Above photo: One of my drawers filled with Spalted maple, Spalted Koa, and Spalted Alder.
Reel seats create a cadence and a transition point between the rod, the reel, and the hand. I often wonder what it would be like to actually grow a tree from a sapling and decades later cut one of its branches to create a reel seat. Wood spacers can provide a striking look to any bamboo fly rod, and I carefully decide where the spacer is turned, which end receives the cork check, and which end gets a butt cap. A ot of thought goes into each spacer.
The mortise is strategically positioned based on the blank's figuring. Each blank is stabilized and then left to dry for 6 months. Koa is one of my preferred woods to use for reel seats. It is the hardwood that I grew up with in the islands. Outrigger canoes were made from this very dense hardwood, and many have survived for generations. The spalted Koa seats take on a wonderful amber glow when polished. I have a select few that bear the spalted figuring as well as the iridescent curly Koa veins. These seats are among some of the most beautiful I have turned. A simple block of wood can surprise you once it's turned in a lathe, mortised, and lacquered, revealing some of nature's very best patterns.Thank you for letting me share, Clint Bova
