No matter how good the information, nor how tried and trued the method or process might be, when you publish information in a magazine the best you can do it just put it out there. You can’t control what people will do with it, how well they might follow it nor how skilled they might be. Two cooks can take the exact same recipe and while one uses it to make a delicious cake, the other could very well make something that a pig wouldn’t eat. But in the event that a pig wouldn’t eat it, it would be very unfair to say that the recipe wasn’t any good or that it somehow lacked something. At some point, your personal expertise enters the equation.

Not to pick on anyone, but the few problems I’m hearing about with regard to the foam cores are not at all inherent in either the product nor the method involved. I’ve just put up 2 photos on the photo page here. The first shows a foam core grip poured this morning at 74F, with 8lb urethane foam. It was measured, mixed and poured as outlined in the article. Turning was done with a Stanley Surform file to removed the outer mold skin, and then shaped with 80 grit, followed by 100, 120 and finally 150 grit paper. The sanding and shaping process took perhaps all of 3 minutes, tops.

Now these are good photos taken with a Canon SLR and EOS lens. Nothing is hidden to the eye and any and all flaws should jump right out at you (I doubt if anyone here could see this well by the naked eye). If you look very closely you should be able to see perhaps a few tiny pinholes or bubble holes, but there aren’t many and the overall surface is certainly far more consistent than cork. If you were to flock this grip (correctly), the overall surface appearance would be flawless - as good or better than if you had used cork for the core.

In the second photo, I used a 1:2.5 50mm lens to photograph the grip surface almost exactly as it would look if you had your nose pressed to the grip and had eyes good enough to see at that distance. Every possible flaw or imperfection is evident. At this very, very, very close and well focused distance, you can see the actual structure of the foam core. Now you’d never be able to see the surface this well by the naked eye, but I wanted to point out just how good these cores can be when measured, mixed and poured according to instructions.

Lest anyone think the results in the photos were due to some supposed talent on my own behalf, let me state that this particular grip was molded and turned by a friend who has never built a rod in his life. He is a hobbyist woodworker and simply did what the article instructed him to do. These were his results.

Obviously folks will experiment with products, measuring ratios, mixing and pouring times, temperatures, molds, etc., and that's certainly fine. But please remember that when you step outside the instructions given, the results you get from your personal method are then your own.


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For more reasons than one, the perfect match to this new foam grip technique, introduced in Rodmaker, is just to say "Flock It"! We have another trick up our sleeve for the ICRBE in High Point that will perfectly match the products of these techniques in another way! Remember the old saying "You may be too close to the forrest to see the trees!

Gon Fishn

I was fortunate enough to have Tom explain this to me prior to the article. i tried it and it worked great. The article spells out the method just like he explained it to me. i have poured some foam cores to have as stock. The only problem that i have noticed is pouring in different temperatures. It works fine, but you dont get as much expansion The only the problems i have experienced are my fault when i did not follow the instructions. The beauty of this is its simplicity and the possibilities of this material are endless. i have some ideas as i am sure others do as well. i think there will be some real eye-openers at the show. i look forward to what new things are done with this. The rodbuilding group can be quite creative and we are fortunate so many are willing to share their techniques.

I have yet to gather my supplies. Still recovering from the holidays. But it is great to hear how it is going for others in the mean time. I am learning as others are, but have not tried it myself. I’m a little behind the curve at this point. Oh well, I’m just a hobby builder and I’m in no hurry anyway.

Tom…the idea in my mind is quite endless. Due to the low price and durability, I could imagine all kinds of fun ideas with this. If the foam core gives the strength needed, then the covering could be just about anything.

Bill S. and John T. you guys brought up a good point. Not to ruin anyone’s surprise, but what are some others ideas as to coverings?

Here are some of mine. Tom let me know if some of these will not work, because like I said before, I have yet to actually even pour my first mold. But here are some coverings I though would be cool (that have not been mentioned yet).

