...and number four

Yet more Reg Righyni grayling floats, this time with a balsa tip and some internal reinforcement to make sure there's no problems when adjusting the float cap...

I think that's enough of those for a while, there's another design I'll be trying shortly once I've worked my way through some more of the part-finished stock

Batch number three

The next batch to emerge from the workshop, predominantly grayling floats following Reg Righyni's timeless formula, with a couple of minor modifications. These are fitted with hardwood tips for a little extra strength for the float caps, and the recommended 20swg (0.91mm) piano wire, basically spring steel, has been replaced with 1mm stainless steel.

Where the magic begins in 'Fishing Reflections'

And in addition a couple of simple balsa on cane Avon's with colour scheme inspired by the county flag..

Second new batch

The second set of finished floats from those awaiting completion in the shed.

A bodied waggler, balsa on cane, and matching crucian waggler of balsa on pheasant quill. I quite like the way the pheasant quill has turned out, it seems difficult to tell if the quill is going to show a pleasing pattern or not before the herl is removed.

Another worthwhile read

Whilst the part-finished floats seemed too good to discard but still a bit of a burden at first, it appears the spindle on the lathe I use to turn bodies now has an unacceptable amount of run out and as such is out of commission, so the old stock awaiting completion is now a blessing until a repair is possible or a replacement lathe sourced.

Every cloud and all that, I feel a new investment for the shed coming on....

New floats

Seems like the most frequent here is going to become the one where I try and justify the break in blogging. So usual stuff going on, changing priorities, other hobbies, blah.

Needless to say I shall do my best to keep updates as regular as possible. In the meantime, I've decided to try and finish the nearly sixty floats (some of which can be seen in the earlier photo below) that I've started but not yet finished, in a state from nothing more than a body and stem to just requiring the whipping and varnish.

So first up is the five floats in the following picture, a balsa on cane gudgeon float, two cork on cane grayling bobbers, a cork on cane Avon and a cork-bodied alloy-stemmed Avon (not a combination I recall seeing a large number of I admit...)

More to follow shortly


hopefully

Following another break in transmission

Another long break in communications for which I can only apologise, lots going on distracting me from the updates. First of all the new Avid HQ, erected from scratch and promptly filled to the brim with both useful and some not quite so useful stuff....

Those are brass chips on the work bench in front of the lathe, more on that later

In the meantime, several sets of floats are in various stages of production, the first of which had to be finished before Christmas as it was ordered as a gift. The recipient is ex-Royal Corps of Signals, and still fiercely loyal, so the order came in with a request for any sort of reference to the Corps to be included...

Here's the finished set, I wanted to include the figure of Mercury (affectionately known by the Corps as 'Jimmy' apparently) but the dark float body in combination with the need to have white within the transfer (printers than can actually print white don't come cheap) meant it was just the colours included...

Margin pellet waggler weighted such thattit needs just a couple of BB shot to lock it in place, and the pellet then falls unweighted to match as nears as possible the free offerings, and a weighted parachute waggler inspired by Middy's offerings...

Pheasant tail wagglers with sight bobs....

And a cork-bodied weighted waggler

More updates to follow as soon as the other sets are completed....

Zephyr floats

Having been blessed with a beautiful baby daughter a couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to receive a perfect Father's Day gift this last Sunday (with a little help from Mrs Avid obviously).

Zephyr Antenna float

In 1919, according to Keith Harwood in "The History of the Float", a Mr E Talbot took out the first of two patents for a float made of paper. Zephyr floats, as they were named were manufactured in a wide range of patterns and sizes by Zephyr Angler's Supplies Ltd of Lowestoft. Given the materials used and that they ceased manufacture in the early 60's, making any remaining examples at the very least 50 years old, they're quite sought after by collectors.

Their passing was much lamented by Bill Watson in his book "the Floatmakers Manual", after trying unsuccessfully to recreate the patterns, although there seems to be some differences of opinion on a manufacturing process. In "History of the Float" Keith Harwood refers to Kenneth Mansfield's "Fly Tying, Rod and Tackle Making" should the reader wish to try their hand. The author suggests winding a triangular shaped sheet of paper around 'appropriate sticks' (his words, not mine) to build a body, with different ratio of sides of the triangle and different thicknesses of paper producing different body shapes. I've seen similar suggestions on a couple of forums too. Another suggestion found was to use the stick/dowel as a mandrel, removing it after the paper is wound and glued/varnished to maintain it's shape, with balsa used to plug each end to form a tip and stem.  

Apparently the 5B size refers to 5 inch/'broad' body

A little further searching showed the following patent drawing showing the previous idea was nearly there, albeit the mandrel being used was conical to shape the body and no doubt reduce the number of layers of paper and subsequent weight, rather than a parallel sided hollow in the body produced by a straight dowel and many more layers of paper. 

Zephyr float patent drawing

Other forum posts also suggest 'the right sort of paper just isn't available any more' to get the right size/weight ratio, the posters having tried all sorts including cartridge, brown wrapping paper etc. Apparently tissue paper is the answer, preferably high quality such as that used by aero modellers.

Something to maybe try out when I really do have time on my hands, which at the moment isn't going to be soon. Still the genuine example shown on the float winder will be much treasured and probably not fished with for fear of loss. Mrs Avid admits to paying far too much than she though she should for this particular example, so if anyone was watching it on a certain well-known auction site and wondered who it was, then now you know.

In the meantime I had a couple of hours out on the river yesterday, with plenty of roach, dace, perch and juvenile chub to show for it but nothing of any size. I blame the conditions of very clear water, lots of weed and low water levels (of course it wasn't the angler or his skill). There's was a match on the same stretch later in the day, so I chose a minimalist roving approach and made sure to only stay a short while in each swim so as to not favour any particular peg with my loose feed/groundbait or the lucky angler picking it later, but it'll be interesting to see the results.

The first peg

Highlight of the day was finding a coupe of swan quills and just getting out back on the river after the close season, in the fresh air and peace and quiet for a while, hopefully things will pick up later in the year when the levels return to normal

A damselfly resting on the tip of my (home-made of course) crow-quill Avon

Avons ready for the new season

Some Avons prepared for the new season, completed 36 hours before the rivers re-open (in England anyway, for international readers. Not sure Scotland for example has a closed season....)

On the left, balsa on crow quill, and on the right balsa on pheasant tail, both in Dorset county flag colours

Three balsa on birchwood Avons, the colouring came out particularly nicely on the stems after the first coat of dye, so much so I didn't bother with any subsequent coats

Best of luck to all venturing out for the new season tomorrow...