Float making.

[@Clive]

Hmmm...

The dipping of the toe back in seems to have started something.

I was mooching around earlier, looking for something to do when my attention turned to my float collection and not un-substantial amounts of homemade Avons and their derivatives but something still troubled me, namely the quest to make the largest weight carrying Avon i've yet to make.

It currently stands with the very buoyant goose quill tip and stem on balsa body versions and I honestly think they will be hard to beat but I bought some cork bodies some years ago and decided to knock something up during the earlier bbq, namely a carbon stemmed Avon...

View attachment 31902

I have previously made Avons from the cork bodies which i've used and caught plenty of fish with but the stem material always troubled me, thinking that there were lighter and better materials which would allow for more bulk weight down the line, for the job.

Very early days of course and i'm still not convinced that cork has a superior buoyancy to balsa but I think I will see it through in a couple of tip colour variations.

The tip itself being deliberately squared off so as to provide as stark a contrast to its surroundings as possible and I may add slider eyes... I'm not sure yet, but given I have plenty of those already I may just run with it as it stands and add them as a retro fit later if need be.

Very much intended for either high season long trotting or Winter flood work.

I think that if you include a slider eye at the top and flatten off that side of the tip you would improve visibility on the part of the float that should be facing you when you are fishing. I got that idea from Flightliner with his lolly stick tench float tips. I am intending making a set for my old friend who has colour blindness on orange / red. I'm going to dowhjte & black and yellow & black tips.

Regards buoyancy I think dense polystyrene, balsa and cork in that order. I don't find modern cork as easy to turn and shape as the old pre-formed and drilled bodies we used to buy as kids. It seems more 'bitty' in texture.

 

[Aknib]

The cork bodies I have certainly are bitty as you say Clive, I sanded one and compared it with a 'raw' version and it was noticeably smaller after taking the greatest of care to achieve an acceptable finish without compromising buoyancy by sanding it to the absolute minimum.

I think Harcork may have a lot to answer for...

 

[purplepeanut007]

Inserted Sarkanda Wagglers - New Colour Scheme.

fishing,float fishing,float making,hand crafted floats,traditional floats,purplepeanut007,mike cootes,float making,PP007,peanuts fishing adventures

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I have been trying to think of new colour combinations that work together for my Sarkanda Waggers......I hope you all like this one.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I think that if you include a slider eye at the top and flatten off that side of the tip you would improve visibility on the part of the float that should be facing you when you are fishing. I got that idea from Flightliner with his lolly stick tench float tips. I am intending making a set for my old friend who has colour blindness on orange / red. I'm going to dowhjte & black and yellow & black tips.

Regards buoyancy I think dense polystyrene, balsa and cork in that order. I don't find modern cork as easy to turn and shape as the old pre-formed and drilled bodies we used to buy as kids. It seems more 'bitty' in texture.

I’ve also been thinking about Mick’s excellent lollly stick float idea too.

I sometimes fish a water that is float fishing only. My eyesight isn’t the best and I’ve thought of a refinement to lay on or fish a float ledger/feeder, which is not really very dissimilar to a lock slide or Polaris float.

So in the quest for angling innovation I liberated a few McDonald’s coffee stirrers with the intention of making a few test floats, but haven’t started on making them yet.

Over the years I’ve seen a few different ways to lock a float when the line is tightened. Probably the simplest was a float I saw in a now long closed down tackle shop. This was just three small eyes going down the bottom part of the float, the centre eye of the three was off set and as the line tightened it locked the float.

Then I remembered a conjuring trick I had bought for me when I was a lad. That was a block of wood with a hole in two opposing faces . The holes were drilled at an angle forming a dog’s leg inside the block. The block was slid along a string, dropping until the string was tightened. First I thought a bead could be drilled similarly and fixed to the bottom of the float. Although this would be simple I thought it could be simplified further by just drilling two holes through the bottom of the stirrer, passing the line through the top hole of the side you want facing you and back out of the lower one. I will actually make some and see if the principal works and also try adding some buoyancy to the float by gluing some balsa wood to the sides. It should keep the wide side facing the rod, as there’s no swivel incorporated to allow it to twist. The tip could have different colours each side to suit the light conditions too. I will post some pictures if I can get the prototypes to work properly.

 

[@Clive]

Ray,

Back in the 60's there was a device in common use for tench fishing that was a small, 2" length of 1/8" dowel or similar with three offset eyes as you describe. The dowel was attached to the bottom eye of any float using a clip like on link swivels. The clip was fastened to the dowel with about 1" of twisted mono of around 10lb strength so it formed a semi-stiff hinge. You could change the float to suit conditions.

Regards the tips; I have saved some small lolly sticks that are top-half flat and bottom-half round. I reckon that the volume of these flat parts once shaved down a bit will not be much different to rounded stems of cane. The trick is of course to ensure that the flat part is facing you.

I bought some latex float tips in orange, yellow and black. They are virtually neutral buoyancy and will fit on top of the flat tip if I cut a small spigot or spike on the top. I was going to paint the flat parts yellow or black and fit a contrasting latex tip on each. Wilf's eyesight isn't good at the best of times and we need to fish 15 to 20 yards out where the roach are.

