit itself includes pre-cut reel pieces, and other components to finish and assemble. I have not done a lot of metal working, but I think I should be able to handle the polishing and filing required.
One of my personal projects of the last couple of years is getting my friends involved in fly fishing. One of my recent success stories has been my friend Ned, who has come on more than one fishing excursion, including last year's excellent trip to the Tuolumne river in Yosemite. He has enjoyed it enough that it is time that he had his own rod. I am honored that he is trusting me to build it for him. I am not a lover of graphite, but as a former Orvis retail associate I can say that they make some pretty rods, especially for a beginner. Therefore, I am going to build him a 8.5 ft, 5wt Orvis Hydros. Orvis finishes these out with a a lovely blue thread and aluminum reel seat, but at Ned's request, I think we will be using a more traditional wooden reel seat, and a contrasting thread.
My Dad picked up this bamboo rod last year at an antique store, and fished it for a couple of months before the stripping guide came off and it was clear that the rod was in need of some serious TLC. After consulting some knowledgable folks, I have determined that it is a post WWII Japanese rod, and probably has little collector's value. Therefore I am going to modernize it for fishing, upping the number of guides from 6 to 8, and replacing the bent chrome ferrules with nickel-silver.
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