sam and i had a great float on the deerfield river in massachusetts last week. we signed on with harrison anglers, run by the brothers, tom and dan, who operate several drifts boats on the deerfield daily. dan was our guide and he had to work pretty hard to turn the day around after a slow start in the morning ... after the water from the dam release caught up with us and we switched to stripping streamers, the fish cooperated and the afternoon was great!
we lost count after a while, (alchoices a good sign), but on the choice home we figured between the two of us we caught more than fifteen, probably less than 20 good, energetic and feisty rainbows. most were wild fish which the guide could identify at a glance from the stocked fish the state provides..
at one point around 2:00, sam caught three good fish in 5 minutes, anchored in the same spot. the front of the boat is usually the best seat.
the deerfield drains a huge area, from stratton mouintain in vermont to the connecticut river in shelburne falls. there are, i think, 9 flood control dams along the choice and on the +/- 10 miles that we floated, not a single private residence and only one state campground with camping and one with some cabins. aside from the tubers, kayakers, and rafters, it was a very remote and wild seeming river.
good shoulders on this one ...
i caught my share though
beautiful, healthy fish ...
we got out and walked for a minute while dan ran the rapids. it wasnt dangerous, but i think there must have been some insurance issue.
and dan discussed the tube hatch with us, a novel theory to me. he says if the fish are just lounging around and not eating, when a raft or tuber goes by they get all excited and defensive, and hit your fly with a vengeance, which, in fact, seemed to be the case. we caught fish while folks were floating all around us.
and dan discussed the tube hatch with us, a novel theory to me. he says if the fish are just lounging around and not eating, when a raft or tuber goes by they get all excited and defensive, and hit your fly with a vengeance, which, in fact, seemed to be the case. we caught fish while folks were floating all around us.
probably more pictures than you needed to get the idea but i have to put them somewhere where i can find em when i need them ... harrison anglers; you cant go wrong.
well, its not every day you get to fix a 50 year old steering wheel. particularly one that says when you look at it, bet you cant fix me ... it actually was a quite a trick, and will pulled it off beautifully. i picked up the staining at the end and will is now applying about half a dozen coats of tru-oil gun finish, the same finish he uses on his banjos and it should be ready to ship monday. we wont get rich on this one, but it was a challenge and a worthy project for a cool old car ... i cant wait to see it in place. click the photos to enlarge them ...
this was the last shot before the stain. the new wood was pretty obvious, so a a little stain was definitely in order.
this is what we started with ... its from a restored 1961 lotus elite. the owner asked if we could make a new one and after a little study, i suggested we fix the original as im still not 
it is essentially two laminated five layer rings, (the middle one of ebony on the top) sandwiched over the aluminum spoked rim. above you can see the wheel was broken completely through and fixed before. it also had some really nasty white filler of some kind and a piece of leather where the ebony is now, glued in with some kind of awful rubber cement. we never found the splices of the ends of the ring laminations even though we looked pretty hard ... whoever made the original was good. its a little like those miracle stairs in santa fe ...
will started by routing an angled flat spot not quite halfchoice through and fitting a curved, angled piece into that recess ... you try it ...
clamped up
and now for the top side ... since you can see the laminations in the original, we made a small two layer lammy and routed out the beach outside the ebony, which will soaked and bent with the hot pipe ... i didnt get a shot of that in action, and i know it was not all that successful materials usage wise, but hey, its in there. it took about 7 pieces to get three usable ones .. ebony is tough stuff to bend once its kiln dried, even if its only 1/8th inch thick, or, particularly if its only an 1/8th" thick .. breaks every time almost.
ok were making progress ... this is after the wash coat of half and half clear and amber shellac
looks pretty good where we plugged in the new wood ..
back side before the shellac ... ok out there ... got one that needs fixing? we got it under control now. steering wheels are us ... 
