So, I have a bunch of preformed Spey rod grips that are between 14-16" long and have an inside diameter of .250" or so. I've been able to ream them using rattail files...first chucking them in a drill, and then doing what I can by hand. It works, but takes forever.

I wonder--

a.) Is there a better way to do this than with rattails?

b.) If not, does anyone know of a source for longer and thicker than normal rattails? I use the ones that come from Home Depot/Lowe's/etc. and they only ream out to about .400" inside diameter (whereas most Spey butts are .550" or so).



Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Scott,
Get your self some of what I call cloth backed reamer tape or emery tape.
Spiral it onto a scrap blank section about the same size and the blank
you are building on and epoxy it in place. Better than any rattail file by a
long shot. Flex-Coat make some as do others. You can make several
from 1 roll and they last a long long time!

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

Will the grit or other abrasive stay put with those?

The reason I switched to rattails in the first place was that I hated ruining an expensive blank when a piece of sand got stuck up in the cork...and then I slid the grip down, leaving a nice long scratch...

I also like the ability to chuck up rattails in the drill and be done in 2 minutes :)

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

The grit stays on the tape! I always blow out and sometime run a cloth thru a grip just because
I'm paranoid but a reamer made with that stuff lasts years without replacing grit or the cloth.
No fuss no muss! I use to use a rat tail file ( still do on occasion) but wondered how I ever got along with out a reamer once I made one!

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

Thanks for the email...sounds like the solution was only a few clicks away!

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Scott, I use a bottle brush to clean the inside of the hole after reaming and blowing out. Haven't scratched a blank since. And yes, the cloth backed abrasive stays put. I use belt sander belt material for my reamers.

I learned my lesson with rat-tail files,and refuse to use them ever again....not knowing any different, and not knowing the characteristics of a rat tail file, that they were spirled like a thread-cutting tap, I chucked the file in the drill, and proceded to run the file into the grip and before I knew it, I was in too deep. it jammed, because it was cutting threads in the cork, about 3/4 of the way in. It wrecked the work, as I needed to cut the cork away to get the file back out.
How was I to know that the same file i was using manually, was too big for the bore in the cork, under power. Silly me.
I tried using reverse on the drill, but that was painfully slow.
Works for you. but not me. your mileage still may vary.

I did 7 @ 14" Spey fore grips on Sunday morning- these started with a 0.40" bore. To get the correct taper took 4 reamers - always start small and work up to the final taper. Make sure to keep clearing the chips.
We use power reamers made from cut up blanks and the Flex Coat grit strip. Our power reamers are 25" long (we have about 40 of these in different tapers which covers just about all we build) . The best adhevise for the grit strip is contact cement (not the water base stuff). Make sure you spiral the grit on so that it tightens on itself (the direction depends on which way your power rotates) and leave about 1/4" between turns to aid in chip clearance . If you use sanding belt strips use 36 grit - anything smaller doesn't cut as well.
These reamers will last for several years of production use before the grit strip need to be replaced.

Andy Snedden