Mark Wintle

[Lord Paul]

Mark

Just an idea - I seem to remember reading in one of your posts that you make/have made in the past your own floats- how about a piece on float making?

 

[Evan the Welsh Windbag]

What sort of floats are you interested in yr Lordship ?

You never know, you might even spark me into knocking up a batch with some piccys and inspire a first article out of me.... /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

 

[Lord Paul]

Hi Evan - Dam those Welsh rubgy lads of yours!!

Any type of float - I'm a DIY disaster zone- well having all those servants I don't do much DIY but I thought I'd have a g oat making my own floats - probably start with something easy.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Before I even attempt a piece on float making, and I've enough on my plate on the writingfront at the moment, I'd like you to confirm that you could go out and get the basic materials for float making.

In no particular order:

Balsa dowel

peacock quill

crow or goose quills

3mm cane

Rapid Araldite

Polyurethane varnish

Matt white

Fluorescent red/orange

Matt black

Another colour like green, underside grey etc.

A scalpel plus spare straight edge blades

Avery fine tooth hacksaw

Various sandpaper down to v fine.

 

[Lord Paul]

Hi Mark

some of these I have/can bet easyie sandpaper, hacksaw, paints - can you point me to where I might get the peacock quill, goose quill ect

I don't want to put you to tomuch trouble - it was just an idea of a bit of a side hobby to fishing and drinking-but if it's more effort than worth it I'll stick to buying floats

 

[Morespiders]

Here's one i made earlier.

Sir Paul, peacock quill is from a peacock, goose quill from a moose.

Ps Mark what about some brown, and black whipping silk, for that lovely spiral finnish on the stems of the moose quills?.

 

[Lord Paul]

THnak morespider but where do i get these quill without shooting the birds - they aremy star attractionat my safari park -along with te zebera ( donkey with whitewash splashed on it)

 

[Steve Spiller]

M'laud..............Ebay........Crowquills, or look for some road kills on the estates lanes.

Toodle pip.

 

[Morespiders]

Sir Paul, Goose quill's from your local wherever, pools ponds lakes, always some lying about , i always straighten mine on a gas ring , by applying heat gently and bending you can get them as straight as a die.

Strip them first using new stanley blade, then scraping any rough bits off after, scrape with the feather grain not against it, then straighten the qills with gas.

peacock quill can be found on e-bay, dont see much in tackle shops these days.

PS Who splashed the whitewash on the monkey?.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Other possible suppiers are fly-tying suppliers for peacock quill & crow quills or flower arranging shops for peacock quills. I find some crow quills most years on the river bank, and can get 100 goose quills in a few minutes after the moult in summer around the local pits.

I don't bother straightening quills but do select exactly the ones I want.

 

[Lord Paul]

Right Mark and the rest of you - I'll keep an eye out next time I'm out and about

When I've collected some - I'll have a bash at float making

Thanks all

 

[Jeff Spiller]

Lord Paul, what a bloody good idea.

Thanks Mark an article on float making would be most excellent and seeing that it's the closed season I have got nothing to do ! apart from all the diy that I avoided during the season.

Evan you also seen to know a little of this subject, could we meet at your place to put these new found skill's to work ?

At last a fishing thread /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gifand hopefully nofighting.

 

[Alan Tyler]

"At last a fishing thread /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gifand hopefully nofighting."

You wait! Base coats and varnishes for flourescents - absolute minefield.

Body colour - stain or paint? Diatonic shading, disruptive patterns, low-vis flat colours, or imitations of twigs? The debates will only end when free-swimming fish can have electrodes implanted into their brains, so their EEGs can be recorded by telemetry ... or the close season ends and everyone goes fishing.

And as for whipping along the stem of a quill float ... there'll be blood on the carpet!

We're a' doomed, I tell ye, doomed...

P.S. Don't forget, for carving cork, wax the blade; it'll last longer and cut cleaner. Just rub it against a candle.

(Bishop, actress, ... coat, taxi)

 

[Mark Wintle]

So what sort of floats?

Wagglers?

Crow quill/goose quill Avons

Or the absolute master class - stick floats?

Alan,

Stuff cork for float making - too much like hard work. I make floats to fish with, which means keeping them simple.

 

[Alan Tyler]

You see, Jeff?

Now there'll be an angry mob of "tradionalists", who want not only to fish with a float, but study the play of light on its curves, upload its photo for others to coo over, and run bands of pointless open-turn whipping along (presumably because they saw it on ebay, so it MUST be true)...

In defence of cork - and this is going to be a struggle - it doesn't need varnishing, which is why one of the Ashursts used to carry a few cork bodies, so they could quickly change the buoyancy of a waggler;

-it's tough, so it's better than balsa or pith in the sort of speed-fishing where the float is going to get bashed against the rod-rings (the first time you crack a float that depends on its varnish can spoil your day, as you strike at bites that aren't bites, and gradually take more and more shot off, baffled as to why you'd need to, 'cos it was fine when you plumbed up...

- it doesn't ake as much shot as balsa, which can help if you need the float as a casting aid, without having too much shot downstairs;

-and finally, it's traditional, innit?! A float is more than a bite indicator; it's your souls guide to the world beneath the water - would you really trust balsa? Have you seen what can happen to model aircraft?

Smirking but amicably light-hearted emoticon here, please...

 

[Mark Wintle]

I actually made a float system on the lines of the Benny/Kevin Ashurst one using balsa bodies though cork might be better in that it is easier to sealand has a little flex that enables it to expand a bit when you push it onto the quill. In the end I abandoned the system as unnecessary when reliable quick change adapters came along. Never mind cork I've used an aircraft quality expanded foam that is fire resistant, immensely strong and expensive at £2000 a sheet! (I got some offcuts).

The thing with float making is that there isn't a right or wrong way to do it - though if the paint is cracking on your balsa floats you have more to learn!. Once you have the skills through practice and experimentation you can make floats to please yourself. I've made crude floats quickly just in time for matches (2 hours start to finish one night in the days of cellulose carp sprays) or floats just to see how fine a float I could make - ones good enough to fool other anglers that they were prototype Image Crowquill Avons and balsa wagglers, as well as some very special stick floats. I was making floats successfully before I actually started catching fish apart from minnows and bleak more than 40 yeras ago.

I'm not a great fan of Paul Cook style floats which are made for show but not actually that good as floats for using; not knocking the craftsmanship just the practicality.

 

[Alan Tyler]

The debate on finishes could be most fruitful. I seem to spend as much time re-painting float tops as I do fishing with them!

I'll happily whip along a multi-spliced float - Norfolk reed, or stepped quill inserts, usually; but I don't kid myself that they're "better" floats; just fun. And pretty.

 

[chavender]

strangley enough i'm in the process of writing a series of mini artcles for my forums site .On Floatmaking (well before forget it all)

Part one, Part two , Part three

but its already proving a bigger project than i first thought (i keep adding new designs) . I may well split it up into basic /advanced floatmakng before i'm done.They'll be covering many styles of floats .I'm not a Professional floatmaker ,used to make my own out of fiscal needs to save money ,but its for purley pleasure now.I do use some unorthadox methods / materials in my float making and i'm trying new modern materials all the time.but still use and make traditional designs as well

A few recent floats made up for the articals ,there's small cork bodied avons for shallow grayling fishing ,the usual crowquils,a styrofaom on cane (the green one) ,A double ended chubba ,a balsa on cane avon wiith interchangable fluro tips and a wire stem version .

 

[Grumpy Git @]

Lord Paul ....

....... you could try this link to begin with, for quills

Float materials

or this site for balsa and peacock.

More float materials

/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

 

[Lord Paul]

thanks Grumpy