Let’s see those push pole feet!
I thought you was the one that was using Crepe myrtles 
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I can’t find a fork that is suitable enough to cut off.
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Flip had a video of him making wood push pole feet.
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I’ve seen all of them. I should have been more specific and stated that what members have made their own or have one Flip or someone else gathered, prepped and epoxied in their go-to push poles. I’m not looking for a simple answer and close the thread, I’m creating a discussion.
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You had me breaking my neck looking for a perfect fork with all the Crepe myrtles going in to my work at the mill 
they planted Crepe myrtles on side of the road going in prolly 2 or 300 hundred feet of them on right side LOL I been watching to see when they trimmed them 
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Didn’t Flip use guava? What other trees are suitable for this?
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I looked for a suitable mangrove root to use, but the old, big mangroves froze out several years back, and the new growth is still way small. I don’t have access to a big crepe myrtle. When my Cajun friend gave me a stick of bamboo, I ordered a plastic replacement foot from Mudhole. I’ve been using my Coon-@ss push pole in really nasty, stinky Pooh mud, and it comes up clean every time. In the same mud, my stake-out stick comes up caked and reeking. I don’t know what plastic they use, but it’s amazing. I can’t picture a wooden foot coming out that clean, unless it was coated with some super-slick varnish. My pole is only ten feet, since I don’t have a poling platform on my skiff. I really liked Flip’s wooden version. TJ
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Sounds like your saying Chit don’t stick to plastic, but i bet Plastic toilet paper feels funky 
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Hopefully this’ll gain some traction, as I’ve had it in my mind to shape one up as well. To take it a step further though, I’ve been considering a full wood pole like we use to back when I was kid pushing around the old well boat we fished out of.
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Years ago the wood mentioned most often for those making their own forks - was guava… I didn’t know where to find any guava so I used green mangrove fork (from red mangrove - not black mangrove). Not really knowing what I was doing and concerned that green wood might not take epoxy glue - I baked that fork in my oven for about an hour (and must admit -you will want all the windows in the house open while that’s going on. The fork came out well and worked for years - until I lost that push pole one night on the water (I’ve lost or destroyed more than my share of poles over the years). Back in the seventies you could buy a fiberglass pushpole blank so cheaply (around $30 if you knew the outfit that was making them -and in your color of choice and length, as well as how heavy you wanted it to be… compare that to today’s world of really well made poles that might cost 20 times as much…). No they were not ideal - too flexible - but it was what you had back then, fifty years ago…
Pretty sure mangrove everywhere is protected now but the right sized fork is available anywhere you find mangrove jungle shorelines… We built up the end that was to be glued into the pole with two bands of masking tape after pealing the bark away (the way you would with a reelseat builidng a rod) then epoxied it into place with ordinary slow cure epoxy. And I’m still using that same Fasco epoxy for rod crafting all these years later… Hope this helps..
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My neighbor was trimming his crepe Myrtle and I grabbed a piece. It’s been sitting in the fly tying room for 4 or 5 years I think. I guess I should make this a project one day.
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@GeorgiaDrifter has a nice one that Flip signed for him.
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If anyone wants a guava fork, PM me and I’ll ship em to you. I have 2 or 3 that might be suitable with some shaping. I’ll post some pics later
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This thread made me want to look up info on Crepe Myrtle wood. I trim the Crepe Myrtles for the widow that lives next door and these things are huge. In looking up info on hardness, the info I found says Osage Orange and Live Oak are both harder than Crepe Myrtle. The hardness is rated on something called a Janka scale. I’d never heard of it. I share this because a good sized Live Oak fork might be a good option for some of you.
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Jaka scale is legit. I dove into one time on some flooring. I ended up choosing a bamboo with the highest rating I could find. That turned out to be a huge mistake, as it was so hard, I couldn’t nail it down. Kept bending the nails. I swear that stuff was harder than concrete.
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Me!!!
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I want one of these from Shell Bottom Supply but all sold out currently, messaged on IG said they should have more.
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He was a member of Fight Club. I need to reach out to him to see if he wants to join FightClubHQ.
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Definitely, I’m hoping I can manage to get one. He did say he takes trips to FL if I recall, may get lucky. Just looks awesome and I’m not a guide so I don’t need to be poling all day, would work just fine for me on a little 16’ skiff.
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