Friday, August 22, 2014

Building Stronger

Lately I've been plugging away in the wood shop making nets when I can. Since the bum knee is acting up again stream wading is out of the question so so net building is what I can do to keep occupied. That being the case I'm still tweaking designs all the time. This time the goal was to see just how light I could build a net and it still be practical for everyday field use. Well..........I found the threshold.

On nets 62 ans 63 I used light weight woods and thinned down the laminations a bit, a bit too much! The result was two nets that had too much flex for my taste. That being said I do have one I use frequently with much more flex but it's slightly unnerving to see just how much it will flex. Not a problem for my personal nets but I just don't want to sell one that flexes quite that much.

In this instance, both nets, my guardian net angel is looking out for me yet again. It turns out #62 is going to a home where it will be used as a display item, sweet. As for #63 I hadn't started the final shaping and decided to try something a bit different.

With the net at a point where adding a lamination on the outside was not an option inner lamination on the hoop seemed the answer. It took quite a bit of time, several scrapped lamination strips, a few choice words and lots of rethinking but with persistence -something I have more of than brains- it finally went into place. This solved the flex issue but I didn't like the look of it at that point. Oh yes you guessed it more persistence.

In the throat of the net I placed a half lamination on top of the tapered inner lamination and voila! Not only does it look really appealing the strength it adds is unbelievable. This hoop does not flex at the handle transition at all; at least not with the normal 50 lbs test pressure normally used. I think I may have stumbled onto something! I've seen something similar on other nets but it looks much more bulky and I can't imagine it would any more strength? I pose that as a question because I can't be sure. At any rate you will be seeing more built like this. It will add to the cost but the added strength should make them nearly indestructible.

More photos coming soon.

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