Kicking around the idea of doing a skeleton reel seat on a fly rod build and was trying to find out some info on how to go about it. First, I need to find some options on hardware, and second, I need to find winding checks to hide the gaps. The hardest part I think will be finding winding checks that will have a large enough outer diameter but tapers down to a small enough OD to meet the blank.

Here's an example of what I'm looking to do.

Been done before, check out the winding checks from both fly and gear rods, you should find a combo you like and that works. Push come to shove you can turn your own, or have them done from wood, acrylic, synthetic countertop material, any number of things.

It is actually quite easy to do with just adding short arbors and winding checks to the hood and barrel

Ron Weber

I think you may find issues with the foot of a fly reel not setting on a blank very flush.

It doesn't have to sit on the blank, the reel foot sits on the arbors at the front hood, and rear barrel

Ron Weber

My main question is does anyone know of a winding check/trim band that will have an ID that will meet the blank, but have an OD that will be wide enough to meet appropriately with the reel seat hardware. I have a pac bay A7 hardware set on hand, and a 9mm winding check will fit inside the hardware. Won't work to say the least.

Most likely something that would have to be fabricated

Ron Weber

If you need something with a bigger OD look at the winding checks used to finish no fore grip or split grip bass rods, and a larger OD winding check that has always been around, but called hosels. If it must be a finished look like the picture, get with Lemme Reel Seats, beautiful work, but not cheap on custom stuff. Quite a few pics of others work in the photo section over the years.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2017 11:03AM by Spencer Phipps.

You need to supply the ID and OD you want to fit.

I did it to an eight weight TFO BVK blank with a two piece Titanium Alloy fly reel seat I got from a guy that makes them in Finland. It was actually just a reel seat without the wood insert. At the time he was the only one I could find that did it in Titanium alloy. The seat pieces were heavier than aluminum would have been because it was not solid Titanium but rather a mix of Ti, Chrome and Nickle. I did a Positive Material Identification (PMI) test on the pieces for the specific metal content and portions. I used Batson dimpled winding checks between the seat pieces that had the correct ID for the blank and the OD that did not cover the reel foot hole and fit on the threaded tube without sticking up too much. It was the right size without having to do modifications to the winding check (I got lucky). The problem was to seal the arbor from water and to have a solid support for the reel foot at the insert or locking side. I used a piece of an old graphite rod that had the correct OD that fit inside the locking side for the reel foot with a graphite arbor and epoxied the winding check over that to seal out water. You need to be careful and not get epoxy in the reel foot opening.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2017 10:12AM by Tom Kirkman.