KTL Faux Wood Oval Rigging Blocks

[Kevin the Lubber]

beach casting, mainly for non-existing fish

That made me laugh. Many years ago, while spending some time in New South Wales, I had a go at beach casting. Being a smallish chap I swear the rod weighed more than me. Anyway, to the huge delight of my gigantic aussie friends, it usually turned into a 'fishing kev out of the surf' type of event.

 

[Kimosubby]

I've just had a quick peep at your site and the blocks on offer. They look good much better than all those cheap and nasty wood attempts normally sent out with kits. I'll look into my next two builds, VASA an original Billings kit from the 60"s? and a Caldercraft Nelson's Navy DIANE (the kit is about 20 years old). There will be a large range of sizes in those two!

 

[dnalley]

Hello all. For a while now I’ve been experimenting with resin printing to make printed objects look less like plastic. One of the directions has been to make rigging blocks that look a little more like wood and these are now available for those that are interested. (For those who haven't used them, the major advantage of resin rigging fittings is consistency: every block and deadeye is identical, there is no variation in the hole sizes, rope grooves or hole pattern. If the design is good, they simply work).

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The variation in colour within the block is created through a dye process and is intrinsic to the block. There are very slight variations between blocks, sizes and batches, which I think adds to the wood illusion. In fact I should say that, to my eye, they bring to mind horse chestnuts and coffee beans, but “faux coffee bean rigging blocks” doesn’t quite cut it! My production process includes ‘de-burring’ i.e. removing the print support pips from the block, and giving them a coat of Vallejo matte acrylic varnish to protect them from UV and fading.

These blocks are intended to be used ‘as is’, with no need for painting or any other finishing or prep by the user. Just rig them straight from the packet. I’ve made the rope holes a little larger than true scale, to make threading easier, and I’m sure there will occasionally be a need to clear the rope hole of varnish residue, though I haven’t found any clogs so far.You can still over-paint or coat them if you wish and the wood effect can be enhanced by polishing with products coatings such as Osmo wax-oil or whatever else you feel like trying out.

I’ve made these available on my Ebay shop in single, double and triple sheave variants; and for now, I’m stocking the four most popular sizes: 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm.

Here are some additional photos… do bear in mind that close-up photography is a cruel master and the blocks look very smooth to the naked eye.

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Guess I will use my crappy kit blocks to hold up some tomato plants. These look awesome!

 

[dnalley]

That made me laugh. Many years ago, while spending some time in New South Wales, I had a go at beach casting. Being a smallish chap I swear the rod weighed more than me. Anyway, to the huge delight of my gigantic aussie friends, it usually turned into a 'fishing kev out of the surf' type of event.

How did I miss the original post? Casting from shore with a bank rod is a huge challenge. I have lost many a setup in my early years of fishing. The key to a 12-14 -16 foot rod is your arc on the cast. A bait casting reel is the most popular choice versus a spinning reel. And the rod is a huge deal. A spinning rod has eyelets that taper down smaller and faster than a bait casting rod. Your bait caster is more open in the eyelets and can achieve more distance. When the arc of the cast reaches about 110 degrees and thumb off the button until you see it hit the water which is when you hit the bail to close it or otherwise a bird's nest of line.

 

[Kevin the Lubber]

These look awesome!

Thanks! I have decided to add the half sizes and a few others to expand the range. Deadeyes are in production as I speak and special blocks I.e. sisters, violins, clews, shoulders, hearts, will follow soon.

But as for beach fishing, you could have given me the best setup in the world and I’d have still been useless. I never caught a thing on my own. But if one of the giants did the casting for me, we usually landed something for our supper. Bream, I think, but it was too long ago to be sure.