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Can the cap be glued directly to a cork reel seat on a Garrison style all cork cap and ring reel seat?  Any other insights needed when building this style of reel seat?  (Kyle Druey)

I would drill through and pin it. Actually, it is not a bad idea on any reel seat cap.  (Bob Maulucci)

If you look in Garrison's book, he glued a wooden plug to the end of the rod shaft, turned it to size on the lathe, and then glued the cap to this wood ring, not the cork (to get a good solid connection between the rod shaft and the reel foot).  (Chris Obuchowski)

I just got a Venneri cap and ring reel seat from a third-party vendor (Model LGDS, large down slide).   I'm a bit surprised by the weight of the cap.   The bottom of the cap is ca .158 thick measured at the center, and from the center-bottom slopes up to ca .250.   This makes for a unusually hefty cap.   I wonder if this is typical of this model??   Anyone have one on hand and do these measurements seem typical of this model?   Appreciate your comments.  (Bob Milardo)

I think you must have some how gotten an older version of my cap and ring seat. In the beginning I made them a little on the heavy side. Since then I have flattened the bottom  inside the cap to knock down some of the weight. I would be happy to send you a replacement cap if you want something a little lighter.  (Bob Venneri)

Just for the record.   I don't know Mr. Venneri and have no business association with him, but I did once meet the man.   It was at a gathering.

A group of us were chatting and I happen to mention a problem I was having in getting clean finishes when machining reel seat hardware on my lathe.  Unknown to me, Mr. Venneri was in the group.   After I voiced my question, he went over to his truck and pulled out a "textbook" on machining techniques and handed it to me.   "Here take this', he said, 'it ought to answer your questions."

I offered to pay him; he wouldn't take a dime.   And by the way, he was right. It did.  But the take home message wasn't about machining techniques.  (Bob Milardo)

So, what was the textbook?  Sounds like it would be useful to a lot of us if it's still available.  (Neil Savage)

It's the Home Machinist's Handbook by Doug Briney (Tab bks, 1983).  (Bob Milardo)

I need to remove the cap from a cap and ring reel seat.  I put the cap on two days ago with epoxy.  Is using heat the best way to get it off?  I think I probably want to gently heat it and try often to remove the cap.

Why do I want to remove the cap you ask?  I just found the ring last night, and it's not on the rod.  (Aaron Gaffney)

Sometimes you can make more headway against epoxy by alternating heating & cooling.  Heat with a heat gun, then plunge into ice water.  Repeat.  The expansion & contraction of the metal will break the epoxy bond after several cycles.  Same works for ferrules, but you have to be careful not to remove the moisture plug if its soldered in, not machined.  (Frank Stetzer, Hexrod, Taper Archive, Rodmakers Archive)

Some time ago I looked over a web site which offered nickel silver discs -- coin shaped pieces -- from which one might use a die and press to create reel seat caps.  I thought I had that site bookmarked but can't seem to find it right now, even with a rudimentary Google search.  If any of you has an idea about what I might have looked at, I would appreciate your help.  (Harry Boyd)

Sante Fe jewelers Supply has nickel silver disks in various sizes.  I looked and they had 1 ½ and above but I did not check the gauge. I think that TB Hagstoz & Son have them, but I didn’t check.  (Ray Taylor)

I too used the already mentioned Santa Fe Jewelers. I soldered a disc onto a piece of tubing and made an acceptable cap (for me).  (Bill Bixler)

I am in the process of trying to locate the owner of the metal shop in Greensboro will let you know if I get lucky. Hope you are doing well and had a happy Easter. I did went small mouth fishing on the James Sunday afternoon got back Monday afternoon. The water was high caught a few but the best was just being there. I finally got me a metal lathe got a Taig haven’t done anything on it yet trying to learn something about it. Tell me does it run in clock wise or counter clock. right now mine is ccw. got to true the 3 jawed chuck hope I can do it right. (Charlie Cole)

Remember that what the lathe is doing is bringing the work piece onto the cutting area of the tool.

Now, assuming that the sharp bit of your tool is pointing upwards, then the lathe should be running anti-clockwise as you look at the chuck from your RHS.  This brings the uncut metal of the work down onto the cutter.  (Peter McKean)

I am looking for a pocket end cap and a matching ring that will match the Garrison reel seat hardware.  There was a list member who's name I can't remember that makes them. I want to make a reel seat that is part wood and part cork like in the Garrison book. (Tony Spezio)

I think Bellinger makes what you are looking for. (Larry Myhre)

REC makes the hardware as well.  (Jim Brandt)

Everyone's suggestions have been great but what I would suggest is Snake Brand.  They have started making incredible reelseats!!  Every bit as great as their ferrules.  Go look at the website at what they are now offering.  Very good prices too. (Doug Hall)

No argument that Snake Brand has some great products, but I don't see a Garrison style reel seat.  Am I missing it? (Bill Lamberson)

There are two that I've used for just that purpose.  First, of course, is Bellinger.  They make cap and ring hardware modeled after the Garrison seat and you can find it here.  Second, you might want to look at the LC14 lightweight slide band seat offered by Lemke Concepts here.  Joel Lemke used to work for Struble and his work is beautiful.  I used this particular seat on a Payne 97 with a cork and wood spacer in the Garrison style and couldn't be happier with how it turned out. (Bill Ernst)

I am making some cap and ring reel seats and want to taper the cap/ring to better fit the reel foot. I have seen some reference numbers such a tapering cap opening to 7.5 degrees and one side of the ring 3.75 degrees. Is that good numbers to shoot for? (Ron Delesky)

I've found the same thing with hardwood spacers. The taper is more trouble than it's worth because it doesn't seem to make a dif. (Tony Young)

I swage cylindrical rings to an approximate 7 degree included angle.  I used to do it with nickel-silver rings and now with titanium ones.  It’s fast and easy.  Does it make a difference?  Certainly reduces having the ring dig into a wooden reel-seat spacer.  I haven’t checked if it really holds the reel better.  My reel-seat caps are cylindrical. (Tim Anderson)