Hi guys
I asked once before but can not find the post.
Reading the posts about cork I am looking to do some wood handles.
Balsa Wood is soft but no grain -- what would be say the next step up -a soft wood with some grain in it -easy to drill a hole in to mount on a blank ??
Also - A 2" buy 2" stock, when rounded will give me what, 1 1/2" OD ??
Thanks"

Bill, someone not long ago made a very good looking fly rod handle out of either white or yellow pine with a stain. I think it's on the photo page somewhere. That would obviously be easy to turn, shape and drill and quite light.

I have use a couple handles out of Australian cypress and Teak. They are light but I did not make them so I don't know how easy they were to work with.

Birch is light and fairly strong, Cypress & the various Cedars are light and common enough to pick & choose a 2"x whatever with a knot or two for a figured section and the lumbermen will be glad to let you have those as that wood, the figured pieces, are culled out of the handpicked stuff by most builders. I've got a few limbs of Apple, pear, and pecan drying in the attic. Most of this will be for smoke - grilling, but a few pieces may make up into reelseats. Bass wood is soft enough to carve into decoys and fishing plugs. With all of the staining,dying, and sealing techniques & products out there, the options are many. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

I have use Koa wood for the first wood handle I made, but also made it a split rear handle, so weight was about the same as cork I would say, maybe a bit heavier, but hard to tell the difference. I think if you make the rear portion of the handle split, then most woods would be ok to use and not add much weight to the rod.

As far as rounding a 2 x 2 piece of stock, if all you do is round off the corners, then it is going to be 2" round. Unless you are talking about 2 x 2 in lumber sense, then yes it would be around 1-1/2" round because a 2 x 2 actually measures around 1-1/2 x 1-1/2.

Pine is very easy to work..be sure it's kiln dried to get the pitch out . But, I've made casting handles from native northeren hardwoods with good results. I carved them with a dremel. If you have access to some power tools, it's quite fun.
I had a real neat one from a maple burl I whacked off a tree when I was in the logging business,danged if Terri Cheatham didn't catch me in a weak moment & wind up with it !!
:>}

Thanks Steve. I am going to look at some pine. One site I have has Cedar as another.

Bill

I'm having very good luck with Juniper for grips. It is light and extremely slow growing giving it a very dense cellular structure which appears to make it quite tough and durable. If you are interested in more info email me at: gracestan1@bresnan.net.

Stan

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Thanks guys
Think I will order several turning stock maybe one of each. Hate to spend the money, but cork is --well you know. Got some cork coming from C & D but ?? Tired of the crap shoot

I hear you Bill. And, if you like how cork is easy to work with, but want something more consistent, different looking, and less expensive, but pretty light and very tough, get some of the new Exotic burl from Andy Dear. That stuff makes really nice handles.

Bill,

If I am turning a handle, I use a 1.5 x 1.5 x 7.0 measured piece of wood. If I am turning a reel seat insert, I use a 1"x1"x4" measured piece of wood. Pine, although very light and easy to turn, is too soft for my taste. Also the grain is very plain. The reason I use wood handles are that they will never pit, never swell (sealed with polyurethane) and they look superior to cork. True, they are a bit heavier, but we are only talking an oz or so. I have had a lot of success with birch burl, it is suprisingly light, but a little difficult to turn. I also use maple burl and it appears a little heavier than birch, again only in tenths of oz. difference. The heavier woods like cocobolo, ebony, bocote, zebrawood, rosewoods, I use for reel seat inserts. Most of the burls I use for handles (the grains are just fantastic and no two are alike). Of course with burls you need to fill the voids and is harder to turn, but the finished handle is something to behold. Start with some tight straight grained woods (maple, walnut, mahogany etc...) these are easy to turn and have some personality. Good Luck!

Russ

I try to start with a piece of wood that is 2" X 2" X 12". Sometimes you can buy spindle blanks in this dimension. But, I usually try to find larger pieces, and cut off the right length (i.e. right now I'm cutting off 2"X2"s from a piece of Mesquite that was originally 2"X6"X36") . I take the 12" blank, then cut it at the 4.5" mark. The 4.5" piece will be for my insert, and the 7.5" piece will be for my grip. I try to keep track of how the two pieces went together, so I can orient the insert and grip to have a continuous grain line. Then, I use a drill press to drill holes in the pieces. The diameter of the hole depends on the o.d. of the blank. Then, I mount both pieces on one of Andy Dear's mandrels, turn the reel seat to size, and turn the grip to size. On occasion, I've used 1.5" X 1.5" squares with success. However, my tools are old and kinda' sloppy, so the 2" square gives me a little room for error--a wandering drill bit won't wreck a whole project.

