I have seen several references to these and seen a few pictures of them. I am wondering what is the advantage to them? Not to put down anyones work, the ones I've seen are very well done, but they seem rather ugly to me.
Murf

My grammer is really not that bad, meant to say "have seen pictures of them".
Murf

It's a touch lighter and it gives another area to add some decoration. That's about it. I do them on nearly all rods that I build now. The guys I build 'em for love 'em. They looked kinda ugly to me at first, too. But they go over big time.

Putter
Williston, ND

for me on my steelhead rods i find also my forearm falls right in the split make for a very comfortable rod plus like Randy said leaves room for decorations .........

I think the idea is that you don't really use the center portion of the butt grip so why have it on there? Reduce weight, save some cork and open up another area for an inscription or some sort of thing.

Whether or not it's ugly probably has to do with what you're used to seeing on most commercially produced rods. A lot of what we do looks odd until you become accustomed to it. For me, the more comfortable and functional something is, the better it tends to look in the long run.

.............

Very interesting. I've gone to split grips on the few rods I've built recently, and have also "converted" a couple of already-builts by hacking out the middle of the original grip. It's getting to the point where a full grip looks a little strange to me!

Bilgee

Thanks for all the ideas on this. They all makes sense to me, especially Robert's idea of his forearm fitting comfortably between the two sections. I may give it a try when I build myself a steelhead rod.
Murf

I think there's several factors. First, good cork is pretty expensive. Second, no one uses the middle of a cork grip for anything anyway. Third, it saves weight. And fourth, it does give a neat inscription/decoration area (though, most of the time, I just leave my blank bare). A fifth reason, IMO, is that it just looks better. But, I've not built anything with a complete rear grip in ages, so I'm accustomed to the look.

If you are making split grip handles for others, be sure to ask what sort of rod holders they use. In tube-style of rod holders, split grip rods with long handles will end up having the blank itself come in contact the rod holder. This will scratch up the blank in very short order, mar any decoration you might put there, and it also makes the rod sit in the holder at more of an angle than it would if the grip was totally covered with cork.

If an angler uses a rod holder like a Scotty Powerlock- where the butt of the rod is fed through a hole in the holder, if a split grip handle has a butt section that isn't angled enough (on the side facing the reel), the rod will catch on the holder when it is removed- particularly when there is weight on the end of the line. This never happens with a full grip- those slide right out as there is nothing to catch on the hole. It's a minor issue, but something to think about.

Mike: Thanks for the thoughts on using them in rod holders, I can see where it could be a problem, especially if you have a big fish and on it is putting a lot of pressure on the rod when your'e trying to get the rod out of the holder.
Murf

Rod holder lengths are fairly standard. Start the upper grip at a point where it will be supported in the holder and problem averted.

Jay