Dickerson 8014

The first fly rod I made took two years to complete from start to finish. Along with the fly rod I was making the tools I needed to make the finest fly rods I can. Some of the tools that I had made needed some improvement, and with those improvements made another rod was started. The out come was what I had hoped for: a higher quality rod.

The higher quality rod was in the form of a Dickerson 8014 6 wt. fly rod. There is a great taper on this rod to begin with. Lyle Dickerson is the maker who designed this rod and I have done my best to make a close reproduction. It is a fast/mid-fast taper, depending on the line you cast, making it a nice rod for those who normally fish with graphite rods.

The better quality in this rod comes in several forms. The first is the quality of the plained strips. The angles on each of the six strips were much more accurate due to improved plaining technique and improvements made to my plaining form. Secondly, the wraps were much tighter and sealed a lot cleaner than with the last rod. I also like the color combination which is green and orange.

Next comes the finish. I am vary pleased with the finish with one exception. With the last rod I had problems with the finish running after I thought it was dry. For nearly two weeks after I dipped the rod in varnish, run marks appeared in the finish. I was tipped off by another rod maker that my varnish needed thinning, which helped tremendously. The one exception I have is there are some specks and dust flecks in the finish, nothing that would turn me away from the rod, which I hope to have worked out soon.

In addition to the rod I made a tube to go with it. The tube is made out of red oak, capped on each end with red oak caps (one of which is permanently in place), and one leather strap is used to hold the top in place. The tube is made as a hexagon to mirror the rod.

I also had the rod sock embroidered with HRC. These letters represent "Heritage Rod Company," which is also the way I signed the rod this time. I chose Heritage Rod Co. because of the fishing heritage we have with this type of rod. It is a heritage that goes back to the time of my grandfather, a heritage that is worth holding on to.

If you are interested in having a handcrafted fly rod made for fishing you can contact me by email, on facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, or Linkedin.

The rod is $600 plus shipping. The price includes the Dickerson 8014, one rod sock, and the rod tube. If you have any questions I will be glad to answer them.

Matthew

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Rod Number One

After much toil, sweat, blood, and tears I was able to complete my first bamboo fly rod. It is

suppose to be a Phillipson Peerless 7' 6" 5wt. but it turned out a little heavier than that. May be I'll call it a mutated version of a Phillipson Peerless. No matter I still think it is the greatest casting rod on the face of the earth (this may be a little biased).!

The rod is a fast rod with most of the action being toward the tip section of the rod. I fitted the rod with a rose wood reel seat and aluminum fittings. To go with the darker flaming and the red wood reel seat I wrapped the guides with a red gossamer silk thread.

The finish on the rod is three coats of tung oil completely rubbed out and then dipped in varnish one time.

Over all the whole process was enjoyable and I am looking forward to my next rod. I wish I could give you some better photos of the rod, but my point and shoot camera doesn't do all that hot on close-ups.

I hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

Matthew

Grits-N-Flies

A Plain Sole

A fly rod is a fine tuned machine. If you don't believe me ask an experienced maker who "plays" with tapers. They will tell you all it takes is a few thousandths of an inch change to effect the character of a rod. A lot of the items we use are that way. The more care that is put into the small, seemingly insignificant, details the better the product.

One such product that I use a considerable amount to make a fly rod is a hand plane. I recently picked up a new Stanley equivalent to the old classic 9 1/2 block plane. All block planes, no matter how well made, need to be fine tuned. Some, though, are better than others. You could pick up Lie-Nielsen version of the 9 1/2 block plane and use it right out of the box. A well cared for classic Stanley 9 1/2 could also be used.

Classic Stanley tools make for excellent wood working and rod making tools. At some point Stanley tools decided that quality was no longer important, likely during the advent of power tools, and shipped their tool production to China. Some where along that trip, who ever was in charge of keeping up with the directions for plane making was apparently lost at sea.

The two important parts of the plane are the blade and the sole. The sole is the part of the plane that needs the most work on these new planes from Stanley. To give you an idea here is a photo of the sole of my new plane. The shiny area is where the sole of the plane was coming in contact with the abrasive used to flatten the sole. As you can tell there is a considerable amount of work ahead of me.

Items Needed

The items needed are straight forward and can be picked up at the local hardware store. You will need mineral oil, paste wax, sand paper (80, 100, 220, 400, and 1200 grit), a straight edge (a high quality steel ruler will work), and a flat surface. When picking out your sand paper be sure to get the one labeled "wood/metal." Thankfully, for me I have a table saw with a cast aluminum top. These tops are typically very flat and will work well for lapping the sole of a plane. If you do not have a table saw you will need to find a hard flat surface to use.

The Pain Staking Process

As enjoyable as making a fly rod is, some parts are just monotonous. This is one of those parts. It is pretty simple, start with the coarsest grit paper you need (more than likely 80 grit), place it on your flat surface, pour on a little mineral oil, retract your blade (but do not remove it), and begin sliding the sole of your plane across the paper. Stop to check for flatness with the streaght edge. Once you reach a uniform flatness across the plane sole begin moving up through the higher grits.

Some out there advocate only stroking it in one direction and that is fine if you want to double your time and really not benefit yourself in any way. Others encourage a serpentine motion. This is fine if you need to remove a lot of metal, but as you progress through the higher grits of paper I suggest a back and forth motion. This will reduce the swirling that was made by the courser grits and the serpentine motion.

Finishing

The next question is, when do you stop? Some say you need to obtain a mirror finish. A mirror finish is a good thing but I don't believe it is absolutely necessary. All of the planes I uses, wether for rod making or woodworking, all have what I call a hazy mirror look. Lets put it this way you will not fix your hair by looking in it.

Once you have reached the desired sheen you will need to protect the plane from rust. The best way to do this is to apply a coat of paste wax. The kind that I use is "Liberon Fine Paste Wax." I use this in furniture construction as a finish but it also works well to protect all of my hand tools. I use the "neutral" color because it will not rub off and color the piece I am working on.

Simply rub on the wax, let it set for a minute or two and buff off.

Cost vs. Time

After completing this job I began to think about the time involved, the cost of the plane, the sandpaper, the oil, and the wax. Here is the way I have it figured:

1. Stanley block plane = $40

2. Mineral oil = $1

3. Sand paper = $40

4. Liberon Wax = $20

5. Time = 4hr x $25 = $100

Total = $201

Now, lets look at the Lie-Nielsen. It is only $150 plus shipping from the factory. You can get it a little cheaper through Woodcraft.

Thank the Lord, all of these items were already in my shop. The only purchase I made was the plane. I hope this will be a help to some out there. Bottom line, buy a good quality plane it is worth the investment for the better product.

Matthew

Southern Rod Maker Noted By The Underground

The Trout Underground has a nice piece written up on James Beasley, a rod maker here in good ole Tennessee. If you are interested in bamboo rods and those that make them it's worth a read.

Part 1
Part 2

Matthew