Since I don't think any of sponsors sell the treated shrink tubing, I'd appreciate if someone knows of another source.

I've been buying from soller and they are out of the 1.6" and the 2" isn't working for me.

Let me follow this up with saying John at Soller has been outstanding and I am very appreciative of him letting me know where things are with getting a new shipment in, but after 4+ weeks, he told me it's going to be at least another 2-3 weeks before they get it.

I really need to crank out some skinned grips! I plan to order more from him, but I just need another source.

You can sort of make your own - spray the inside of regular heat shrink tubing with the silicone release agent and let dry for an hour or so.

It won't work as well, but will work. Test it on a small piece so you'll know what to expect.

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Good idea Tom. BTW does anyone know of anywhere else to get this stuff? I want to find something between the 1.1 and 1.6" sizes Soller carries.

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

Tom is right about making your own. I talked to Jon at Soller a while ago about getting some higher shrink ratio tubing so you could do a split grip with 2 cores and one sleeve, and that is what he told me to do. The standard 2-1 tubing doesn’t shrink enough to compress the sleeve in the bare blank area between the 2 cores, I found some 1.3 inch 3-1 shrink ratio tubing that works.

ooohhh... where'd you find that Mike?

I called Soller yesterday and got the same story about shrink tubing. He said the rod building factor was larger than he expected. I didn't asked but should have, why aren't they a sponsor here?

I know they've sold a lot of product due to the Rodmaker article. It's spreading like wildfire!

Maybe next time you call you will mention it to him. Could only help him sell even more.

Wonder if they might be a good one to come to the big show in NC next Feb.

Yeah the 2" works great on a straight grip. When I'm tapering a handle, I need something smaller though.

I bet a lot rod builders are using the 1.6" size.

As long as we are on the subject, I have a rod to repair that has a plastic handle with a thin (1/8") layer of cork over it. The cork is comming loose on the very end.

If I put shrink tube over the entire handle will that "suck in" and fix the problem??

I have made numerous shrink tuble covered grips but dont know if it is strong enough to repair the grip

Any help would as always be appreciated.

Vern

That would probably work, but the customer may not like the shrink tube covering.

Generally the tubing is pretty durable if you want to leave it as a final surface. A lot of surf rod builders use various types of shrink tubing to do that sort of thing.

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