TFF Initiative - The TFF Brass Spreader

[Paul Cook]

Unfortunately with situations such as this where a pool of anglers are required to club together to gather enough interest in a worthy cause are always full of problems . I can recall Beresford trying to gather enough like minded individuals together for the Walker net and unfortunately it did not take off for one reason or another . The minute one person says they want it in one particular material and another one wants it in one size only etc , that is when you just know it isn't going to work . I think it is very difficult to cater for a collective group of like minded souls together where everyone agrees is a tall order but equally worthy of a mention .
From experience I have used cast initially but this proved to be inaccurate in its final form from this particular supplier from then on I have used umpteen different engineer shops and all have basically said no more as it is too much trouble for them and these range from solid block and cut on a CNC machine as well as having them made in three separate parts and silver soldered . The Barder style blocks I used on one batch were from a lucky contact . They had been pre made sometime before I managed to purchase them and the maker had initially good intentions to produce and sell them but through ill health abandoned the idea , hence me being able to purchase what he had made which was about 15 blocks in medium to large .
They were extremely well made from solid and having further blocks made by one other supplier , I think these were the better ones by far .
CNC shops in my experience will not look at small run orders , it is just not practical for them to set up a machine for 1/2 a dozen , it needs to be at least 30 plus and the more orders the price does come down .
A friend of mine who works for a company that has overseas interest in an engineering company in China took one out there to see what they could supply . Yes of course they could make them exact but minimum order was 1000 ! If I recall the individual price was about £5 each at that amount at that time , it was a few years ago now .
The price of £50 being a bit "fruity" was correct at that time for the amount I could justify ordering , I could sit on these for a few years before orders come in and like most things I make there are ups and downs , some years I will get 10 nets to make and the following year one or two , it just depends on the market etc but I have to finance the blocks initially and that can be a fair outlay prior to actually making them .They do eventually sell but it is a long term investment .

[Watermole+]

From my limited experience, the best way to make these is to fabricate from three separate parts and silver solder together in a jig for consistency.

This is by far the most economical way to do it-and also the strongest. Bending or deforming brass is inviting fractures, visible externally, or the more dangerous-internal hidden ones. It is not an alloy that takes kindly to such treatment and to do it is courting disaster..

When done correctly-and I stress that word-silver soldering is the finest of all jointing and produces a join which is actually stronger than the metal itself! To the uninitiated, that sounds hard to believe, but it is true, as shear testing has proved beyond doubt. You just will not break it-ever.

I do feel that if this project is to be viable, it will have to be along these lines and with totally firm committal from those who wish to buy, not just vague requests, later to be cancelled when the job has been made, leaving the maker out of pocket and with unsold goods.

If a firm commitment for fifty were to be made, these could be manufactured for around £20 per unit.

wm+

[Evert van der Plas]

I think there are a lot off landing net makers having problems to find the right spreader blocks i created my own style spread block and made them from brass strips and square tube, it still is a lot of work to make them but i love the results and after all it is a hobby off course




I am looking for a way to make spreader block for the Barder style carp net, the most off the parts i can do but the piece that holds the arms is a bit difficult to make, any suggestions are welcome.

[Barbulus]

I don’t claim any knowledge other than marvel at the end result from a number of skilled TFF members; The scallop overlay is really unusual. Thank you for posting the photo.

[Watermole+]

Evert-I think you mean the WALKER style carp nets..?

Yes, I too have seen many different ways of making the spreader block, the most popular seems to be the “Sandwich” of three parts: the centre spreader piece-usually made of wood-and a sheeting on each side to go over the spread arms, all three being screwed together.

I have made a few of these from different materials and the strongest is always one cut out from one single piece of material,-exactly as Dick Walker did originally!





The best material is seasoned hardwood, although lime is very good for prolonged exposure to wet-and I always start by making a reference drawing with accurate sizes on paper first. The included angle between the arms is 60 degrees, so each arm must be 120 degrees from the front face of your aluminium hinge block when opened.
Make your wooden block as a rectangular length first and mark off with a protractor the angles at each end, both at the overall length and also where the arms will locate.
It is then a matter of carefully cutting out the grooves to accommodate the arms. Don’t worry about the screw hole until you have got it so that when the arms are both seated nicely within the grooves, the wooden block is almost-but not quite-flush with the aluminium hinge block. Leave all the external trimming and shaping until last.
When the block grooves are such that both arms are spread correctly, put the hole through for the bolt and finish to suit your own taste.
If you are going to put in the two finger holes for pulling the net open with-as per original Walker design, be very careful or you can split the block. It is much safer to do this on your lathe.

Hope this is of some help..?

wm+

[Barbelseeker]

WM+,

You are a marvel as always, not forgetting Evert's fantastic work.

Peter

[Richard Jackson]

I have attempted to make around 15 spreader blocks over the last week for my net , I have managed to snap all of them , I have enough brass left for approximately 5 more attempts , I have tried heating for different periods of time but they still snap , I would certainly be interested in purchasing a couple due to the amount of scrap brass I now possess

[Barbelseeker]

Richard,

Please be careful if you are starting dealing in scrap, you know how protective the dealers around your neck of the woods are!

[Richard Jackson]

Richard,

Please be careful if you are starting dealing in scrap, you know how protective the dealers around your neck of the woods are!

Honestly Barbleseeker , I must have 20 kg of scrap brass ,I may weigh it in and buy a spreader block

[Evert van der Plas]

Evert-I think you mean the WALKER style carp nets..?

Yes, I too have seen many different ways of making the spreader block, the most popular seems to be the “Sandwich” of three parts: the centre spreader piece-usually made of wood-and a sheeting on each side to go over the spread arms, all three being screwed together.

I have made a few of these from different materials and the strongest is always one cut out from one single piece of material,-exactly as Dick Walker did originally!





The best material is seasoned hardwood, although lime is very good for prolonged exposure to wet-and I always start by making a reference drawing with accurate sizes on paper first. The included angle between the arms is 60 degrees, so each arm must be 120 degrees from the front face of your aluminium hinge block when opened.
Make your wooden block as a rectangular length first and mark off with a protractor the angles at each end, both at the overall length and also where the arms will locate.
It is then a matter of carefully cutting out the grooves to accommodate the arms. Don’t worry about the screw hole until you have got it so that when the arms are both seated nicely within the grooves, the wooden block is almost-but not quite-flush with the aluminium hinge block. Leave all the external trimming and shaping until last.
When the block grooves are such that both arms are spread correctly, put the hole through for the bolt and finish to suit your own taste.
If you are going to put in the two finger holes for pulling the net open with-as per original Walker design, be very careful or you can split the block. It is much safer to do this on your lathe.

Hope this is of some help..?

wm+

Thank you very much for the explanation WM, i will try out to make a few soon and let you know how it end up