First attempt of Urushi on two 15kg rods and 3 two piece jigging rods made last week

[russ71]

Here you go Gents,
my first attempt of Urushi, it didn't go very well but you have to start somewhere, looks more like marbling. I did a gold and red and a blue and red, I will eventually get the hang of it and hopefully they will end up looking like Marks Urushi rods.
Also included is 3 two piece jigging rods, nothing special, rushed them a bit as I wanted them complete before my Bermagui trip in May.

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[Mark Fisher]

WOW. Plenty of colour in there. Did you use the raw shell and turn it on a lathe or did you use the laminated shell. To get the layering effect you really need to use pieces of the raw shell stuck on the blank and, for me anyway, put each layer of epoxy pigment on and let it dry individually. Brent Ikari in the US does his a bit different but you need the raw shell to get the effect. I still think you did a great job and those 2 piece rods look brilliant.

Regards
Mark

[russ71]

Thanks for the comments Mark, yes I used the laminated stuff from Mudhole, where would I get the raw shell, or is it as easy as collecting from the beaches etc?

regards

Russ

[Mark Fisher]

Do a Google search on Paua shell. There are a couple of NZ sites who sell raw Paua shell. I recently bought 6 large jewelry grade shells. I broke one up with a hammer and there are heaps of pieces from 1 shell - probably enough to do 2-3 rods. You can also buy tumbled pieces which turn out nice as well. It took me a little experimenting but I like the raw shell better becasue when you turn it down you really only lose the limestone outer shell and keep the beautiful patterned shell on the rod. With the tumbled pieces you lose some of the patterned shell.

[bucky2]

Wow, great job. make those few surf rods of mine pretty plain lol.
Bucky