Forecast blanks

[John 3:16]

Anybody out there build on one of these? Particularly the 4pc.8'4wt. I'm thinking of trying my hand at building one.
Also,can anyone tell me what type of wood the reelseat on a T3 Orvis rod is made of?

[BH Spey]

I built a pair of 9' 4wt 4-piece forecasts, one for my son and one for my daughter. The rods are a little on the heavy side but cast like a dream. The action I would describe as being on the slow side of moderate. They load deep into the butt section and throw nice tight loops. Sixty foot casts are effortless.

John;
I've built 7 of them from 6.5' 2 wt. to 9' 5 wt. with a 9' 7 wt. in the works. All 4 pc.
BH Spey discribed them well.
I find that 4 pc. are easier/faster to build. Mainly due to my limited work space.

[John 3:16]

How difficult is it to find the spine on a 4pc.

[MontanaMoose]

I'll jump in and say you shouldn't need to spine the 4pc John.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

John;
I do not spine my blanks. Assemble them so they are straight and go from there. The quality of todays blanks have just about made "Spine Finding" a thing of the past.
Montana Moose Thank you!!
You came in while I was writing this post.

[MontanaMoose]

You're welcome Jack. I couldn't pass that one up ! Oh, I thought of something...if there is ever any curvature in a fly rod tip blank I position and wrap the guides on the outside of the curve.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[Diane]

According to the Orvis website, the T3 reelseat is "burled maple." This meaning of burl shouldn't be a verb. It sounds silly. So my answer is maple burl.

And it looks like it may have been stained, too. And, for all I can tell from just looking, it is quite possibly also stabilized. So maybe it's stained stabilized maple burl.

Or not. On another of their pages about the T3 series they mention that the reel seat is stabilized Amboina.

The photos look much more like Amboina than maple burl.

If you're considering making your own reelseat with Amboina, it will probably fall to pieces unless you stabilize it.

[John 3:16]

Thanks for all the info folks. Now I just have to decide whether or not to add building to fishing and tying.

[roadking]

GO FOR IT! It's more fun than you can imagine. Just remember to take it slow and if you mess up, almost anything can be undone. Make sure you build a turning jig from FAOL BB and I like an 18 rpm motor. Started with a bbq motor. It's all good. Good luck


Mike