Custom Calcutta bamboo gaffs for sale or trade, made to order. Prices range from about $50 for a basic 3' gaff to wherever your imagination takes you.
I can make these to whatever your specifications are. Turnaround should be about 2-3 weeks depending on the complexity of what you want and availability of materials.
I use Atwood 1/16" UV and rot resistant cord or 550 paracord, depending on what you prefer. The Atwood cord is better in my opinion. It holds much tighter.
Paracord is great for adding grip under x-wrap or fish scale wrap and for adding color accents.
I finish the bamboo with 2 coats of oil based spar varnish. I then seal the cord with another 2 coats of varnish. Varnish darkens the color so I can leave the cord uncoated if you want. Keep in mind that paracord is absorbent so it will stain if not coated. I seal the hook end of the gaff with clear Lexel and a bit of cord or paracord embedded in it for color. I also seal the bore for the gaff hook tang with Lexel. These are all finished while hanging, so expect some minor blemishes in the varnish. It's tough to get a mirror finish when coating cord.
I prefer to use mustad gaff hooks. They have a 90 degree tang and I chisel a narrow notch for the shank so they are very secure.
All Winthrop and MHX hooks are installed by scoring and scuffing the shank of the hook lightly with grinder then completely filling the end of the bamboo with epoxy and embedding the hook shank into it.
I can use whatever other gaff hook you want, also. Either you can provide it or I can give you a price for providing it. Tiller Fabrication makes some beautiful anodized titanium hooks if you want to drop some serious coin!
HANDLE:
Calcutta bamboo length from 3'-8'. $6/foot, length may vary by a couple inches to correspond with bamboo knuckles.
HANDLE GRIP MATERIAL:
Atwood 1/16" cord wrapping in your choice of colors. Standard gaff with wrap around hook shank (6"-8") and butt end (8"-10"), add $15.
I can combine up to 3 colors of cord for the basic wrap for an extra $5 per additional color.
Additional basic cord wrapping such as a second handle grip area, add $1/inch for single color, $1.25/inch 2 colors, $1.50/inch for 3 colors.
Single knot whipping (single spiral of knotting through length of cord wrap). Add $15 to add to basic top/bottom wrap, add $1/inch for additional wrap. This can only be done with a single color.
Double knot whipping (2 parallel spirals of knotting through length of cord wrap). Add $20 to add to basic top/bottom wrap. Add $2/inch for additional wrap. Can be done with 2 colors for no additional charge.
Spiral wrapped cord or paracord between grip areas for color accents, add $5 per color.
Spiral wrapped cord or paracord full length of handle, add $2 per color per foot of handle.
Charge for additional colors is only when they are combined in one wrap. No additional charge for having one color for the hook area, a different color for the butt grip, another color for the mid grip, etc....
X-wrap shrink tubing available in black, blue, green, yellow, red, black with red lines.
Fish scale x-wrap shrink tubing available in black, blue, grey, gold, purple, orange, green, red.
Use X-wrap or fish scale for butt end and/or mid grip. No charge for butt section in place of cord wrap. Add $5 for mid grip.
Add spiral wrapped paracord under x-wrap for grip, add $5 each grip.
I may have to add an additional charge if you're only ordering one gaff with an x-wrap color I don't use often just to cover my cost.
HOOK:
Mustad Duratin hooks:
2"-2.25" add $20
2.5"-2.75" add $25
3" add $30
3.25"-3.5" add $35
4" add $50
Winthrop 316 SS hooks (non-skeletonized, see pic):
2" add $60
3" add $75
4" add $90
MHX Talon SS hooks (skeletonized, see pic):
3" add $75
4" add $90
5" add $105
TURK'S HEADS:
If you want turk's heads, we will have to figure out pricing on them. I need to make a jig because they're too time consuming when I weave them by hand. I don't think anybody wants to pay $20 for a turk's head knot, but that's about the amount of aggravation they put me through without a jig. Once I have a jig made, they should be about $5 each.
I know what you're thinking. The pricing is a headache to figure out. If you're having trouble figuring it out or something doesn't make sense, let me know what you're looking for and I'll price it out for you. I had to come up with something just to give people an idea of pricing and it took a couple hours. My brain hurts now. Yours probably does too if you've made it this far in my ad.
