I have a great opportunity to turn some wooden handles for fishing rods. A friend of mine has been turning wood for years and thought we could combine rod building and wood for a really personal touch.

Has anyone done this? Is there a wood you liked better than others? What considerations should I be looking at? Any thoughts would be great.

Thanks!

Larry

here is a search of this board on wood handles [www.rodbuilding.org]

Take a look on the photo page here. Wood handles on fishing rods is not new - it's been around for a hundred years or more and is still gaining in popularity. Also see the Classic Custom Wood website (link is to the left) and view some of Ray Jorgensen's work.

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If you want to make an extreamly light weight handle try ...(A grade )contest balsa wood it weighs 4-6 pounds per cubic ft.. It has no grain and looks bland unless stained but will make a feather weight grip if thats what your looking for. C grade balsa 15 lbs per cu ft makes a rugged easy to turn handle. Both types of balsa can be shaped the same as cork with just sandpaper. A balsa handle material cost is under $2.00... Bob.

I don't know where you live, but if you live where there are Juniper trees, the big ones, get some. It has a very dense grain, it turns extremely well, is pretty light and it's really very interesting wood. I've found shades of green and shades of red and dark violet along with the normal lighter color. Look on the photo page for some of Stan Grace's work. He uses Juniper all the time.

I have built a number of rods using wood that we turned on my fathers lathe. I was fortunate enough to have a father that was a gunsmith for many years so ther was always a variety of wood types for me to try out. Most of the handles we produced were variations of walnut , but he also had plenty of maple around. Any walnut can be good, looks beautiful with an oil finish, but French walnut can be spectacular. If you start with a flat piece of wood, i.e, old gun stock, keep in mind that when a piece of wood is turned to produce a handle and/or wood insert some of the "figure" that you loved so much will be gone when the wood is rounded. BTW, I love wooden handles and if you've never used one before don't let anyone convince you that they add excessive weight or are slippery when wet. I used a gun stock oil finish(Birchwood Casey) and it makes protects the wood and actually provides for a nice grip. Never have to worry about mud and slime penetrating either, just wipe it off and its always like new. Good Luck.

Thanks for the input gentlemen. I have some birdseye maple that I'm going to try for my first handle. I'll try to send a post when I get it finished!

I'm fond of Walnut, all the rosewoods, and Osage Orange. Bubinga can also be really nice.