I was commissioned by a friend to build a retirement gift for one of our mutual friends.  I'll post pics as the build progresses.

 

Blank: St. Croix 5S610MLXF-B

Guides:  Polished SS Alconite

Hook Keep:  Kigan XLA

Reel Seat:  AmTak Aero

Grips:  Full composite burl cork rear.  No foregrip.

 

Boring the grip inlay.

 

Grip in clamp after glue-up.

 

I'm excited to watch this take shape. That sounds like a sweet blank.

That's awesome! Can't wait to see more

Trimming the excess threads off the reel seat.  It used to be difficult to trim it with a Dremel and keep it square and clean.  Then

I had an epiphany!  Put it on the lathe and cut it with a parting tool.  Perfect every time!!

 

Same thing with boring the seat concentric.  No problem on the lathe.

 

Getting ready to rough-in the grip.

 

Finished grip & reel seat.

 

 

 

Wow, that looks amazing so far

That's nice!!!

This is so cool.........

Very nice work!

Looking good!

Nice inlay design. I haven't done a lot with block stock. I gotta get off the dime on that.

That is looking real sweet Scott.

Good work!

Beauty so far..

Awesome work. You say it's going to be a retirement gift, are you doing anything special with the colors of your wraps or possibly a weave to give the finished rod a theme?  Definately keep us posted on it's progression.

I don't do thread art. My thing is cork. The wraps will be teal with no CP trimmed in steel blue metallic. That color on the SCV blue/green flip just about disappears.

that is awesome!!

Scott's cork work is the best. Just so cool to see it transform from square blocks and straight lines to the flowing art the handles become.

Grip & reel seat reamed and epoxy smeared.

 

Grip slid in place.

 

Reel seat and winding check installed.

Scott, if you don't mind what do you use for reamers?

I have a set of Batson Dream reamers.  Sometimes I'll use a rat tail file too.

 

My technique is as follows:  measure the smallest diameter of the blank where the grip will rest.  I then use drill bits to work up to that size.  I then use the Dream Reamers to get the back of the grip to size.  I think by gradually working through all of the drill sizes, it's easier to keep concentric.

The Dream Reamers are a little pricey but they are worth every penny.  I bought the set and use every size.

Thank you Scott.

The Dream Reamers are gold when it comes to fitting grips. I'll use either the handle or chuck them into a drill.

I chuck them in my drill. They even make short work of those composite blocks.

The guides.