Hi Everyone,
Learned some valuable lessons recently while putting together a wooden handle
and reel seat assembly on an ultra-light spinning rod.
I had dry fitted the rear grip, skeleton seat w/wood insert, and fore grip together for
proper fit and alignment. A prefect fit! Then check the fit on the blank and determined
a small amount of shimming was needed so applied a couple of layers of the mesh
drywall type tape to the butt of the blank, mixed up some 5 min epoxy adhesive and
applied it to the tape and poured a small amount into the hole in the rear grip and
installed the blank into the grip (hole in grip was not all the way thru so had to install by
pushing grip from the bottom end forward). Cleaned excess adhesive and set rod aside
for a while. Glued up the skeleton seat with wood insert and set it aside also,
After a couple of hours or so slid on the reel seat and fore grip to check for fit and found
the seat assembly fit perfectly (no shimming) but the fore grip needed a little shimming.
Mixed up more 5 min. epoxy, installed seat, shimmed blank, (this time with 2 layers of
2in wide masking tape) and installed the fore grip and cleaned any excess epoxy.
Now because I was working with 5 min. epoxy and also doing other things during this
time like watching football, chatting on-line with another rod builder, honey do this honey
do that, I worked rather hurriedly. Heck, if done this dozens of times no sweat! Right?
Wrong, very wrong! After setting the rod aside for a short bit I picked it up and looked it
over and saw a couple of things I somehow missed before.
First thing was when I spun the rod I noticed the rear grip wobbled a bit because the
hole was not drilled straight but at a slight angle. Not very much just a little but it erked me
none the less! Next was a small gap ( about 1/16 in.) between the fore grip and the seat!
This really erked me and looked like @#$! Next was seeing that the hole in the fore grip
was also drilled at a slight angle and also ob-longed at the tip end!
Man I was @#$%&! The fore grip looked so bad I but a little elbow grease into it and tried
to turn it so the off angle would at least line up better when the rod was being held in the
fishing position and maybe not look so bad. Well, it had not been very long after installing the fore grip that this all began so the glue and not completely set and the fore grip turned into what I judged as the best position and I put it aside again. (cussing at myself for not paying closer attention during installation and cussing at the guy who made the grips for his poor drilling technique). I had to decide if the rod was going to fly as is or if I was going to split the handle and seat assembly down one side and pry them apart and off.
Later in the evening I decided that I could probably find something to put into or cover up
the space between the seat and for grip and I didn't want to risk breaking the U/L blank in
removal of the handle assembly so decided to complete the project and get the guides
wrapped on.
Today during final alignment of the guides, I found the fore grip loose! I guess, when I had
turned it yesterday to re-align it the epoxy had set up to far and I broke the bond.
To finally make a long story short, After twisting and turning, the fore grip came loose and
I slid it up the blank and found a crystalline rubbery mess which I was able to remove along with the masking tape. I got the dremmel and very carefully cut off 1/4in. off the base of the grip, re-shimmed the blank ( this time with mesh tape), and reinstalled the grip.
This time, despite the angled hole, it fit and looked 100 times better and now no space to
fill or cover up! Don't know what happen during first install?
Lessons learned : 1) Take your time and try and keep distractions to a minimum!
( I just put a TV in my rod room. it's going out!)
2) 5 min. epoxy , no more! getting some rod bond!!
3) Masking tape arbors? Maybe not!
3) Don't panic! with a little thought and common sense most things
can be fixed with great results!
4) Don't settle for "not so good" when you can make it better!

Sorry for the long post but I thought the long time builders would get a good chuckle and you beginners would read this and learn from it and get some Solis from knowing your not
the only ones who do a dumb thing like this!

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

Get your self a small level at home depot. The rod has to be level so the finish does not flow to one end.

Also don't try to load the finish on in one coat. Do at least two coats. baby sit the rod for about the first hour. When the finish starts to drip on the bottom of the rod just take your brush and touch the drip, take it off. You will get the hang of it.

(LOL) whats even worse is when ya get in a hurry because ya got to go somewhere and ya
apply the apoxie and then ya realize ya didnt make sure that all the guides were perfectly straight
and when ya look at it it looks like a snake was crawling down the top of your blank
they were close but was still noticeable if ya looked close
THE LESSONS WE LEARN

david williams

Ray:
QUOTE: "First thing was when I spun the rod I noticed the rear grip wobbled a bit because the
hole was not drilled straight but at a slight angle. Not very much just a little but it erked me"

If you want you can get rid of the wobble on the rear grip. You can drill a small hole in the rear of the grip. Take some epoxy, warm it before mixing (so it is a little bit thinner). Mix it, then suck it up into a hypodermic syringe and inject it into the hole. Take a small wooden dowel plug the hole and stand the rod on its end so the epoxy will settle to the back of the handle filling the gap and gluing the dowel in place. After it is dried just apply small amount of finish to the dowel to give it a finished look.
Tip: profit the dowel to the hole.

Prime example of why I turn most of my wood handles on a mandrel. I have foregone that on the butt section to have a no hole finished end, but you need to drill really, really, really sloooooow to keep things going straight. Yes it takes more time but when you are looking for really nice finished product it is the only way to go.