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When tiptop asked me to make a reel seat/grip like the old F.E.T all cork grips I was admittedly a bit doubtful. I thought the grip would be too slim under the heel of the palm, to my surprise the grip is extremely comfortable; so much so that i'll be using that style grip on a 7'6" 4wt blank I hope to build out for myself this winter. Tiptop wanted a wood similar in color to the Steffen blank. Cocobola would have been the obvious choice but it's difficult to varnish so I looked through my wood box for something else that has a similar color. A 4 yr old block of Pau Ferro seemed like it would do the trick.

Wood with wax on it (prevents cracking/checking while being dried). And a shot of a the nearly completed "oval" insert. The insert is turned round on the lathe and made oval by hand via Dremel sanding drum and sandpaper. It's a lot of work for a reel seat insert but I prefer the look of the oval seats over mortised ones and the pre-made oval inserts that I've seen don't fit as wide a variety of reel foots as the ones I make by hand. Reel seat hardware is Bellinger .690 nickel silver