Little wife is going to visit family in Sth York's at the end of next week so I will be able to spend a couple of days float making while she is away.

 

[Ray Roberts]

Ray,

Back in the 60's there was a device in common use for tench fishing that was a small, 2" length of 1/8" dowel or similar with three offset eyes as you describe. The dowel was attached to the bottom eye of any float using a clip like on link swivels. The clip was fastened to the dowel with about 1" of twisted mono of around 10lb strength so it formed a semi-stiff hinge. You could change the float to suit conditions.

Regards the tips; I have saved some small lolly sticks that are top-half flat and bottom-half round. I reckon that the volume of these flat parts once shaved down a bit will not be much different to rounded stems of cane. The trick is of course to ensure that the flat part is facing you.

I bought some latex float tips in orange, yellow and black. They are virtually neutral buoyancy and will fit on top of the flat tip if I cut a small spigot or spike on the top. I was going to paint the flat parts yellow or black and fit a contrasting latex tip on each. Wilf's eyesight isn't good at the best of times and we need to fish 15 to 20 yards out where the roach are.

Little wife is going to visit family in Sth York's at the end of next week so I will be able to spend a couple of days float making while she is away.

The three eye float was very similar to the one you described, except it wasn’t detachable but had a sort of antenna float fixed by a flexible link as you described. They had a few weird and wonderfulls. I wish I had bought a few as curios. They had some antenna floats that had the same type of flexible link between the main body and the antenna, which were odd. The only advantage I could see is that they would fold on the strike. I bought half a dozen floats described as bread floats that looked like they were from the same maker. They have a cylindrical balsa body about three inches long and a peacock quill insert tip. I still use those for trotting bread and they work great. I went back to the shop a few weeks after I had first seen them to buy a couple of the oddities but the shop had shut up for good by then.

 

[@Clive]

Yes, the flexible link was designed to fold. If you didn't have that the whole 3 ringed float would be dragged sideways on the strike. For the type of float with a flat side facing the angler a fixed flexible link rather than an interchangeable one would be better.

The ones I remember were just peacock quills with a short cane tip and used for the lift method when tench fishing.

 

[Notts Michael.]

Ray... There is a depth finder float that I saw videos of on youtube called a Plum-ezee, basically a chunky buoyant float looking a lot like a pike float, with three small eyes along it's length, which will rise to the surface when chucked out but stay in place when reeled in, which sounds like the same kind of principle to the float you mention. I made one as a luchtime at work project using some half inch diam. balsa and 3 very small stainless steel split pins pushed in, top bottom and middle, and it does work well for quickly finding deeper areas or ledges, etc.

 

[mikench]

Here is a vid of the above.

I have one but have never used it

 

[@Clive]

Ray... There is a depth finder float that I saw videos of on youtube called a Plum-ezee, basically a chunky buoyant float looking a lot like a pike float, with three small eyes along it's length, which will rise to the surface when chucked out but stay in place when reeled in, which sounds like the same kind of principle to the float you mention. I made one as a luchtime at work project using some half inch diam. balsa and 3 very small stainless steel split pins pushed in, top bottom and middle, and it does work well for quickly finding deeper areas or ledges, etc.

I have one of these that does a better job of that.

 

[Notts Michael.]

I have one of these that does a better job of that.

Like it! A bit pricier and less accurate for canals and still waters maybe and I prefer things I can cobble together myself in a folksy, arty kind of way.

 

[purplepeanut007]

Fluted Slate Grey Avons - 4.8g

fishing,float fishing,float making,hand crafted floats,traditional floats,purplepeanut007,mike cootes,float making,PP007,peanuts fishing adventures

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I have just completed a pair of
Fluted Slate Grey Avons comimg in at 4.8g which are lighter than I wanted but as they say....its all a learning curve!!!

 

[@Clive]

I've just completed a few floats for my old mate Wilf who is colour blind in the red/orange end of the spectrum. He bought himself one of those horrible French loaded zoomers with a 9" traffic light stem or red, yellow and green as he could see it better. Problem is he has to have about 7" of float tip showing to get to the colours that he can see. I've made these floats yellow/white/black that should register providing a) he is looking in the right direction and b) that his mind isn't elsewhere. There are times when the body is present, excluding the frequent toilet breaks, but the mind is at a tractor rally or vintage car show during the float's submersion.

The orange tipped one is for me, to use in the margins for carassins.

The colder weather has meant that I have re-located the painting and varnishing department from the basement to the spare bedroom that we use as an office. I found that the nail hardener that I use for the final two coats was getting claggy as the temperature dropped.

 

[flightliner]

I've just completed a few floats for my old mate Wilf who is colour blind in the red/orange end of the spectrum. He bought himself one of those horrible French loaded zoomers with a 9" traffic light stem or red, yellow and green as he could see it better. Problem is he has to have about 7" of float tip showing to get to the colours that he can see. I've made these floats yellow/white/black that should register providing a) he is looking in the right direction and b) that his mind isn't elsewhere. There are times when the body is present, excluding the frequent toilet breaks, but the mind is at a tractor rally or vintage car show during the float's submersion.

