For those that build with wood handles, what do you prefer for a wood? What's the lightest, most functional, and yet still "good looking/feeling"? I prefer and use catalpa myself, as I like how it turns and its really light, and its what I'm most confortable with, but I'm very much a novice and I'd like to try something new for kicks...Thanks in adnvance for your thoughts!

I use any kind I can get. Like to try different things. I build mostly split grips and for the most part, weight isn't an issue. If weight is a consideration, a great method that Stan Grace uses on light rods is to way overbore the grip to just short of the end that will show and use Flexcoat arbors inside [www.rodbuilding.org] My favorite would would probably be Rocky Mountan Junipper, Also like Bocote, Zebrawood, Mesquite and I just turned some Pecan and Orange tree that a friend brought me from Arizona. They are light colored but with a very nice grain to 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!!

I like Wenge, Koa, and Juniper for the lighter (weight) woods. I like the look of Walnut, Maple, Cocobolo, and Bocote. Walnut's not to heavy, Maple can be heavy or light it depends on the blank. Cocobolo and Bocote are on the heavier side. Like Mike said if you split the grip it really won't make that much difference. If you have a Woodcraft of similar place you can look at the blanks and get a feel for the weight differences before you buy.

Sage is very light and looks fantastic. Can be hard to find large enough pieces. We have used a wide variety of woods with success.

Joe Douglas

Cherry is a pretty nice wood that turns well, fairly light, with tight grain that finishes well. I like the color of Cherry when finished with Tru-Oil and it has been exposed to sunlight while fishing for a season, turns a darker color that looks aged yet good as new. Cherry is also relatively cheap and easy to find.

I have a bunch of heavily figured walnut that I've been working on for the last couple of years. I love the final look, but it's a real pain to finish. I've spent a lot of time working with mesquite also, using it for grips. Some of my absolute favorite pieces, though, have been osage orange (i.e. bois d'arc).

Stabilized Box elder burl gets my vote for reel seats ,end caps and butt caps and If you overbore the reel seats like Mike suggested weight isn't an Issue. The grain is fantastic!

I actually have some VERY light mahogony that looks great when finished. I love the look of purpleheart and bubinga but the stuff I have weighs more that concrete. They do make nice pens, however.

I am also a novice and began with Walnut and Maple because I have a good source for them. I like the variety of colors and grains that can occur in walnut. I find Tru-Oil is a really good finish for Walnut. I've used various forms of maple some light and some dark. The curly maple adds extra pattern to the wood. I also have used Maple Burl when I can find it. I like to use Perma Gloss to finish these lighter woods because it is absolutely colorless. The best and least expensive source I've found has been lumber companies specializing in hardwoods. They very often have smaller pieces left over from larger projects which are very reasonbly priced and are perfect for rod builders. Once in a while the one near me has the odd piece of Burl which I buy as soon as I see it.

Mike Blomme

Bamboo is very light . Here is an example:
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2007 09:16AM by Fred Halfheimers.

Is there any reason to always use straight grained cuts, and not cross cut pieces for seats/grips? With people liking hte grain of the wood so much, and paying so much for prime Burls - when I see pics of turned cross cut woods it always reminds my of that. I'm out of my eague when it comes to wood and grains 7 stuff, and I probably have my terminolgy all screwed up. If so I apologize.

Quote from Billy - "Is there any reason to always use straight grained cuts, and not cross cut pieces for seats/grips?"

There's really no reason you can't use cross cut grains. The problem lays with the availability of thick enough pieces to cross cut and still give you the length for a grip. To get a 2" thick piece of wood 8" to 10" wide would run more than most people are willing to spend. It's easy to find 1.5" to 2" turning blocks for $10.00 to $20.00. If you look at turning blocks for bowls that would yeild enough wood the price would jump to $30.00 to $75.00. I however do like the look of wood cross cut or on a bias and the results can be spectacular. One other problem with wood is the final product is always a crap shoot, the blank may look good on the outside but may be plain when turned.

I'll add my 2 cents to this, my favorite wood for handles is red cedar. It's a very light weight wood with a beautiful grain and color. It's very easy to lathe, however it is very brittle and will shatter if you're not careful. I usually finish with tru oil or permagloss. However after speaking with Mark yesterday I'm going to try to finish some with CA glue.