Chuck7

Thanks..I pulled up a video..a guy was literally doing 3 colors at once..I looked at some custom rods..it gives you a better appreciation for fishing rods when you realize all the work that goes in to making them.

Gangly

Looks Great BH14. Fly's look good, guides look good, bobber is neat, what wood do you prefer for your bob's?

buckhunter14

prefer balsa for the bobbers, although it is difficult to come by, expensive, and often comes in squares.

a second option is basswood, which works ok.

Phil from Maine

Good job on your rod building.. I made one along time ago and worked out great for me.. Just no time to put into it now.. Also a good job on your home made bobber..
One question though, is balsa not fir dried out? Here at least Balsa Fir is exported for Christmas trees. It is relatively easy to come by. Wood cutters leave pieces of it laying around all the time which can be picked up if no saw is used on it. They use this at some mills for papermaking and some of the stuff that is no good for it is used for hog feul. But still real easy to come across.. Do you have friends that have real Christmas trees? Just ask if you can cut a few buts off the bottom of them when they get ready to throw them out..

buckhunter14

Phil, we have a great deal of real Christmas trees, although almost all of them are locally grown and I do not believe any of them ot be Balsa. I am not sure on the exact dynamics, or how balsa is made.

Phil from Maine

No doubt Christmas trees grown here are of the same grown there.. The common fur tree you see as a Christmas tree is in fact Balsa Fur.. That is why I threw that out there. It is only harder to come by because of so many other demands on the trees. Whether for the paper industries making paper with it, Christmas trees, hog feul, lumber mills, and the like. Most of the lumber mills, and paper mills have all but faded away. The balsa from these trees is made simular to the venier logs. The trees are turned and peeled away in layers. This hard work and all the other uses for it does not give much justification to keeping this process going on and on. Therefore this business has been fading away as well with more demand on other products as well as types of wood uses. As you may have noticed the fur tree grown locally is very light when dried as well as a thick grain to it.. Look up Balsa fur and see exactly what they look like.. If you are turning bobbers out with a laith then a chunk of this stuff can go a long ways..

buckhunter14

Thank you very much for the clarification, will look into it!