I have been tasked with placing an intricate weave on two very small diameter blanks. As there is no way for the weave to possibly fit the blank diameter, I am going to sand down an area large enough on the cork foregrip and try weaving over the grip. I tried some finish on the cork last night and it came out pretty nice. Has anyone out there ever tried this before?? Help or recommendations gladly accepted!

You could install some graphite tubing in place of the cork foregrip and weave on that.

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

You could say NO, lol.

Ahh Billy, you know better than that. Never say never. I thought about Tom's idea but I would have to place a very large piece of tubing over the blank and if it didn't impact the action, it certainly would the weight.

Larry; I'd have to see the pattern and the blank to make any suggestions. I can't tell from what you have said how much too large the pattern is. You could reduce the weave size by using 000 Silk and "A" as the wrapping thread. You might also just make a new and smaller pattern. If you only need just a little more circumference you could wrap the blank like an under wrap and put the weave over that.

Jim, I've done the weave once before using A and it was still very large. It's the Marine Corps Eagle, Globe and Anchor. The blank is a 6-8lb trout rod so I don't think weaving on the blank is an option. That leaves a very large sleeve, the reel seat or the cork. The seat is cocoboa and very expensive, so I don't think I want to change it. That leaves the cork, or a sleeve. Not much room here. I'm going to try the cork first, if it doesn't work, well onto a sleeve!

I don't do any of the fancy thread work, but I have an idea... what if you put a section of blank in front of the foregrip for lack of a better term call it an oversleeve. Just find a section of an old blank that has the diameter and length you need then use some shims and glue it up. I know it would leave a ridge at one end but you could make the transition with a winding check or thread and epoxy. It would sort of look like a telescoping blank except it won't telescope lol.

Hope that helps. Let us know how you make out.

Good luck. Stan

If the diameter and length creates a problem! Why not do a feather inlay or marbleize the blank?
Good Wraps Bob

Maybe try the idea of using 00 or 0 thread for the design and A for the wrap around thread. One other idea you may want to try is taking some tape to create a channel where you want to do the weave. Build it up alittle to increase the size of the circumference of the rod. Epoxy the tape to the rod so that the level of the epoxy comes to the top of the tape. Then once the epoxy has cured, cut the tape out and leave the epoxy around the rod. You now have a channel to do your weave in, no threads walk out of the channel, and it stays straight. One thing to remember if you do that, you will have to thin some epoxy out to build up where you put your pattern, otherwise you will have air bubbles in your pattern big time. Good luck!

Stan, Mike Joyce's Dragon Eye weave is EXACTLY that. Larry is afraid to add weight to teh blank though.

MAybe do the weave on the piece of Carbon Fiber the wa Tom suggested, then install that as part of your grip? Basically teh same as doing it on cork, but the surface seems to me like it would be easier to work on.

Depending on how much you need to increase the circumference, the suggestion by Jim to do an under wrap works well. (been there ,done that)

Batson has a tapered (also straight grip)woven graphite foregrip that is very light/attractive that you might want to consider. Would work good for placing a weave.

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!!

If you are going the fore grip route I would turn the area of the weave under size so that the finished product will end up even with the original diameter. Another thing I would do is to lay down a couple of coats of finish in the channel before starting, this will make it easier to move your threads around when you do your weave.
Just my .02

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

Thanks for all the great advice. I'll let you know how it turns out.