I'd like to know too.

J.

I was told you could buy them on ebay. Just buy cheap rings, and experiment with sizes.

They look kinda like black zip ties to me. But I like them.
Might be kinda hard to avoid that, eh JDub?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I never have found those. Rush rods has some aluminum rings that are nice, but wider. Don

Don, thanks for the suggestion. Rush River Rods has the nice slide bands, but they are nickle silver and expensive. I can buy a whole Struble D2 for the same price as the RRR Slide bands. Bummer.

Orvis no doubt has those skinny bands made just for them.

Your idea of using a metal insert/bushing to lend strength to wood (so it wouldn't split along the grain line) would be one way to go. Also, some woods have interlocking grain and don't easily split. (Of course, that feature would also make them hard to turn.) Also, soaking the ring in the sort of marine epoxies used in boat building would greatly strengthen the wooden ring, maybe even enough to avoid the need for an insert. But I still think that if "light-weight and cheap" are the prime objectives, some version of plastic piping is the way to go. It is easy to machine, easy to polish, and deforms without breaking, meaning it could be slipped over the foot of the reel fairly easily.

RE: "jerry-rigged" Sorry about my poor choice of words to describe roughly-finished (but often cleverly-done) work. It wasn't my intent to cast any aspersions. Where the term came from for me was in connection to using PVC pipe to make rod tubes. A 10' stick of 1-1/2 PVC pipe is only a couple of bucks. Two end caps add another $0.75 or so to the project. Voila. A rod tube that has the advantage of being strong, light-weight, and won't heat up from sunlight the way a darker-colored material would, such as high-end, canvas-covered rod tubes that are invariably green, brown or black. OTOH, unadorned PVC rod tubes scream "jerry-rigged".

But if an effort is made to polish the surface of the tube with increasingly finer grits of emery paper, the product markings and discolorations can be removed and a matte finish results that would be perfect for doing scrimshaw with brown or black ink. Then the tube could become a canvas for one's imagination. The result would still be "jerry-rigged", but in the best sense of the word. The solution would be cheap and off-the-shelf, but personalized in a way that becomes priceless. Sometime, when you're at the library, find a book on scrimshaw. Polished PVC can be made to look like ivory/whale teeth, and the whole of the tube wouldn't need to be detailed. But if the artwork were properly done, it would provoke a double-take when a person who saw the tube realized what has been done. "Oooh, clever, very nice " is the comment I'd expect to hear. "Can you make me one like that?"

Seriously, converting PVC pipe into personalized rod tubes is a cottage industry just waiting to happen.

The idea of copper slide rings is very intriguing. Does anyone have experience with this idea or any pics?

you can't beat the orvis rings; they look and feel kinda like plastic, but theyre not; some very tough stuff.