So I recieved a late phone call last night from a buddy I built a Rod for. He said the forgrip split while fighting a big redfish. My question is How do I repair this as it is totaly split in pieces and not all the peices are there. The grips are cork. Do I need to remove the reelseat and butt grip and rebuild from the butt up or is there a better way.

Thanks
John

If this is a one piece rod I would say, clean the old fore grip off. Measure the blank where the the new one will go. Find a scrap piece of blank the same size. Make a new fore grip. Bore it to the size needed.

If you can cut the grip after done in half with O maybe a single edge razor blade, carefully, then glue it, check fit, to the blank with the splits to the sides and clamp it with some plastic ties. Let dry. Sand, maybe fill any imperfections and your good to go.

If you try to take the seat and handle off to go from the butt they will be wasted.

Bill - willierods.com

How bout this one. Remove old forgrip,measure blank dia., ream new forgrip to fit. Remove as many guides as necessary to install new foregrip,install and re-wrap guides.Thats how I would do it .

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

A couple of years ago I had a guy that wanted me to add some really long foregrips to a couple of factory rods he had. He wanted a full 6" foregrip, as he holds rods there. I did as Bill suggested, and it worked very well. I hand fitted the two pieces to the blank, then after the Rod Bond set, I filled the remaining little lines of the cuts with the Golden Oak wood putty.
It looked pretty good, and functioned perfectly.
Steve Broadwell

Unless you make the new one larger in diameter you may be faced with the same thing occurring. If customer is willing an EVA foregrip would lessen the odds of it happening again-it sounds like the blank flexed deeply into that end of the rod.

Chris is right on --- Why did the first fore grip fall apart ?? Maybe make it out of a stronger cork, like exotic cork. Unless it was user error ??? Maybe a door .

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2009 03:06PM by bill boettcher.

Split - still got the pieces? - Get some pretty color Rod Wrap that matches the color of his reel - Put it back together with epoxy - Wrap it up is the professional Rod Wrap Foregrip Repair System and charge him $10 for the whole deal! Smile when you hand it back to him and tell him the big ones only eat good in courtbullion and to seek smaller fish!

Bill

You bad

Bill - willierods.com

Bill Stevens Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Split - still got the pieces? - Get some pretty
> color Rod Wrap that matches the color of his reel
> - Put it back together with epoxy - Wrap it up is
> the professional Rod Wrap Foregrip Repair System
> and charge him $10 for the whole deal! Smile when
> you hand it back to him and tell him the big ones
> only eat good in courtbullion and to seek smaller
> fish!


Sounds like the voice of experince.

Another along Bill's line.....sell him the no forgrip idea, remove what's left, epoxy ramp it, shave the reel seat threads, marble it all, and tell him how much more sensitive it will be with his hand on the rod blank.

DR

I did notice that I did not put enough rod bond towards the front of the grip and that is where the grip split. So I am thinking that as he was fighting the fish he twisted the foregrip where it was not glued and SNAP! So I think I will try and sell him on the no foregrip idea and if that's a no go then it's Bill's Idea.

Thank you all
John

There is a right and a wrong way to install grips. You must apply the epoxy far forward on the blank beyond where the grip will ultimately reside. If you put the adhesive back where the grip will be installed, the grip will just push the epoxy back down the blank, leaving nothing to bond it along most of its length.

Always apply the epoxy far forward of the final installation location and bring the grip down over the epoxy, spinning and sliding it so the inside of the grip is well coated with epoxy. Then slide it into place.

.................

That advice is stored in the upstairs log.
thank you Tom

John,
If the customer routinely fights big fish, I would think that the customer would think it a very bad idea to not have a foregrip.

There is a very very big difference in the gripping ability of a hand on a rod blank compared to a hand on a nice sized foregrip.

I don't know if this is a one piece or a two pice rod.
If it is a two piece rod, you would likely only have to take off one guide to install a new fore grip.

If it is a one pice rod, then it is likely that you will have to take off about 4 or 5 guides.
It is still the best way to take off guides from the front of the rod, rather than taking off the butt and reel seat. It is quite likely that you would ruin both the butt grip and reel seat if you took them off from the butt of the rod.

On the other hand, even if you had to take off every guide, you would not have to buy any new parts, just a few minutes to retie each guide and recoat same.

]
As one of the other posts suggest. When installing the fore grip, slide it well up the blank. then, liberally coat the rod blank from the fore grip down almost to the reel seat. Then, as you slide the fore grip down, you will be certain, that you have a good glue bond for the full length of the fore grip.
]

Then, simply use a good solven to remove any excess epoxy left on the rod.


Good luck
Roger

You don't need to remove guides to slide the new partial repair grip down the blank, use the Bob Balcombe method.

Bob Balcombe Method???

is that the one where ya cut the seat in half ? Who pays for the seat ?

Bill - willierods.com

John and Bill I believe Raymond Adam's has it in his tutorial library . In short here is how it is done. First using 1/4 inch tap, tap off the closest glue lines nearest the break. Using a utility knife or single edge razor blade. Cut along the glue line using the tape as a straight edge. Now remove all the damaged cork. Next using a set of calipers measure the exposed areas. ream out the new cork to that size. The next step is important, parochially cut the ring threw do not cut the whole ring just half of it. Using bowling hot water place the ring in the water for about 3 minutes this will soften the cork.. While the cork is in the water mix up your bonding agent I use Rod Bond slow cure. Glue up the area now carefully slip the ring around the blank, squeeze tight with your hand. Clean up the excess glue with a mixture of water and denature alcohol. now clamp the cork, using a screw type water hose clamp, just make it snug. Let set 24 hours. Remove the clamp. Now tape off the old cork that was left on the blank with 3 wraps. What you do now is file the cork to the tape remove all but one layer of tape now file again. remove the last piece of tape
Now using wall board sand screen, sand smooth. If you would like more info. email me at balcomberods@aol.com . To all that reads this I hop it helps. I have been doing this system for ver 20 years and no failures to date. I have also used a 4 ring pre- made grip to replace damage fore grip or other large damaged areas in a butt section.
Good Wraps Bob

Good Wraps Bob

I for got to mention by using this method you do not have to remove guides or in the case of a butt grip there is no need to shim the back part of the rod. To replace a butt grip.
Good Wraps Bob

Good Wraps Bob

basically the same thing I said but not using any water. I would think the water would mess up the adhesion of the bond ?? Do you let the cork dry before bonding or glue wet.

Bill - willierods.com