Dave Cleveland

To All,

I am Dave Cleveland and was recently introduced to the
list by Ron Barch in a note he sent me when I joined the
Planing Form. I haven't built rods, to speak of, since my
Grandfather passed away in 1978. He worked at Leonard from
the 40's until the late 60's and built custom rods in
upstate NY in his own shop part time.

I was wondering if anyone has any Penta Tapers they would
share for Steelhead rods, Steelhead Switch rods and
Steelhead Spey rods. I want to build a 9ft -7/8 wt, 10
1/2ft 7/8 wt and a 13ft 8/9 wt respectively.

I completed my oven and bench just recently and have most
of my Grandfathers tools. He gave me three 84" steel
planing forms that my Father machined for him at Shepard
Niles in upstate NY where he worked. Two of them are fixed
mulitple groove forms like Herters sold and the third is a
Penta form that he never got to use, that my Dad also
made. It has two grooves on each side and the center metal
rail is fixed with each side being setup like a Wagner or
the like hex form. The center fixed rail is 3" wide X 1
1/2" thick X 84" long. Each wing is 2" wide X 1 1/2" thick
X 84" long. There are two grooves on each side and another
two on the bottom that are different degrees of angles. I
have the drawing my Grandfather gave my Dad to build it in
July of 1969. I don't know why but the dowels and
adjusting bolts look exactly the same as traditional forms
but my Grandfather had them installed on 3 1/2" centers
over the full length. That's is how he noted it in the
drawing (does anyone know why?). They are constructed of
316L SS which is very difficult to work with (machining
wise) and very heavy. I have moved several times in 31
years and I can attest to the weight. The 316L Stainless
is polished on the top and bottom where the grooves are.
My Dad used carbon steel helicoils to thread for the
adjusting bolts. In the journal he kept his notes mention
that Penta Tapers require a very close tolerence relative
to straightness. To my knowledge he never completed any
Penta rods himself but talked often about seeing lighter
rods made that way and wanted to make Penta Steelhead Rods
saying he believed they were stronger and better for
mending long lines while corking. I therefore plan to
embark on the journey to complete his intentions.

I look forward to seeing if anyone can guide me along.

Happy Holidays to everyone and Thank You in advance

Dave