I turned my first reel seat today. It is going to be awesome tomorrow after the dye is dry and it is buffed to a full sheen. It is a maple burl piece I had from when I had my woodworking store. 15 years ago!

I did a double dye with dk mission brown and then sanded off and did Early am. maple for top. I am trying to match a flamed goldleaf sheet that has a lot of red and didnt think it had enough so I sanded it again and did a Cardinal red dye for the top.

Should look awesome on another Bass rod I am making.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

That looks awesom! Can you explain the process, and/or where you find the separate pieces of seats to make this? I've been interested in this a while now, but don't know the process.

Randy,
It is a very simple process.
Purchase a "skeletal reel seat" in the brand, size and style that you wish. The seat will come in two pieces with the threaded portion and the hooded portion.
Then, one just needs to turn a piece of material to the same size as the "tube size" on which the reel seat is based. When the center section has been turned to the correct size, a tenon, or cut down portion of the center reel seat is turned down to slip perfectly inside the threaded and hood portion of the reel seat.

[www.mudhole.com]

[www.mudhole.com]

In this listing, you can buy the front and rear skeletal reel seat as well as the center section in your choice of materials:
[alpsforecast.com]

Pictures of many various skeletal reel seats and center inserts:
[www.google.com]:

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When creating the center insert, I like to first bore out the center of the insert to be of a size that will nicely fit a lathe mandrel - and be just a bit smaller than the smallest portion of the rod blank that the insert will be fitted to.
By boring the hole first and then turning the insert, the center hole will be perfectly centered and you will have only a small amount of reaming to complete after completing the insert.

Good luck

Thanks Randy. It is a relatively easy process if you have the tools and patience. Roger pretty much said it well on what to do with some good links for supplies. I used a pen mandrel and bushings I had to hold the blank in place. I turned it down and checked with calipers and sanded and fitted until I liked it. Give it a try and have some fun.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2017 11:34AM by Rick Provencher.

I just did a second one with green dye and got some tin ca glue and got both coated and sealed. First coating dried and a second coat applied. I will let sit over night and buff to a high gloss tomorrow.