Solid black leather with the stitching on the bottom for better grip (like a Harley grip).
Light tan1“ leather wraps.
I like the rattan idea mentioned before.
Wrap grip that is used on ten speed bikes or tennis rackets.
Simple full denim with the double stitch seam on the underside (again for grip and denim is easy to cut and find).
Rhino bed liner, best part is it comes in deferent colors.
Metal mesh used for car hoses.

I even have a friend that I wanted to build a congratulation type theme rod for. He is a plumber’s apprentice and will get his license soon. I wanted to build him a spinning bass rod as a congratulations (his wife just had a baby too). I wanted to paint the blank a glossy white and use threaded pvc as the handle. I could have used arbors, but the weight and over all strength to me was questionable. Now it’s easy. Just fill the pvc grip with a foam core and ream it out…how awesome!

Of course all these different coverings do not apply to every rod type. But, again the ideas are endless. Any others willing to share their ideas?

Thanks again Tom and Andy for introducing and sharing such wonderful advancements to the custom rod building industry.

The foam itself is quite rigid and certainly tougher than cork. The only possible problem could be chipping or denting of the surface, although you really have to put some effort just to dent it with a thumbnail. The stuff is pretty darn hard.

I suspect you could cover it with all sorts of things - anything you're currently using over cork, wood, etc., could be used over the foam as well.

One other application that I think will really take off, is the using the foam and carbon skins to form "tuff-butts" for stand-up and boat rods.

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If I could do it from following the instructions then anyone should be able to. Only problem I had was leaving my magazine a little to close to the first batch. That foam really expands - even at 65 degrees. Using newspapers was a more than just a good suggestion...

Edited cause it just isn't worth getting into a public @#$%& match over. As for me, I'll stick to cork and balsa wood for my grip cores for the time being.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2008 09:23PM by Joe Hepp.

Joe,

No it's not worth getting into any sort of argument over. We know it works - I wouldn't have put it in the magazine if it didn't. But there are some variables that folks need to know about which is the point of this post.

I have no idea how your foam grips have worked out, if you've even made any thus far, but it is something that is inexpensive enough that you can experiment with the stuff without breaking the bank.

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By the way, for those interested, the Flex Coat reel seat arbors are acquired from a firm that forms them from this same urethane foam, also the 8lb variety, I believe. It is a proven material that works well for this purpose.

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I'm the person this post was probably aimed it. Tom, sorry for the E-mail I just knew something was wrong with the product or how to go about making the darn stuff. I took the advice to heart and spent the evening reverting back to the original instructions. All is well now. I have some good cores and will try turning them this weekend.

I've cut a couple on the chop saw to square off the ends and the cross sections look good and consistent with no air pockets or anything this time. I think I just whipped the first ones too much while stirring and got a bunch of air in there. They look okay now. I'll report back once I have a chance to turn a few. Thanks for the help.

There is nothing at all wrong with experimenting, but you might give the actual instructions a fair trial, first. I mainly put this post up because if you did it, then others will do it as well. There is a lot to be said for learning what "not to do." Maybe we can spare others the same trouble up front.

I haven't tried enough alternate methods to be able to emphatically state what won't work, but I have a good idea of what will work. Let me know how your cores turn on the lathe. Do wear eye protection (did I put that in the article?) as this stuff cuts very fast but with somewhat abrasive residue. You don't want it in your eyes. Of course, we should all be wearing eye protection no matter what we're turning on the lathe.

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This was in the article sidebar but it might bear repeating. One secret to getting a nice smooth surface is to turn and sand the foam just like you do cork. Coarse grade paper for initial shaping and then start using progressively finer grades as you reach the final size and shape. This should leave a very smooth surface. I generally sand down through at least 220 grit on these now. You can go finer, but beyond that I doubt you'll gain much and since you'll be either flocking or covering these there isn't much sense in spending time trying to get an ultrafine surface.

If you attempt to do all the work with a coarse grade paper, or skip several grades on the way down, the surface will be somewhat pitted and rough (just like it is when you sand wood or cork that way).

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