My new Angler's Warehouse catalog came today and I was looking thru the handle section and I have a question. There were rear grips for spinning reels shown with a burl type/rubberized cork butt end. How are these installed? Is there a countersink in the rubberized butt that slips over the tenion on the end of the cork handle after it's installed onto the blank? Sorry for a dumb question but I'm mainly a fly rod builder.

If you're decribing what I think you are, they install just like regular cork grips. You will need to ream the grip to fit the diameter of your blank and then just epoxy it in place. When you slide the grip down to the butt end of the rod you will want to slide the end of the grip past the end of the blank by 1/4" to 3/8" or so depending upon the type of rod you're building. You might want to think of it as countersinking the blank by a little bit into the grip. The grip should come with a cork plug that you then shape (if necessary although you shouldn't need to) and epoxy into the end of the grip. You may need to sand the end just a bit to make the seams in the plug less visable but that's about it. The only thing you may find a bit more difficult than regular cork is that the rubberized coumpound is tougher to ream and requires more effort.

Sam Stoner

I have gotten to where I will normally cut off the tenion portion of the handle if I use that style and just epoxy a single rubberized cork ring and then shape to the desired look. I have found that when it comes time to shape it the quickest thing is a sure form file from Stanley.

hope this helps and didn't confuse ya (vicaden can do that, blew up my knee today.... lots more time to build now)

Tom

Tim if i undrstand your question right this is what i say. The cork work is applied to the blank with the last 1/4 inch or so of the blank still exposed to allow for inserting on a mandrill to shape. after shaping the final "butt cap" is epoxied to the for mentioned exposed blank and the last cork before the butt cap. You can either buy the last cork piece undrilled or you can use a plug as was mentioned earlier. As also mentioned earlier the material is a little harder to ream then regular cork but it can be done with a little patience and sweat. This cork is makde of a combination of rubber and cork dust with glue added. That is what makes it durable for the purposes of a butt cap.

The rubberized butt rings that I have used are predrilled and come with a plug for the hole. I then cut off the tennon(or use it on the reel seat end to shim the reel seat), mount the cork grip to the blank flush with the end of the blank. I then find or shape a short piece of dowel to the size of the hole in the cork and the size of the end of the blank. This dowel is just used to center the ring with the blank. Glue the rubberized cork to the end of the handle. Do any final shaping and then glue in the plug.
Attaching the butt is my last step, as I use the hole in the blank to turn the blank for applying thread finish.

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON