I'm new to rod building and would like to build a split grip seat out of wood. I understand the basics of the split grip and I have done turning with my lathe before. My question is this, do you need to install a sleeve between the two halves to level out the handle or do you just glue the short halves directly on the blank with out a sleeve beween? If you usually install a sleeve where do you get them from? Thanks Mark

No sleeves. You yurn the two pieces to the shape that you want them (most make them identical) and epoxy them directly to the blank. You need to bore the wood out as close to needed diameter and then ream to fit. You can do pretty much anything that you like with the space in between - wrap, marble, inscription, etc. If you do a search on the photo page for split grips time frame of year you will get 84 pix of ideas [www.rodbuilding.org]

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2006 09:33PM by Mike Barkley.

Thanks Mike. I looked at a lot of the photos on this site and it is deceiving, some of the spaces in between the handles looked like they didn't have any tapper and I haven't looked at any up close to see for sure. I have a new St. Croix SCIII blank and don't want to screw it up. Thanks Again - Mark

Not sure what you mean by taper. Tapering/shaping the grip pieces is purely personal taste. The blank itself won't show any taper that far back on the rod. Double click on the individual pic when it's open and, in mamny cases, it will give you an enlarged view. You can't really screw anything up because you don't epoxy the grips in place until they are turned/shaped and reamed to your satisfaction. If you don't like them, just don't glue them

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Sometimes a winding check or hosle is used to give a nice looking transition.

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

I'm not quite sure what you're talking about regarding a "sleeve," but this may be what you're noticing. Many builders--myself included--turn the wood pieces to the shape we want, finish them with Tru-Oil (or another wood finish), then mount them on the rod, butting rubber winding checks up against both inner ends of the wood pieces. Then, we do a thread design, etc. in that space between the split grips. To get a nice even taper from the end of the wood pieces down to the thinner diameter of the blank, we often put multiple coats of epoxy on the thread wraps. The epoxy totally covers the black rubber winding checks and the thread. Often, I will make a "ramp" out of epoxy to make a nice smooth transition from the thicker end of the wood to the thinner blank. Perhaps this is what you're noticing...?

Here are two examples of what a sleeve would look like in a split grip:
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]

He's asking because he probably doesn't know how to bore a hole with a taper to match the taper of the blank, so he's looking for a way to bore the wood to a constant diameter and then instal it on a constant diameter sleeve, or rod blank.

It's just when you look at the pictures of the split grips on this site the part between the grips looks as if it has no taper what so ever. It makes that part of the blank look flat (without the taper of the blank) almost like you put a sleeve over the blank and between the grips increasing the diam of the blank. I think this just may be an optical illusion as was stated in another post. It may just be the thread wrap and the flex coat that make the center between the grips look bigger and flatter (with out taper) than the rest of the blank. I think before I start the turning of the grips and the glue up I'm going to try and look at a factory made rod up close, but that's 60 miles away so that will have to wait till this week end. Thanks again - Mark

Mark, There would be VERY little, if any taper in that area of the blanks. I don't think that I have ever seen one that wasn't fairly flat in that small area. The taper at the butt end of a blank is so gradual that it really wouldn't be noticeable

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!