Monthly Archives: January 2016
Agates and Agatines and… Oh, My!
Golden Witch & Arcane Component Works have added fresh-cut agatines to the mix of options. We felt you needed some text to explain natural stone stripping guides, versus those that are not, you guessed it, perfectly natural stone. In fact, some rings are almost entirely unnatural, almost.
Let’s start with the real stuff, unadulterated, truly natural stone. We actually offer a ring variant called “Natural Agate” and it’s the real deal…plain, faintly figured, semi-precious rock harvested from the earth, cut into slabs, slabs carved into rings, rings polished, then bezelled, and finally soldered into frames. Nice. Another group of natural stone we offer is the plain ROY Agate, which is actually carnelian, itself a specific form of cryptocrystalline chalcedony…and chalcedonies are commonly termed “agate” even though agate is actually a sub-variety of chalcedony, not an equivalent term for the entire family of these stones. But, rodmakers and guide makers have been calling carnelian “agate” long before we arrived, so we’re sticking with the name, but giving you a head’s up to the proper term for this mineral.
Arcane Component Works is in the News
Our sister wholesale company, Arcane Component Works is in the October 2015 Issue of Angling International! See pages 34 and 37 for the full story. Arcane components are scattered throughout Golden Witch; be sure to check them out.
The Last Cover Post EVER from the Old Website
Hello Rodmakers & Restorationists!
It’s March of 2015 and I’m updating, not entirely re-writing, this cover letter to the Golden Witch website. Spring is officially here, but the morning after the last of our snow melted we’re getting more and the woods are white again. Now it’s time for spring weather.
Spare Tips?
Spare Parts: Please don’t expect me to notice if you forget to order enough snakes or tips for your rod, or if you ordered something that is entirely untraditional, even garish. I am neither a mind reader nor a dictator of fashion. I don’t second guess rodmakers on the snake & tiptop quantities they order because a lot of folks make single tip rods (and some still order ferrules in whole sets to have that spare male on hand); also, many makers use snake patterns that I would never dream of using, e.g., at the extreme end of unusual snake habits, one fellow only orders #3 snakes.