View attachment 32303

The orange tipped one is for me, to use in the margins for carassins.

The colder weather has meant that I have re-located the painting and varnishing department from the basement to the spare bedroom that we use as an office. I found that the nail hardener that I use for the final two coats was getting claggy as the temperature dropped.

Clive, the desk in the background is almost identical to the ones I used to make when I worked as a joiner at the earlier stages of my working life except for the rather chunky handles.
Did you shape the those balsa bodies using a drill?
I like the wire stick and the middle one at the back with the elongated
body along with the one you've made for the Carrasins.
Top job!

 

[@Clive]

Clive, the desk in the background is almost identical to the ones I used to make when I worked as a joiner at the earlier stages of my working life except for the rather chunky handles.
Did you shape the those balsa bodies using a drill?
I like the wire stick and the middle one at the back with the elongated
body along with the one you've made for the Carrasins.
Top job!

Thanks Mick.

The desk has or had a latching mechanism in that when you closed and locked the central drawer all the drawer were locked. I dismantled themechanism a few months ago as it was inconvenient having the central drawer slightly open so as to enable access to the other drawers. We bought it from an old British chap who was downsizing.

The balsa first balsa bodies I made were firstly roughly shaped using a knife then mounted on a small hobbyist lathe to finish off.

The one with the extended body however was made from round dowel so only required shaping using a disposable nail file board thingy. It is mounted on a fibreglass 1mm stem that goes almost to the tip so as to give it some strength.

I get the round dowel in balsa and beech along with paint and water based varnish from a French model maker's company and all the square balsa and other float making bits including sarkanda reed from a Bulgarian company.

 

[Blue Fisher]

Thanks Mick.

The desk has or had a latching mechanism in that when you closed and locked the central drawer all the drawer were locked. I dismantled themechanism a few months ago as it was inconvenient having the central drawer slightly open so as to enable access to the other drawers. We bought it from an old British chap who was downsizing.

The balsa first balsa bodies I made were firstly roughly shaped using a knife then mounted on a small hobbyist lathe to finish off.

View attachment 32312

The one with the extended body however was made from round dowel so only required shaping using a disposable nail file board thingy. It is mounted on a fibreglass 1mm stem that goes almost to the tip so as to give it some strength.

I get the round dowel in balsa and beech along with paint and water based varnish from a French model maker's company and all the square balsa and other float making bits including sarkanda reed from a Bulgarian company.

Hi Clive, Like the look of your float tips, I’m red green colour blind too which means all the red / orange / yellow colours will fade into the reflected greens in the water. The black and white bands seem good for my sight, I might try blue as well.

 

[@Clive]

Hi Clive, Like the look of your float tips, I’m red green colour blind too which means all the red / orange / yellow colours will fade into the reflected greens in the water. The black and white bands seem good for my sight, I might try blue as well.

Sorry to hear that. Try using fluoro' fly-tying thread. The big float in my photo has some fluoro' yellow thread loosely wrapped around the stem and then there is a tightly wrapped collar between the two green ones. It really stands out. I got some orange thread out of my fly-tying box this afternoon and am intending trying that on my floats. In your case fluoro' white thread and matt black paint might be worth a try. The black Stonfo sight beads can be useful too and you can paint the red and yellow ones that come with them to a suitable colour

 

[Blue Fisher]

Sorry to hear that. Try using fluoro' fly-tying thread. The big float in my photo has some fluoro' yellow thread loosely wrapped around the stem and then there is a tightly wrapped collar between the two green ones. It really stands out. I got some orange thread out of my fly-tying box this afternoon and am intending trying that on my floats. In your case fluoro' white thread and matt black paint might be worth a try. The black Stonfo sight beads can be useful too and you can paint the red and yellow ones that come with them to a suitable colour

Thanks Clive, It’s just a fact of life for me, in your picture I could not see anything I would call green and I could only see the orange tip with close inspection. The sight tips are a good idea thanks for recommending them. I have not started making floats yet, too many other things to do. But I have collected a few quills and some elder pith so it is on the list to try.
I once met someone who was blue green yellow colour blind and I found it difficult to appreciate how you could get these colours mixed up. Then I realised it was just how people think about me when I cannot discern a difference between red and green.
I like the floats and the nice organised kit for float making.

 

[@Clive]

I can't get my head around it to be honest. Red, yellow and green make up all the colours of the spectrum if you discount white, greys and black as not being a colour. Also the angle of light and other factors could influence the colour. I see orange pretty well if it is front lit, but when the sun is in front of me then it appears black. Maybe black & white bands are all we really need?

The Stonfo latex float tips are pre drilled and designed to retro fit existing floats. You can temporarily fit them on any float antenna up to around 3mm. They come in three colours and two sizes in the same packet. You should be able to paint them too. Also, modeller's paint can be retrospectivly painted on to shop bought floats and sealed using nail hardener. You could paint the float tips that you already have.