I can do bait nets, scrub brush handles, flying gaffs, etc.... Use your imagination. Let me know what you have in mind and I'll work with you on a price.
Tell me what colors you want.
Football team? Sure. I'll do anybody but the Cowboys. Baseball, basketball, hockey teams. I can pick colors and you can approve them before I order.
Fish themes? I recently did a Dorado gaff and I think it turned out pretty nice. I think yft is probably the only other local species that has distinctive enough colors to be worthwhile unless you're really itching for a sheepshead themed gaff (which would actually look pretty awesome now that I think of it).
Send me pictures and I can match your colors as best as possible. Paracord is very handy for this because there are so many colors available.
I will ship on your dime. Keep that in mind if you want anything over 7'. I believe the oversized fees are pretty ridiculous.
I'm located in Redlands and welcome local pickup or will meet you somewhere close if the order is large enough. I will be in San Diego the next few Mondays as of right now.
I've only been building gaffs for personal use and friends and family so far. My prices may increase in the future if I figure out that I lowballed myself. I'm not trying to get rich. I just need to offset the cost of my fishing and tackle collecting before my wife kicks me out.
Depending on what you are ordering, I may ask for an earnest money deposit. God forbid somebody wants a Miami Dolphins themed gaff set then flakes on me. I might have to pay somebody to take it at that point.
Speaking of which, I'm not a flake and I don't like dealing with flakes. Please be respectful of my time if I'm making something for you.
I'm also open to trades for tackle. Let me know what you have. No junk.
I'm especially looking for firearms, ammo (45, 7.62x39, 20 ga 6/7.5/8), a Garmin Fantom 18 or 24, a center mount outrigger setup, an auto pilot setup for a single outboard with hydraulic steering, trolling lures (cedar plugs, feathers, x raps), a fuel bladder, binos (gyro or digitally stabilized), a gunnel/rod holder mount filet board that isn't a piece of crap like what I've seen for sale, etc....
Here are a few examples of gaffs I've built recently. Apparently I need to take more pictures because this is all I could find.
The blue cord wrapped 6' gaff in the pictures would cost $100 in whatever colors you choose. All the cord on it is single knot whipped.
The Dorado colored 6' gaff would cost $110.
The red, white and blue gaff would cost $94.
I can make these to whatever your specifications are. Turnaround should be about 2-3 weeks depending on the complexity of what you want and availability of materials.
I use Atwood 1/16" UV and rot resistant cord or 550 paracord, depending on what you prefer. The Atwood cord is better in my opinion. It holds much tighter.
Paracord is great for adding grip under x-wrap or fish scale wrap and for adding color accents.
I finish the bamboo with 2 coats of oil based spar varnish. I then seal the cord with another 2 coats of varnish. Varnish darkens the color so I can leave the cord uncoated if you want. Keep in mind that paracord is absorbent so it will stain if not coated. I seal the hook end of the gaff with clear Lexel and a bit of cord or paracord embedded in it for color. I also seal the bore for the gaff hook tang with Lexel. These are all finished while hanging, so expect some minor blemishes in the varnish. It's tough to get a mirror finish when coating cord.
I prefer to use mustad gaff hooks. They have a 90 degree tang and I chisel a narrow notch for the shank so they are very secure.
All Winthrop and MHX hooks are installed by scoring and scuffing the shank of the hook lightly with grinder then completely filling the end of the bamboo with epoxy and embedding the hook shank into it.
I can use whatever other gaff hook you want, also. Either you can provide it or I can give you a price for providing it. Tiller Fabrication makes some beautiful anodized titanium hooks if you want to drop some serious coin!
HANDLE:
Calcutta bamboo length from 3'-8'. $6/foot, length may vary by a couple inches to correspond with bamboo knuckles.
HANDLE GRIP MATERIAL:
Atwood 1/16" cord wrapping in your choice of colors. Standard gaff with wrap around hook shank (6"-8") and butt end (8"-10"), add $15.
I can combine up to 3 colors of cord for the basic wrap for an extra $5 per additional color.
Additional basic cord wrapping such as a second handle grip area, add $1/inch for single color, $1.25/inch 2 colors, $1.50/inch for 3 colors.
Single knot whipping (single spiral of knotting through length of cord wrap). Add $15 to add to basic top/bottom wrap, add $1/inch for additional wrap. This can only be done with a single color.
