Spiral cuts

[John Torchick]

I'm getting ready to turn some reel seats for some fly rods I'm building. I have some pecan wood and would like to turn a shallow spiral cut (like a barber pole) and stain it with a dark contrasting stain. Now, I'm new at this. What would be an easy way to cut uniform spaced spirals? Also, what would you recommend as the best way to finish it as it will be exposed to lots of water? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[john lucas]

John Mark it off carefully and then use a round file to carve it out. You could probably use sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.

 

[jack richington]

google up Bill Bowers. He wrote a book on spirals, and has a website. (I forget if there's any instructions on the website)

 

[John Torchick]

Thanks for the info. I want to cut shallow cuts and then apply stain with a fine brush. Using a round file would be too deep as the reel wouldn't have any place to seat. I'll check Bill Bowers and see what he says.
Interesting, he was a gastroenterologist. He went from turning stomachs to turning wood!

 

[john lucas]

use a triangular file or what I call a rat tail file. I could cut a groove the size of a pencil lead if necessary.

 

[Bob Edwards]

burn line?

This is a bit out there but what if you wrapped a short length of heater wire around the piece and burnt the line in? You didn't mention the dia. or length of the piece so this may not be possible.

 

[John Torchick]

Part is about 5/8-3/4 dia., 3-1/2 6 to 4 in. long; only about 2/3 of it will have spiral cut. I'll try to post a picture to give you an idea of a similar part and assembled component.