I am fairly new at rod building and am wanting to build a custom St. Croix SCIII cranking stick. I want a no forgrip, straight handle. I like the look of a shaped rubber cork ring to accent the butt of the rod. The ones I have looked at on mudhole come with no hole or a 1/4 in hole. I like the look of the st. croix butt caps on the avid models. How do I get mine to look similar?

If I use a no hole rubber cork ring, it would extend my blank 1/2 inch and the blank does not go though to the end of the butt cap. If I were to use the 1/4 in hole version then my blank would be exposed at the bottom. How do you guys place rubberized cork butt caps? Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, Scott

You can buy the handle already made. I usually make my own. I will glue all the rings together on a threaded rod. A washer and wing nut to compress them tightly together. With rod bond. After dry I take off the threaded rod and put onto a home made mandrill. Shape. Then take another ring of the same as the butt ring, put onto a drill sand with ruff 60 grit sand paper. Save the dust. Mix the butt ring dust with some epoxy and fill the hole standing the rod on tip ( carefully to dry.) Then sand the end. Add a little finish or permagloss just on the end or butt cap for protection. I usually clear the whole handle.
If you have a handle and add a butt ring, get a few more. Sand one save the dust, and fill, sand the hole. Finish.
O yea, st croix does not like there blanks cut, I would suggest to cover the end with the ring only half way, I fill the blank with a little paper towel to plug it so the fill does not go way down into it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2008 05:58PM by bill boettcher.

Scott look at these. I use a lot of them. Turn your cork down to fit the inside of the butt cap.
[www.fishsticks4u.com]. I dont like to use the solid rubberized ring as abutt cap. Too hard to shape them with no hole.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2008 06:17PM by Jay Hunt.

I have used both types of rubberized cork rings from Mudhole and they should have a plug for the ring with the 1/4" hole that you glue in after the ring has been placed on the butt end of the handle. After the handle is glued and set, you can sand the rings for a smooth transition between the rubberized cork & the plain cork ring. If the rubberized ring is being used for the butt you can use one minus the 1/4" hole. Hope this helps.

Here is another thought to finishing off the end of butt grips.
The "Butt Plugs" fit inside the butt end of the blank and flush to the end of the cork,
Click on the link;
[www.schneidersrods.com]

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

Scott,
I actually bought a small lathe to primarily do this one job.
i.e. make the rod butt cap on the lathe.

I have made up a flat faced cap to fit into the lathe chuck.
Then, I have made up antther cap - that I have turned out of rubberized cork to fit the shape of the tail stock.
In the chuck side of the lathe, I put in a 1/16th drill bit, that protruded just a bit to hold the butt cap centered.
I place the butt cap in the lathe, and spin up the lathe. Then, I shape the butt cap, insuring that the size of the chuck or side that has the small short dimple in it will be the same size as the rod butt.
I machine the cork - solid, burled, or rubberized, or EVA to shape using tools and sand paper of appropriate grips.

I insure that the final size of the butt side of the cap is about .001 - .003 smaller than the last butt ring. By having the butt cap a tiny, tiny bit smaller than the last ring, it will not protrude past the last ring, even if it is compressed a bit during the gluing and clamping of the cap to the butt.

Finally, I use epoxy to glue the cap in place - clamping it until it is dry.

When, done, no further finishing is necessary and there is virtually no seam at the glue joint.

Note:
One thing that I always do, is to give a sanding on my disk sander of the butt of the rod - before making any measurements or starting the butt cap process. I do this on my disk sander, using a square to guarentee, that the end of the rod is 100% perpendicular to the rod, and that there is no rounding or misfits of the very extreme end of the last ring on the rod, or the end of the finished rod - before adding the butt cap. This action virtually eliminates any need to fill gaps or voids that might occur, if there were some slight rounding of the end of the rod - prior to gluing on the butt cap.

p.s.

I tried several other methods, but I found that I really wasn't satisfied with the final product until I went to the mini lathe to do the machine work and finish work on the butt cap.

Take care
Roger

You can use a forstner bit to bore a hole 1/4" deep the same size or slightly larger than the blank in the middle of the ring with no hole. Just glue it to the end of the grip and shape it after the epoxy dries.

Thanks for all the information. A lot of good ideas. For me, this has been the most difficult part. I am never satisfied how the butt cap turns out on what few rods I have built. Thanks again for all the information and links. Scott

I do this a little different. I actually do the handle as normal, but leave off the rubberized butt cap. I clamp the butt cap on after the rest of the handle is complete with 2 pvc caps with adjustable bungee cords. The top having a smoothed out hole for the blank. Once complete I sand for a smooth transition.

I think mudhole carries something similar to what I am talking about. This has been my easiest way, and is by no means the only way as evidenced by everyone above.

Andy,
When I first started with the butt caps, I used your method.
However, the issue that I had with this method was the "shaping" part of the equation.
I have found that I was unable to "shape" the butt cap in a free hand environment. i.e. hand sanding holding the rod. This included free sanding, disk sanding and belt sanding. The grip never turned out completely round, no matter how careful I was with the sanding.
Thus, the transition to the use of the lathe, so that the butt piece could be spun at high speed for finishing for the perfect fit and look, before application.
The use of the fosner bit - matching the size of the blank is an excellent idea to center the cap, as well as to stabilize the cap during gluing.

Take care
Roger

I have glued a little 1/4-inch tapered cork disc on the butt cap to fit into the end of the blank. As was mentioned, this helps hold the cap in place while the epoxy dries.

I like the idea of the forstner bit to partially drill a hole into the cap...then I could fit my cork 'mortise' into the hole for a perfectly centered glue-up.

Les