More Birchbark!!

I seemed to have a problem with my account and could not access my blog. All seems to be sorted out now. I have been making quite a few grips since my last post. This is another birbark grip attached to an 8' 3 WT. I really love the look of a birchbark grip. Definitely screems custom rod. If your interested in making one of these for yourself you can purchase the bark here. I have personally collected and sorted the bark. If you dont roll your own but would like one please contact me scott@solwaycustomcomponents.com

In this grip I have added Laguna Burl cork and Corian for the trim.
The seat and end cap are stabilized birch burl wood.
Please click on the photo to zoom it in.



A closer shot of the seat.

Custom ALPS Decal

I haven't been posting as much as I would like but I have been busy with customer rods and the like. I don't feel to bad spending time in the shop because the weather has been absolutely awful. Today I had time to slip in my water slide decal work. They were made on an ALPS printer using white ink. This is the stripping side with the builders name. ME!!! Click on the photos to zoom them in.



This is the other side with model, length and rating. I have to do some more experimenting with these decals. The carrier paper is extremely thin and they were not the easiest to bed down. I found the best so far is a coat of Chromaseal over the decal before it is cut to shape. This way the writing is more durable and you can give it a fair amount of pressure to squeeze the air out from under it. All in all its not to bad. I used Threadmaster over and turned by hand. Its nearly 3 3/4" long came out nice and level. I also changed the wrap a bit an put in some tan between the white bands to tie in with the grip.

A Strange Pike

No rod building today. My computer was so full of junk that I had to spend some time and clean it up.
I came across this photo that I had completely forgotten about. I think it was caught somewhere in Ontario, Canada. I have seen small slamon fry hatching like this but they usually didn't last
.Obiviously this fish was one of the very lucky ones. I figured I would pop it on here and see if other fisherman find it strange!!!!