I have a question, but I wanted to recount an experience I had recently turning a wood grip.

I had bored a hole in a 8 inch piece of maple and mounted it on one of Andy Dear's mandrels. For some reason the hole in the piece fit too loosely on the mandrel. I tried a piece of masking tape, but it was too thick. I sent an e-mail to Andy and he suggested using a dab of 5 minute expoxy at each end of the piece. I tried that and it broke free. I then tried wrapping some size A thread with a thin coat of Color Lock to hold it in place, but this was also too thick to for the piece to fit over.

I finally decided to smear some Gudebrod 811 on the mandrel where the ends of the wood piece would be. Unfortunatley this too failed. My last attempt was to place the 811 on the mandrel and let it set for 20 minutes. I then slid my wood piece on. This time I could feel the wood piece gripping as I twisted it on. I turned it forming a Ritz-Gordon style grip and was admiring what I did well and what I needed to work on. I then tried to remove the newly formed grip and found it was a no go. I suspect many of you are now laughing at my stupid idea of using 811 CP.

I decided to drill a whole through a piece of scrap and then place that over the grip on the mandrel and tap it off. Once again, it remained an immovable object. I decided to put the mandrel back in the lathe and used a parting tool to remove about one quarter of an inch from the top of the grip since the grip was a bit oversized and this was the point where most of the 811 was placed. This worked. With some effort I was able to twist the grip off of the mandrel. Certainly color preserver is a lot stronger than we give it credit for. I wondered if it could permanently bond a grip to a rod blank. However, I also remembered how hard it was to get the grip in place after allowing the CP to dry and suspect this would not be a good idea.

My question arises from a different source. I did some inlays on a maple piece by drilling holes in the wood piece before turning and then turning wlanut dowels to fit in the holes. I then glued the dowels in place cut them flush and turned the piece on the lathe. When I finished sanding, I discovered that the face of the dowels showed many lighter gray spots from the grain. This detracts from the overall beauty of the grip. I was wondering if I used a dowel jig to cut out the dowels so the grain will run the same way with the grain in the grip that this problem would be solved. I am asking, because I don't want to buy a set of dowel jigs and find I haven't solved the problem. I also have an ancillary question. Is there an easy way to drill holes at angle so that I will get ellipses rather than circles? I don't have a drill press.

As always, I thank you for your suggestions.

Mike Blomme

Yes, somewhat. You're combining end grain with side grain when you do things that way and the difference certainly will show.

I believe a "pocket hole jig" might allow you to drill plugs or dowels at an angle, but you'd still have to use a bit that would allow the plug or dowel to be removed. Should be some way to do this with all the various tools available these days. I'm sure somebody will fill you in or you could call the nearest WoodCraft or similar type woodworking store and ask.

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

Mike,
FYI, We have some mandrels that were specifically designed for turning wood, which are similiar in design to a pen turning mandrel. If youre interested, please let me know....it will solve your problem ( the first one we spoke about via email).


Andy Dear
Lamar Fishing Products

Tom,
The dowel jigs are differnt than pocket hole jigs. They are designed to make small dowels that would fit in holes. The pocket hole jigs can be used to drill at an angle, but they seemed designed to put holes in miter cuts around windows and doors. They also have a fixed angle. I have seen a drill stand that allows you to vary the angle and I might try one. There are drill presses that have moveable tables and that might be the best way.

This is the problem with rod building. Every time you choose to do something new like turning wood grips, your imagination leads you to invent some new exotic way of enhancing the basic process adding to the way rod builders make rods. It is also energizing--and hopefully will help fend off any dementia for us old timers. Thanks for your comments.

Mike Blomme

Andy's new mandrels are the only way to go. I love them (must be because they are idiot proof) Her's a pic I just posted [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!!