Float making

[Mark Gaskell]

Does anybody no where i could purchase bodies ,loaded eyes etc for float making? Any links would be appreciated as im finding it near enough impossible to find any quality sliding floats or big wagglers anywhere .Thanks.

 

[Tom Herbert]

I bought a load of off E-bay a while ago, there where four or five different suppliers at the time.

If i remember rightly if you Google you get some good results.

I have a great book by Bill Watson on float making, it is an old book but very relevant.

 

[Dave Durrant]

Tom - well stone me, I never knew you were Lord Drool.


I fancy making a few floats, will give E-bay a bash.
Better still, I may have to give Lord Wilson a call.

 

[Tom Herbert]

Tom - well stone me, I never knew you were Lord Drool.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Dave

Just sorted out a load of goose/swan quills for float making. Will bring some over when I return your book. Can't get the huskies out at present as the snow hurts their dangly bits !!!

Mike

 

[Steven Devereux]

general float making bits on e-bay here

some bodies /small chunks of balsa Here

e-bay links too cork Here for making bodies with

20 peacock quills on e-bay Here twenty more Here

raw quills for floatmaking on e-bay here


theres plenty there too be going on with ,you'll soon be knocking up floats like this

I have a few of these above left ,and i'll be making some new floats soon of verious designs including cork on quill ,fluted avons and crowquill avons in verious sizes ,if you need any help with float making etc just give us a shout
i might even make some spare bodies as i make them in batches on my lathe

 

[Tom Herbert]

No one likes a show off Steven............. but wow.

What lathe do you use matey, i looked for one last year and could not really find one that was suitable?

 

[Mike Wilson]

Agree with you Tom, super floats Steven.

Mike

 

[Mark Gaskell]

They are the Dogs,you cant beat traditional floats tried and tested for years !

 

[Steven Devereux]

No one likes a show off Steven............. but wow.

What lathe do you use matey, i looked for one last year and could not really find one that was suitable?

i can recommend a Co baby lathe [1] [2] (its what i have) or a unimat 1

both can be had off e-bay

Co baby lathe

unimat 1

its a bit of investment but worth it if you make floats in any quantity ,i used too just make a few for myself and give them too friends etc but i've recently invested quite a few bob in modernising and getting mechanised ,so i'll be doing it part time as a business and selling a few online just got too build a web site and build up a stockpile of floats ready if nothing else it'll keep me busy and save me from tv bordom .

 

[Dave Wingfield]

Mark

Have a look here http://fishingweightmolds.com/shop.php?viewcategory=123 it is quality stuff and makes the job easy, especially if you use the pre-painted plastic float antennas, you can make some really big wagglers

Best Regards
Dave

 

[Tom Herbert]

Thanks for the Steven.............. they are superb floats mate.

 

[Paul Boote]

r

Tom

Before you go the mini-megabucks mini-lathe and workshop route, consider using an old, multispeed electric drill laid across your tea-towelled knee... I've made (and continue to make) many hundreds of very nice floats this way. Seems almost in keeping, somehow - well, a slightly mechanized update on the traditional knife, razorblade and glasspaper - with the rambles along the hedgerows that I make from this time onwards in a proper, old-fashioned British winter, in search of top-quality elder pith (which is to be found in a winter like this one). Years-worth collected in a few rambles, once you know the spots.

 

[Mark Gaskell]

Thanks for all the info so far much appreciated .

 

[Martyn Lloyd]

Have a look here http://fishingweightmolds.com/shop.php?viewcategory=123 it is quality stuff and makes the job easy, especially if you use the pre-painted plastic float antennas, you can make some really big wagglers

Dave, I`m not one for knocking shops or sites on the `net but will have to make an exception here.

The service from Fishing Weight Moulds is nothing short of diabolical.

Ok, stuff goes out of stock, thats one of those things, but when you give to the ok to `wait a fortnight` for it then it never arrives and emails are ignored as much as the phone seems to be then sorry, I really must warn folks not to use the site.

I`ve been ripped off by them and they don`t give a damn

 

[Dave Wingfield]

That's that then

 

[Mark Gaskell]

So i will forget that then it looks like its back to the tip then

 

[George Lockhart]

So i will forget that then it looks like its back to the tip then

Mark dont give in so easily float making is greatly satifying, there is floats you can make without hardly any machinery or special equipment, all you need is some champagne corks and some cane skewers with a drill.
I wrote an article for another site with step by step guides, if you roughly follow it and submit a drill instead of a lathe then you can still achieve good results:
http://traditionalfloats.webs.com/float%20creation/float%20creation.htm

 

[Paul Boote]

Well said, George (rather as I was saying earlier). Going all (over) complicated and fully tooled-up can come later.

 

[Steven Devereux]

using a drill is easy you can either mount your raw material onto a mandrel after drilling a pilot hole through the body (size of drill to make hole = mandrels dia (2.5-3mm) ,i use a BBQ skewer or old knitting needle ) then lock the madrel inthe jaws or mount your balsa directly in the drills chuck work one half the turn the body around and work the other end

then finish off by hand

i did find it easier too mount a flexable extention too my drill and clamp this in a vice (saved having to hold the drill and gave me more room .

i do still make some floats by hand by wittling ,filling and sanding ,sometimes you just have too get your hands in there after all floatmaking is a very tactile hoby.some times you have too feel the inner float in the blank peice of wood etc and set it free .one of my favourite things is too experiment and see what body shapes are hiden waiting too be discovered ,i don't always know what shape of body i'll end up with when i start.

i don't have any fancy tools as i use or adapt whats too hand ,old screwdivers ,chisels or old wallpaper scrapers

all ground on a cheap grinder wheel that fits in the drill ,or my grinder/sander machine i got from aldi's for £20


having a lathe all be it a micro one just makes some jobs easier and more convieniant for me plus its a fair bit quieter than me old drill (as my work shed is in me attik [My USA] so need too keep the noise down a bit ) but not really necessary .