Double knot whipping (2 parallel spirals of knotting through length of cord wrap). Add $20 to add to basic top/bottom wrap. Add $2/inch for additional wrap. Can be done with 2 colors for no additional charge.
Spiral wrapped cord or paracord between grip areas for color accents, add $5 per color.
Spiral wrapped cord or paracord full length of handle, add $2 per color per foot of handle.
Charge for additional colors is only when they are combined in one wrap. No additional charge for having one color for the hook area, a different color for the butt grip, another color for the mid grip, etc....
X-wrap shrink tubing available in black, blue, green, yellow, red, black with red lines.
Fish scale x-wrap shrink tubing available in black, blue, grey, gold, purple, orange, green, red.
Use X-wrap or fish scale for butt end and/or mid grip. No charge for butt section in place of cord wrap. Add $5 for mid grip.
Add spiral wrapped paracord under x-wrap for grip, add $5 each grip.
I may have to add an additional charge if you're only ordering one gaff with an x-wrap color I don't use often just to cover my cost.
HOOK:
Mustad Duratin hooks:
2"-2.25" add $20
2.5"-2.75" add $25
3" add $30
3.25"-3.5" add $35
4" add $50
Winthrop 316 SS hooks (non-skeletonized, see pic):
2" add $60
3" add $75
4" add $90
MHX Talon SS hooks (skeletonized, see pic):
3" add $75
4" add $90
5" add $105
TURK'S HEADS:
If you want turk's heads, we will have to figure out pricing on them. I need to make a jig because they're too time consuming when I weave them by hand. I don't think anybody wants to pay $20 for a turk's head knot, but that's about the amount of aggravation they put me through without a jig. Once I have a jig made, they should be about $5 each.
I know what you're thinking. The pricing is a headache to figure out. If you're having trouble figuring it out or something doesn't make sense, let me know what you're looking for and I'll price it out for you. I had to come up with something just to give people an idea of pricing and it took a couple hours. My brain hurts now. Yours probably does too if you've made it this far in my ad.
I can do bait nets, scrub brush handles, flying gaffs, etc.... Use your imagination. Let me know what you have in mind and I'll work with you on a price.
Tell me what colors you want.
Football team? Sure. I'll do anybody but the Cowboys. Baseball, basketball, hockey teams. I can pick colors and you can approve them before I order.
Fish themes? I recently did a Dorado gaff and I think it turned out pretty nice. I think yft is probably the only other local species that has distinctive enough colors to be worthwhile unless you're really itching for a sheepshead themed gaff (which would actually look pretty awesome now that I think of it).
Send me pictures and I can match your colors as best as possible. Paracord is very handy for this because there are so many colors available.
I will ship on your dime. Keep that in mind if you want anything over 7'. I believe the oversized fees are pretty ridiculous.
I'm located in Redlands and welcome local pickup or will meet you somewhere close if the order is large enough. I will be in San Diego the next few Mondays as of right now.
I've only been building gaffs for personal use and friends and family so far. My prices may increase in the future if I figure out that I lowballed myself. I'm not trying to get rich. I just need to offset the cost of my fishing and tackle collecting before my wife kicks me out.
Depending on what you are ordering, I may ask for an earnest money deposit. God forbid somebody wants a Miami Dolphins themed gaff set then flakes on me. I might have to pay somebody to take it at that point.
Speaking of which, I'm not a flake and I don't like dealing with flakes. Please be respectful of my time if I'm making something for you.
I'm also open to trades for tackle. Let me know what you have. No junk.
I'm especially looking for firearms, ammo (45, 7.62x39, 20 ga 6/7.5/8), a Garmin Fantom 18 or 24, a center mount outrigger setup, an auto pilot setup for a single outboard with hydraulic steering, trolling lures (cedar plugs, feathers, x raps), a fuel bladder, binos (gyro or digitally stabilized), a gunnel/rod holder mount filet board that isn't a piece of crap like what I've seen for sale, etc....
Here are a few examples of gaffs I've built recently. Apparently I need to take more pictures because this is all I could find.
The blue cord wrapped 6' gaff in the pictures would cost $100 in whatever colors you choose. All the cord on it is single knot whipped.
The Dorado colored 6' gaff would cost $110.
The red, white and blue gaff would cost $94.
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