I have found a tool that has sped up my leader furling greatly as well as turning out, in my opinion, a superior quality product.
I got it at Wal-Mart on a whim, as it was just under $25.00 including tax. “What the heck?” I thought, “I can always use it around the house for other things if its bogus for leader furling”. Turns out its a killer appliance!
The lowest speed is 11,00 rpm (website says 12,000, oh well) and if I pay attention to what I am doing it cuts way down on the time to get a leader turned out.
My tool for twisting furled leaders is a small battery-operated electric fan, available in the camping dept. of Wal-Mart for about $1.50. Pull the fan blades straight off the shaft, it’s just a friction fit. Then epoxy on a small section of brass tubing from an ink pen refill. Epoxy a small brass cup hook into that, and you’re set to go. Total cost, less than $2.
Thanks for posting, both of you… I’m always searching for the best compromise. The personal fan I tried (probably not the one mentioned here) had so little power that it stalled out before achieveing a good tension/ frequency of twists, and the resulting leader was furled too loosely. Same for the hair-briader I tried. The drill I presently use is great, but I can get “tennis elbow” if I use it too much in one day.
Sometimes I am in the process of making ten or twenty or more leaders and have found that battery-powered devices run down somewhere in the middle. I even tried using my wife’s cordless power drill. it too ran down in the middle and I had to wait while the power pack re-charged.
So that is where I am coming from, there and having the motors burn out on me.
I suppose I am one of those folks who searches for the “bullet proof” solution. That and not being too good with rigging up devices such as you described. All thumbs here
the big difference is that this one cost me $25.00 and a Dremel starts out at $70 or $80
All I need is a reliable motor that will spin fast and not burn up on me. Those were the criteria I worked from. I was looking at Dremel tools in the hardware section of Wal Mart and whistling softly to myself regarding the cost. Then I saw this rascal and decided I’d give it a chance.
I use an older Makita cordless drill and it is also pretty heavy but I found that if I just lay it down on its’ side at the bottom of my board it works quite well. I also use a small spring on my hook in the drill to the leader. This takes up the slack and saves a lot of breakage.
You are absolutely correct that the tried and true variable speed drill does the job just fine. I agree totally. But I was looking for a faster furl, that is my main thrust here, not taking so long to whip one out.
A brand new sewing machine motor can be had for under $30.00. They last forever. Can be run all day with no problems. Speed can be rheostatically controlled without fear of burning it up. Are readily available. Quite durable and reliable.
