First Composite Skinned Grip Attempts

May 2012

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Attached is a pic of my first attempt at composite skinned grips - one casting butt grip and full wells fly grip. Both were made using an 8 lb. urethane grip core from U.S. Composites and 1.25" Light Carbon sleeve from Soller Composites. I used regular Flex Coat Rod Builders epoxy to glue the sleeve down to the core and layed up the sleeve with West Systems 105A resin and 207SA hardener (again from Soller Composites). I followed the instructions in the RodMaker article to the letter.

They turned out very well (I will use both) but I definitely learned some things that will make future versions easier to deal with. First, ream your grip cores before skinning them. I know this makes sense to most but I tried both ways and reaming is better. Trust me...lol.

Second, finishing the ends of these grips well is the whole key to a really finished look and where all the difficulty lies. Based on my experience, I am going to do a few things differently going forward. When I first lay the sleeve up on the core using 5 or 15 min epoxy and I am coat the entire grip EXCEPT for the last 1/2" to 3/4" on each end. Some of the epoxy will 'wick' through fibers and may set up on your end fibers making final wrapping, smoothing and finishing difficult or impossible. Had to scrap another fly rod grip that looked like carrot top and was spiny as a cactus.

Next, I found that going back 20 - 45 minutes (depending on temperature and the epoxy you use) after completing the wet lay up with the West Systems Laminating Resin to finish the end and saturate the graphite sleeve gives you some ability to mold and finish the ends. Kind of like working with modeling clay. They were not perfect at first (those carbon fibers have a mind of their own and will come untwisted and untucked) but I could easily fix them later when they were partially cured.

Despite that final step, neither of the grips was 100% square and plumb on the ends just due to how the fibers laid down and how the fibers reacted to being twisted and tucked. Final touch up and squaring up was necssary. I did this with a fine sanding disc (220 grit) and then the grip was touched up with some FC High Build thread finish where sanded to restore the semi-gloss finish.

Per Andy Dear's most recent instructions, I did not urethane coat the grips because I did not want them to be slick. This grip is not quite as comfortable as a flocked grip (the ultimate to me) but has a nice texture and grip that is the same wet or dry. It also looks really cool.

Thanks very much to Tom and Andy and RM for another fantastic technique I would never have learned or figured out anywhere else.

Comments and questions welcomed. Thanks!

Bill