I don’t think these mods will be for everybody mainly because it involves drilling through the base, but the improvements in versatility are exponential…
Continuing on from the double riser block I drilled and mounted a short guide bar flush directly in front of the base.
It worked great but I wasn’t stoked on the idea of having it be in the front so decided to move it to the back by rotating the vice 180 degrees. To do this, I needed to drill another large access hole under the base. This worked out great because now I can get to both primary rod guide screws without ever having to remove the base again…ever.
Then reattached the double block riser with vise(and tormek jig…love that thing!)
Now if I need to reprofile or thin a knife I can just flip the setup around and work from the back.(old photo showing it in the front still but you get the idea…it works!)
Funny thing was… I noticed that the paddles set perfectly on the new short rod guide so I mocked up a quick pair of VSTA to check it…and that works also! Perhaps even better since Im using 12′ rods and the back guide is also elevated 1/4′ higher then the main rod guide. Time to finally order the VSTA from Kyle on Monday 😀
Again not for everybody but I am so happy with the improvements made over that last few days….Time to go sharpen something!!!
Aloha, Cliff
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