I have been contemplating putting together one of my next handles on a scrap from a fiberglass blank that matches the butt of my rod that I am building. When all is done, I would then simply slip this over the new blank and epoxy in place.

I have had reservations about this as I have yet to see anyone else do this. However, today I see Andrew Metzger do something along those lines in this picture [www.rodbuilding.org] . Andrew, did you ream out all of the old rod, or just enough for a nice fit?

Is there a reason not to do this route? My logic for this is that I have built very few rods and so far have built all of my handles on mandrels. However, this one I want to build "on the rod" but I am scarred silly to put a section of my rod into the lathe that I have available to me.

Are there things to be watching out for other than on overly tight fit between the donor rod section and the new rod? Thoughts, comments?

Rodney

I was helping a friend out with a broken rod dilema, he broke his Kistler Carbon Steel in two places on the same trip, the tip got crunched and then a boat seat swiveld and bit the rod in two about the handle about 6" further than you can see. He had just been laid off and I was taking the cheap route and re-using anything I could. I did post up the question about doing this and got the answer that there was no problem doing this, just the added weight of the old rod. The old rod serves as an arbor. What you don't see from those pics is the 4 hours it took to ream out the old graphite on a power reamer.....wow, I did it for a friend, but I'd have to be highly motivated or bored to do that again. I did slip that section of the rod back on the poor mans lathe to do the re-sanding and shaping. My buddy loves the new rod, same rod that has the epoxy marbling under the guide wraps in my pics.

If weight is no issue for you and you already know that the rod fits and don't have issues with it, I'd say do it.

*EDIT*

missed a few questions from your message. I did ream only what aI needed to get achieve a nice fit, otherwise it would have been too much. the other thing to mention is that when test fitting this handle, I learned very quickly that you must clear out the handle so that it doesn't scratch the new rod, I used a pistol barrel rod with a damp rag for this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2010 03:28PM by Andrew Metzger.

I'm surprised that the pro's around here haven't chimed in on this to add info. I've only been building rods for 10 months....

I know some do it, but I've never seen any advantage to doing it. Only disadvantages. I make my grips on a mandrel and a quick ream to fit it to the blank. Gluing it to the blank creates quite a problem if you screw the grip up while turning. I've never had the nerve to stick a blank into a lathe and spin it at a few 1,000 rpm and using a sharp tool on it

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Mike, putting a nice blank in a lathe is one of my fears .

At one of the expo's I got to looking at some of Micheal Taylor's handles and I was amazed at how there were no glue lines to speak of in his burl cork handles. His method was to glue it up on the blank and really "crush" the burl cork together with clamps as he was gluing it up. By doing this there were no apparent glue lines as there were no straight lines around the grip, the burl rings had deformed into each other. I really liked that look.

I am not convinced that the rings would not push apart as I transferred from the mandrel to the blank. So I am looking at other methods of achieving this look with out putting my blank in a metal lathe.

Rodney

Rodney,
No problem putting a rod blank in a "correct
' lathe.


By correct, I mean a lathe that gives excellent support to the blank for the full length of the rod.

I have built many many rods using gluing the cork up on the blank, then spinning the entire blank in my lathe to shape the handle.

The key thing is support. It is also very important to place the steady rests at points on the blank that are a
"null" point with respect to harmonic vibration.

I have also had the misadventure to destroy a couple of practice blanks because I purposely put the steady rests in a point of destructive harmonic vibration. Once destructive harmonic vibration sets in - it takes about 1.5 seconds for the blank to explode.

Here is where a variable speed lathe comes in. By starting at 0, and slowly advancing the speed, you can see very quickly if the steady rests are in the right place. If they are,, the blank spins merrily along. But if the steady rests are in the wrong place, you will began to notice increasing blank vibration as the lathe speed is increased. If this is noted. quickly stop the lathe and adjust the misaligned steady rest as necessary.

Take care
Roger

p.s.
On stiff rods - like Musky rods, one only has to use about 2 - steady rests - even for a long blank.
However, as the rod power gets lighter, the number of steady rests need to go up to insure a stable blank under high speed rotation.

On very light action blanks, I have gone to as many as 5 steady rests to insure that the blank stays running nice and true.

Thanks for the input. This will be a 9wt rod, but I am still not about to chuck it up in the lathe I have available to me. Nor do I have steady rests available. Can't wait to get this one built.

Rodney