SHOP NOTES | C.J. BOVA RODS

From butt to tip everyone of my rods are totally custom. Nothing is pulled from a hardware drawer or added on from a vendors catalog as an afterthought or shortcut. Every reel seat, cap and ring set, winding check, cork check, threaded barrel, ferrule plug, and rod bag is created specifically for it's intended rod. All hardware is machined from the highest quality nickel rod stock. All of our bluing is done using a labor intensive process called “slow rust bluing” which is how very old firearms are blued and restored. Nickel can be treated in a very similar fashion with the use of additional powdered additives. All of my bluing is done the same way fine firearm restoration finishes are created. The result is a dark charcoal black finish with a lot of depth. Look at “blued hardware” from other component companies or rod makers and what you will find is a very flat uniform finish with no depth. Again if you look at a fine custom firearm you will immediately notice t...

For a long time I've been looking for the best all around fly tying head cement. After using Loon's Water Based Head Finish I've found that it does everything I need in a highly controllable non-toxic solution. It's viscosity is perfect for seeping into wraps. The finish dries flexible but NOT rubbery. If you tie a lot of dries it's an exceptional marriage of uses such as hitting parachute posts with horizontal hackle collars, locking in wings, setting splayed tailing fibers, wetting threads on micro patterns, and controlling the amount of head coverage you need. This stuff is truly amazing. After years of using cyno-glues that spew vapors and dry burning the materials in the process this glue is literally a breath of fresh air. Years of head cement drying up and “gooing out”, having to thin glues, scraping dubbing needles, etc...all this fuss was a real pain in the butt. This stuff just wipes up with water when it's still wet. When dry the consistency of L...