Just finishing this one up now - it will feature some rather novel techniques that most won't have seen before. And, all are easy to accomplish and will hopefully greatly expand your ability to provide new and interesting things for you and/or your customers.

Rhonda Van Zandt has penned a nice piece on how to actually perform Scrimshaw. She's even added a bit of advice and "how-to" on "stipling" - the ability to move beyond simple scrimmed lines and instead add actual color and shading to your work.

Kevin Knox has provided an eye opening article on how to apply abalone veneer to your rods in a variety of ways. There are tricks to doing this and his article should enable most any rod builder to use abalone without ruining expensive pieces or wasting time in a trial and error attempt to learn the process.

Steve Gardner has been working with several custom rod builders on the ins and outs of using the "micro" guides. A good many myths concerning their use are exposed along with those situations where they aren't the best choice. His article is based on the practical experience of several custom rod builders who have been building, using and selling rods fitted with these tiny guides for the past couple years.

Also an article on rod set up and how to find the axis that makes the most sense to build on. Plenty more stuff too, but these are some highlights to look forward to.

The issue will mail on October 1st and most builders will receive it around the 3rd week of that month.

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