im new to rod building and already i cant stop thinking about it. im building a seeker csw 748 hgl for my self and i already ran into a problem. i started to ream out the corks and a couple of them are a bit loose. probably no more than a good 8th inch. i was told that they might crack. i dont want to build it and then it break in a couple months. the place i got the cork from is about 2.5 hrs away and i can find the time to go get more. should i finish my handle or should i wait until i can go get more corks? the loosest one has about 5mm of meat left on the thinnist side and is @ 1/3 down the rear grip. any info would be great.

I assume from what you say, you are using pre-formed grips. If you leave it alone it will squeak (cork-on-cork will do that). Get a new grip and torque (bend) to see if there are any loose rings. Another option is for you to "inject" or "flow" epoxy into the openings and let set. Clamp if you can with a threaded rod and fender washers and nuts. Be careful not to tighten more than snug or you will break the grip. In the future you may wish to glue-up your own rings with a good epoxyto insure that does not happen.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2009 07:31PM by Herb Ladenheim.

If it's rings you are working with, you shouldn't have a problem with one or two being reamed a bit over size. If it's a whole preformed grip you could wrap the blank with cord or twine to get a good snug fit. Or ya could just start over!

Greg,
Sorry - I missunderstood.
Herb

One thing I have tried with good success is gorilla glue. It makes the best bond because it expands but because of that it can be very messy and if you use too much it can cause problems. I have used it on reel seats and grips. It is like having a polyurathane reelseat shim except it expands to fill the void so there is no reaming or shaping needed.

But I would advise testing before you use it...this stuff is tricky to use. First time I used it I used way too much and it was coming out of everywhere and I had a cork ring in the preformed grip that split out because it expands too much.