Dana, That story about the Japanese factory being destroyed has a familiar ring about it. Any chance the custom rod you have is based on a blank marketed by Dale Clemens Custom Tackle under the name "apogee"? If so, I can add a bit to the story.

+1, I am really enjoying this book as well for all the reasons already mentioned. I also have to smile at the contrast between Paul Gaskell's crisp, economical, modern writing style and the more expansive prose from Cutliffe. It must have been a much simpler time. Also noted that Cutliffe's observat...

Hi Ray - My twister arrived from Japan and I played around a bit this afternoon. I made a 7 foot butt section for a tenkara line out of 1X Fluorocarbon. I turned the crank 150 times for the individual strands, followed by 100 turns to twist them all together. It is pretty tightly twisted, so that ma...

Hi Ray - The line you made looks right to me in terms of technique, so I think you nailed the method. For a Tenkara line, I would suggest you also try fluorocarbon. It's more dense than mono and handles the wind better, I think also stiffer which is desirable on a tenkara line. My formula was lighte...

Great find, Ray. I just put one on order. How did you determine how many turns of the crank to make?
I assume you turn the crank in one direction to twist the individual strands, and in the opposite to twist the strands together?

Also check out Micro-mark for specialty hand tools. (and power tools as well)
https://www.micromark.com

Hi Ray - Google " Punting on the Thames" and you will get a a bunch of photos of traditional British punts.
A punt is a low sided craft best suited for calm waters and places where modern high powered craft are not allowed.

Very nice work Bob. A few years ago, I ran across a couple Sharpes blanks and helped one of the soldiers from the Project Healing Waters group put them together. I was considerably impressed with the cane work, especially the flat to flat thickness tolerances, which would have been impressive from a...

I picked up a couple of the blanks a few years ago and let a couple guys from Project Healing Waters finish them off in my shop. I was impressed by the cane work, particularly on the thickness tolerances they achieved. Flat to flat measurements in any given spot were generally within a couple thousa...

Hi Ron - If it is the rusty orange it appears to be, I think I have a spool of the stuff, also some bright orange. Send me a PM with your address, and I will send you a couple samples. If one of them does match, I will send you the spool. I likely haven't used the stuff in 20 years. I have had good ...