I am building a 9' Salmon pole. I prefer a longer foregrip and shorter butt grip. The problem is balance, because the butt grip is shorter the balancing point is just forward of my fore grip. In order to balance the pole fully rigged I have to put a fair amount of weight inside the blank's butt end. I would then bond the cork butt grip over the blank's butt end so no one is the wiser. I have played around with this and the balancing point is really good. I like the way the extra weight aids me when setting the hook. I believe it picks up the slack from my drift style quickly and acts pedulum like in setting the hook. The problem is I am not sure I want to add extra weight to my rod when trying to reduce weight seems to be every builders ultimate priority. I was wondering if I could use some type of tempory bonding agent on the butt grip, something that would easily loosen up and come off in the event I do not like the extra weight. so I would like to add the extra weight as described try the pole out for a while and if I do find it too heavy remove the butt grip, perhaps with some type of hot water technique, and replace it more permanently with rod bond. Any suggestion on this idea.

Thanks
Steve

Steve, are you adding the weight inside the butt end of the blank?

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Try a low temp hot glue.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Never mind! Went back and reread your post. Guess the coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

Might try a double adhesive tape, Or if the butt cap fits tight enough just go with that for awhile?

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Steve, I'm just starting to build spinning rods and run into balance problems more so than with fly rods. I believe adding weight in the butt should be the last resort. I've done considerable research on how rods have been built in the past and MY CONCLUSION is these tip heavy rods are built with the reel seat moved up a bit more with some sort of a split grip behind the seat towards the butt. For a 11'3" spinning rod I'm builing, I bought some of Andy Dear's Laguna burl cork rings to make my split grip from. I've weighed them on a grain scale and found them to be a bit over 3 1/2 times heavier than regular cork - that allows me to make a split grip.

I would suggest taking a tour through the photo section and look under the "handles and grips" section. Some of the people that post their work there are real artists. And I've found them very willing to share how they do their grips if you just email tham. Good luck.

Steve,
There are a couple of different butt caps that are sold by some of the suppliers on the left that have lead washers in them that permit you to adjust the weight at the butt of your rod. They have adjustable weights, lead washers, that will allow you to adjust it from zero to about one ounce. If one ounce is not enough I would look at adapting some of the hardware that is designed for fighting butt extensions. With a little imagination I think that you could use some of this hardware mounted on the butt of your rod that would allow you to further adjust the weight by adding and subtracting lead washers.
As far as the effect of the added weight on the performance of your rod is concerned, I would not worry so much about adding weight at the butt of the rod. I am not a fan of adding weight at the butt of the rod but many people do. The effect of added weight on the performance of the rod increases dramatically as it is added closer and closer to the tip of the rod and conversely decreases as it is added closer and closer to the butt of the rod. If you do want to add weight you are adding it at the point where it will have the least effect on rod performance.

Emory Harry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve,
> There are a couple of different butt caps that are
> sold by some of the suppliers on the left that
> have lead washers in them that permit you to
> adjust the weight at the butt of your rod. They
> have adjustable weights, lead washers, that will
> allow you to adjust it from zero to about one
> ounce. If one ounce is not enough I would look
> at adapting some of the hardware that is designed
> for fighting butt extensions. With a little
> imagination I think that you could use some of
> this hardware mounted on the butt of your rod that
> would allow you to further adjust the weight by
> adding and subtracting lead washers.
> As far as the effect of the added weight on the
> performance of your rod is concerned, I would not
> worry so much about adding weight at the butt of
> the rod. I am not a fan of adding weight at the
> butt of the rod but many people do. The effect of
> added weight on the performance of the rod
> increases dramatically as it is added closer and
> closer to the tip of the rod and conversely
> decreases as it is added closer and closer to the
> butt of the rod. If you do want to add weight you
> are adding it at the point where it will have the
> least effect on rod performance.

There is also the possibility of having different butt's for the rod to screw in. In fly tying, often times the tier will use different color thread heads to denote weight. In your case you could have different butt caps each with different colors or markings to denote their weights. Having this would IMO be more "custom", and would allow yourself or your customer to change it out depending on the specific reel they are using.

In addition to the ability to balance via counter weights, you could also experiement with different reel seats. Try a resin impregnated reel seat and see if that helps out. They are a bit heavier than the standard aluminum or graphite. Also, have you taken into account where the reel will sit and the specific model of reel? I don't do spinning rods, but in general, the reel itself seems to be a large factor on how things balance out on a fly rod, and I suspect the same would be true of a spinning rod.

-- Cheers
-- James