While assembling a butt section of a fly rod, some of the burl on the grip (natural brown) separated along the lines of the burl chunks. The rod bond oozed through and after wiping that off and compressing the grip on to the blank with my hands before the epoxy set, all is well. However, I'd like to add insurance and "bind" or envelope the burl so it does separate, chunk out or feel lumpy. (I can sand again).

I have finished the grip with tung oil but was wondering what a good finish would be for holding it together (that I could put over tung oil (well dried)). I have a lot of experience with Tru-Oil bit not sure if that would be the best option compared to say a poly acrylic or even some more tung oil.

Thanks.

Tony,
If you compressed the grip well "BEFORE" the rod bond set, there should be no issue.
The epoxy will hold the cork together much better than any other type finish you might apply to the top of the cork.
Of course there is a possibility that you put the grip together with some cork that wasn't well manufactured and if so, the only real solution is to remove the grip and start over with good cork.

In the future, rather than using your hands to compress the cork, you will do a much better job on your grips if you use good cork clamps to clamp the rings together during assembly and glue up.
Many of the sponsors on the left side of this page have excellent clamps of various types to do this job.

Take care
Roger

Roger -

The grip was clamped and glued before I reamed and assembled, with Titebond III. No issues there. This is purely a surface issue in one small spot. Sorry if I was not clear.

Thanks for responding!

Tony

Remember that when using a gel type epoxy such as RodBond, you want to apply the epoxy, then scrape it back off - as much as you can. There will be enough left to do what needs to be done and it will minimize glue lines and create a stronger bond.

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Thanks, Tom.

Would this be the best fix for a chunk of burl potentially popping out from the grip?

Tony

If the burl chuck is coming out due to a poor quality process (the burl cork maker, not you) there isn't much you can do about it other than to try and glue it back in. I don't think anything you put on top of the burl is going to keep such chunks from coming out.

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If it is cork, you don't have alot of options that haven't already been covered. Due to the closed cell nature of cork, nothing like wood hardener (store bought or home made) will soak in enough to be effective.