Hello

I am building my first ever handle and reel seat in something other than cork. I’m working on a birch bark handle and matching reel seat to be placed on an 8’6” 4wt 2pc fly rod.

As of last night (at about 3:30am!), I have my first handle complete except for the final finish. Now that it is complete I’ve noticed that the handle is quite a bit heavier than cork. It seems to me like it may not balance out too well after I glue them to the blank.

My question is this:

Should I bore out the grip to a fairly large I.D (as large as possible without destroying the strength/integrity of the grip) and then add an arbor of a lighter material?

Is this a common practice? Will this compromise the feel or/and sensitivity of a birch bark handle?

Can I please get some input or/and ideas?

Thanks
Mike

I may balance better than you think - longer rods need more weight near the butt. But yes, you can bore it larger and fill the space with a urethane bushing if you'd like. It is a common practice.

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

Flexcoat arbors work good. You can even hide the end if you want by not boring all the way through so the arbor doesn't show on the exposed end or build a ramp Stan Grace posted a great pic/explanation of it [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!!

Thank you for the info. Thats exactly what I was looking for! I think I'll give it a try and attempt to bore out the handle. I hope I don't ruin my first project!

I've uploaded a couple pictures of my first handle. It's birch bark and box elder with exotic cork rings accent.

[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]

My experience is that solid wood handles almost always make the fly rod (especially a longer fly rod) balance much better. I've done the bored-out wood grip before also, and I ended up feeling like it was a lot of work for very little reward.

Mike,
Leave the handle alone and glue it to the blank as you have completed it.
In general, the weight of the handle will make the rod balance perfectly and you will be very happy with it.

If you use a cork handle and if you want a balanced rod, you end up adding lead to the blank anyway.
So, the use of the heavier hadle at the butt of the rod - is in general - a good thing.

Take care
REW

p.s.
If you like, just tape the handle in place, and go ahead and finish the rod.
Then, put on a reel and do some casting with the rod. If you don't like the balance and overall action of the rod, you can take off the handle, bore it out, add a manderal to save 1/2 oz. and glue it back on. However, if you do all of this, I expect that you would have been happier with the former - rather than the later.

Take care
Roger