While burls are really cool looking, I'm fond of some of the straighter grained woods. I like a little variation (swirly grain, knots, etc.), but they're still generally understated. I've used Rosewood, Cocobolo, Bois d'Arc, Mesquite, Bubinga, Walnut, etc. If I'm worried that the wood will be really heavy, I start by gluing up about 7" of nasty, pitted cork. Then, I turn the cork down to 5/8" o.d. Then, I bore out the wood to 5/8", and glue it over the cork (kinda' like a sleeve) with Rod Bond or Gorilla Glue. Then, I turn the wood down to my preferred shape. The cork center lightens the grip substantially. The only catch is that you have to be really careful not to cut completely through the wood down to the cork.

I haven't done a lot of wood grips, so take this with a grain of salt. But, my experience has been that since most all the weight is in your hand, it's not that noticeable. And, there is a good argument that the weight of a wood grip helps balance out a long fly rod quite well.

I haven't done full wood grips on casting or spinning rods (except for trim rings). In these cases, I'm typically trying to take a relatively heavy blank, and keep it as light as possible. So, the wood doesn't really fit that equation.

Here is one of the sites that I have been looking at for turning stock [www.hobbywoods.com]

That may be my fly rod handle that you are talking about made out of balsa. It is a great wood to work with and is hard as a rock when you apply superglue. While the handle is spinning slowly on the lathe apply super glue to the entire handle. It soaks in very nicely. sand the excess super glue off and apply whatever finnish you like. I use poly. allows the handle to be super light weight yet very hard and durable. I gota give Les F. From reel seats by Les credit for this one. Thanks Les!!

Try butternut. It's light and the finish brings out the grain a color of the wood.

Bill,
When I first tried wood I used a hole saw and cut rings and glued them together with Titebond as in conventional cork handles. The pilot hole was enlarged by careful drilling with a pilot bit and the handle turned on my lathe. With some woods this gave me a good effect, I still use this method when I want to use two types of wood such as maple and walnut in alternating rings.
I now do most of my handles using stabilized wood, but had a hard time finding it in the size I needed. I have had good luck using 1 & 1/2 inch square X 18 inch long stabilized wood from Jantz knife making supply out of Oklahoma City.
Hope this helps as I had no one at the time to show me and I learned by trial and error. Sine then I have learned of all the great sources on this rod phorum and if I had known of them several years ago it would have been a great help. Good luck and don't be afraid to jump right in with any kind of wood that suits your fancy. I have used everything from pine 2X4s to cedar, cut in my back pasture, and they all made a special one of a kind, handle or reel seat.

I've made a relatively limited number (6) of grips for both spinning and casting rods out of rosewood, cocobolo and blackwood. All are fairly heavy woods. These are my personal rods and I use them a fair amount - the only difference I've noticed between them and my cork handled rods is the comments I've gotten at work and the marina. I'm building one now for a coworker - cocobolo with blackwood endcaps and brass spacers. I made the latter using a hole saw to cut disks out of some sheet brass. Am using reel seats with gold hardware and gold framed guides. Not sure on the wraps yet. May try metallic burgundy over metallic gold. Will post photos when I'm done.

Hey Bill,

I'm a wicked newbie, have only done a few handles so far. I have decided I dont like cork or foam that much and would rather do wood handles. I've got myself a lathe and a book and researched some wood, and have tried turning my own grip and like it much better. I'm guessing you are very experienced by the posts i've seen of yours, so your probably already familirar with most of the following resources but i thought I'd post them just in case they are useful

[classiccustomwood.com]
[www.hearnehardwoods.com]
[www.insertbyles.com]
[bellforestproducts.com]
[www.woodbin.com]
[www.westpennhardwoods.com]
[bellforestproducts.com]

I have used maple birch and poplar, I have some cedar, pine and sumac just waiting to be turned. Poplar is the lightest of the ones I have done and it is fairly soft and easy to work with.

I have yet to buy any wood for handles, a walk in the woods turns up recently downed trees and a trip to to the local composte site turns up some more interesting pieces. Just takes a bit of leg work :-)

So far it is a toss up between maple and birch as to which I prefer. I am just finishing a rod that I used a piece of spalted birch, looks real nice, best looking one so far.

I took a trip to the Jantz Knife site. Wow!!! I bet that diamond wood would make some beautiful handles. Anyone used it?

Bill in WV

The diamond wood is not offered in large enough sizes for handles but can be used for reel seats. If anyone knows of a supplier for diamond wood in at least 1 1/4 inch X 9 or greater inches in length please let me know as i have been wanting to play with it. Diamond wood for reel seats is a little brittle and you have to tape it up and drill it out very carefully. It buffs up to a beautiful finish.