I'm wanting to make a small fly rod for a friend. She bought a small bison stuffed animal in Yellowstone this year, and I'd like to give her a fly rod built for the bison (I know, a bit over the top, but she's a good person and addicted to fly fishing).

I'm planning on using the top 14-15" of a fly blank along with one of those small keychain fly reels (1" dia.) . I'm a bit stumped on the grip, though. I thought about using cork from a wine bottle or cork from Joanne's (a craft store). It's problematic drilling a straight, centered hole in these, however (I don't have a drill press). Now, I'm wondering if cork tape will work, but with the small diameter of the blank where the grip will be, I'm not sure, since I don't have any experience using cork tape. Another thought was to use a flexcoat arbor turned down and then covered with cork tape. I'm estimating that the final diameter of the grip at its fattest point will be .7" or so.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated-Thanks!

Bill

I think I'd consider using on the Flex Coat urethane arbors and painting it a tan color after you've turned it down to the desired size and shape. You could also do it with balsa wood, or just regular cork for that matter, but the glue lines might be too far apart to look right. Thus, the arbor material or balsa suggestions.


.........

Thanks, Tom. The painting is a good idea.

After poking around, I'm now thinking that using a modeling putty like Milliput applied to the blank, formed to grip and reel seat shape, and then painted appropriate colors would be easiest and would give the best results. But I'm still open to any suggestions.

Bill

Why not just use a few cork rings and turn a small grip? I you have a regular power drill you should be able to do it pretty easily with some sandpaper to shape the cork. A wine bottle cork would probably work as well if it's long enough. I would not consider cork tape at all. The rod diameter would be much too small, and I don't think it would look very good either.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2005 08:57PM by Rob Matarazzo.

a cork reel seat insert would work nice if you didn't want to turn your own.

Tony