What is the best or some of best methods to "building up" a blank to fit a cork with a slightly larger diameter? I have used masking tape in the past, but this just doesn' t seem like it would provide a good quality bond, or does it? Any input is greatly appreciated.

You should be using unbored cork so that the cork is fitted to the blank. Other methods do not have a place in rodmaking. REC has fairly good unbored cork rings.

Thanks, what about the same question related to real seets / wood inserts on fly rods?

Daniel,

I have,on occasion, spiraled "D" thread or cord up the blank under the grip and used rod bond on EVA and cork both with no problems even after heavy use. It's not ideal but works! Just curious, cork rings have a 1/4" diameter hole. What size blank is smaller than that??

I would use Flex coat arbors on the seats or shim with drywall mesh and use Rod Bond

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the tip. The blank is a #4wt. 2pc. fly rod and I cannot recall the butt diameter off-hand, but it is relatively small. The cork is actually a finished handle with wood inserts and it looked really good, so i took a gamble in it fitting the blank and as you can see I have wound up with a problem. I guess, I need not to take shortcuts in the future.

Is the grip made by American Tackle by any chance?

Daniel I have run into problems like yours when building ice rods, the bore of the cork is .250 and the butt of the blank is .165, in this case I have in the past used an old rod blank, tip section, and found the area that fits the blank diameter, and used it as a sleeve to shim up the blank to meet the ID of the cork. I just slid the blank shim, usually about 5-6" over the butt till it fits, and rough up the blank surface, and used rod bond to glue it together, let it dry 24 hours and then install the cork grip. Hope this helps.

Galen,

Great Idea!!!!!!!!

Mike

Galen

Now that's out-of-the-box thinking - I like it.

Gerry,

you are correct, it is made by American Tackle and looks great.

Mike & Galen,

great ideas guys, thanks for your help

Daniel

Daniel,
When you described it , I was almost positive it was one of theirs. I consider it really bad form of them to not state very clearly on their website that these things have a .34 ID rather than .25. They should be very up front about that.

Gerry

Gerry,

I agree, like I said earlier, I took a gamble on it fitting.

Daniel