Had a neat request for a black on black rod and I suggested a shark tooth to make it a little more interesting and it really turned out better than expected. I like it for all of my personal rods in the future.
Couldn't help but think of Daron through out the process of inlaying the shark tooth.
(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a526/dwebb49/LarryShark4_zps48931a0b.jpg) (http://s1282.photobucket.com/user/dwebb49/media/LarryShark4_zps48931a0b.jpg.html)
(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a526/dwebb49/LarryShark1_zps3e58dd67.jpg) (http://s1282.photobucket.com/user/dwebb49/media/LarryShark1_zps3e58dd67.jpg.html)
(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a526/dwebb49/LarryShark2_zps43c549fa.jpg) (http://s1282.photobucket.com/user/dwebb49/media/LarryShark2_zps43c549fa.jpg.html)
Very nice work!
Clean, crisp, and classy. That rod turned out great Dwight. Good job. That shark tooth inlay is pretty cool. What kind of shark is it?
I bought 100 shark teeth off ebay from a guy in Hawaii and he listed a bunch of different shark species in the lot. I just picked what fit right. About 25 good candidates from the bag. Some of the teeth don't lay flat enough and it would take too many coats of epoxy to smooth out the finish. I keep coating until the surface is completely round and smooth. This one only took 3 applications.
That looks cool Dwight, next time get your own teeth big guy ;) ;D.
Sal
I have a beautiful reel to go and get my own teeth but I don't have the time. This rod business is getting out of control. I hired a helper and tried to get one guy to email Jon Vadney a couple days ago and he said he would wait for me to catch up.
Swamped :-\
Nice work Dwight. Really beautiful rod.
One at a time Dwight, it will get done. ;)
Dwight, that rod is a real beauty. Dominick
Solid Work Dwight! Glad it reminds you of me! ;)
Quote...that rod is a real beauty
100% - some proper work there!
Thanks guys, I appreciate the positive comments.
I would fish the hell out of that. Great job man.
Also Dwight, an easy way I would think to do an epoxy ramp with a tooth inlay like that would be to take some rod bond, mix in a TON of black powder pigment, make your epoxy ramp, and then ever-so-gently, press the tooth into the rod bond. Once it sets up, it should only take one coat of finish over it to make it smooth since the tooth is depressed into the rod bond.
This is pure hypothesis and may, or may not work. Just throwing ideas at the wall to see if they stick (generally my ideas perform similar to the act of kicking water uphill, so....yeah haha).
Thanks Jon, I appreciate the at a boy and the tips. I will have to experiment with your idea. A blessing in a way is the 100 rod rebuild order that I keep chipping away at for the party boat. I have a free reign as long as I maintain the boat color scheme on the blanks and they are all marbled and as you know every one is slightly different. The blessing is that I can't really mess one up so I can experiment with stuff.
As you may have noticed my style is quite different from yours. I don't have the patience for those pretty weaves so I will try to send those customers to you.
Much appreciated my friend. Something that hurts me is I only get amped up about doing rods if I'm doing something that I haven't done before (color scheme, wrap layout, etc etc). Doing sets of rods all the same just feels like work lol. I don't own 2 rods that look even remotely the same.
I am with you brother. I don't have two the same either and have not made two the same. My most exciting rod was the Navy Chief one and I spent so much time on it I made like a buck and hour but it was a fun challenge.
Hi Dwight,
Nice work, like the simplicity.
We have used sharks teeth under resin before, and found the same problem with the curvature of the tooth not sitting flat, and came up with the following solution.
Small 5 or 6mm stainless steel bar with a flat end, stick the tooth to the end of the bar with an epoxy resin. Then with a dremel in a fixed mount and the sanding wheel, gently grind/sand the rear face of the tooth flat, with the bar acting as you 'hold' on the tooth.
Gentle heat on the tooth once finished, and the epoxy resin comes off – clean up, now you have a flat face to work with. It is how they grind cabochon stones flat for jewellery. Stealing ideas of other folks – fair game.
Hope that helps on future projects.
Cheers from sunny Africa
Jeri
Thanks Jeri, all tips are welcome. I have some neat ideas for other inlay materials soon for a special customer.
Dwight, Jon, is it possible to seal the shark tooth and leave a small hole (bottom center) and leave it for a hook holder? The natural curve of the tooth can be utilized for something. Dominick
Quote from: Dominick on January 14, 2015, 04:20:22 AM
Dwight, Jon, is it possible to seal the shark tooth and leave a small hole (bottom center) and leave it for a hook holder? The natural curve of the tooth can be utilized for something. Dominick
The hook keeper is standard on my custom rods as you can see in the Navy rod pic. I put it directly under the shark tooth but did not take a picture of it. As the epoxy is applied on the inlay it blends in nice to round out the area where the hook keeper is installed. My hook keeper is custom made and designed by me so you can't just look it up in a catalog and buy one. I can install them on completed rods as well and have one to install on another guys custom rod (by another builder) when I get time.
(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a526/dwebb49/LarryKlayko1_zps491190ff.jpg) (http://s1282.photobucket.com/user/dwebb49/media/LarryKlayko1_zps491190ff.jpg.html)
Here is one an the bottom side of a spinning rod and this is the normal location just off the end of the foregrip.
(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a526/dwebb49/RyanWCustom6_zps9e5e8552.jpg) (http://s1282.photobucket.com/user/dwebb49/media/RyanWCustom6_zps9e5e8552.jpg.html)