I am building a rod for a friend and she wanted a purple and black EVA handle. I was able to build a nice handle, but what I noticed is that the outside diameter of the black is a little bigger than the purple. I was wondering how I could 'sand' or shave the black material down a little. Would starting with like a 60 grit sandpaper on a sanding block and then moving to a 120 then 200 work?

Any help would be appreciated.

-John

That's what I would do . The block is the key to keeping the same dia on both pieces . Just be carefull not to drag the black dust into the purple , it may discolor it if it gets too hot. I have not used the purple so I'm not sure how it will react to the black dust . If you do not have a lathe , it will be a little more difficult , just be carefull. Have fun , John

John,

Thats how i do it, too. If you are doing a lot of rodbuilding, especially shaping handles, or sanding old cork to clean it up, a power rodwrapper works great. Pac Bay is running a Christmas special on Rod Smith rodwrappers... ask any of the sponsors on the left who carry Pac Bay products. The Flexcoat power wrapper is higher quality, but about twice the price.

John,
I hope you have some kind of lathe set up to turn down your grip. Faster the better. That will make it much easier to remove material evenly and match the diameters you need to line up.
Using a sanding block will work fine, however it may cause the black color to bleed into the purple a bit, especially when you get to the fine grit paper. I think that when you sand the foam, some of the foam material actually melts, & it can melt itself onto an adjacent color & be very difficult to remove.
To fix that, do your sanding with blocks as you described & don't worry too much about the color bleeding. When you are done sanding, use a strip of mesh sand screen, (used for drywall) in a fine grit size. Hold each end of the strip & use it in a kind of buffing motion as if you were polishing shoes. I have found that to be the most effective way to remove color bleeds, & it leaves a pretty nice "suede like" finish.
All the best, Mike