I was talking to a few folks the other night at a friends house and the topic got onto the customs I've been building and someone mentioned that the use of craft foam in my handles is not the best thing for accents. It was said that the rod bond will eat away at the foam rings over time. I'm not sure about this but I've got to ask it of you guys since you know better than me. This would be the same craft foam sheeting material that is sold to the fly tyers that you can get in the craft stores for $0.69 a sheet.

Since you're using contact cement, and not RodBond, this shouldn't be an issue. Even then, RodBond will not "eat away" at the foam. You might want to ask your friend where he got his information.

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

Well I'd love to hear any science on the subject. The only observation I have found is the density of the foam is not the same. I took a cross section slice from a rear EVA grip and compared how much weight it took to visually notice compression of the foam and the craft store 3MM foam took less weight. However glueing layers together with epoxy is going to strengthen the overall grip if it was just many layers of the craft foam. Based on seeing the bundles of layered foam Mudhole had at ICRBE I would say the that foam and the craft store foam are very similar. It would be nice to know if it reacts to being handled any differently than does the preformed EVA foam grips.

I have been using rod bond. I'll glue up all the hard parts, cork and whatnot first and leave the foam out of it, then go back and glue the foam in second. I found that putting all the cork and foam together at once didn't give me the compression I wanted on the cork to cork surfaces and left a more visible line after turning. The foam parts are all put together with rod bond in ther places and then I compress the crap out of the grip and twist each section on the mandral(if you want to call it that) to get the excess rod bond out, then I'll let up on the compression to a nice snug setting and let it setup up for 10 minutes then slowly pull the mandral out. I still have not tried to use wax on a mandral to let the rodbond setup on the grip. It was just speculation from my buddy who knows a little bit about rod building and another rod builder that doesn't do the accent work.

Now the one handle of mine that I think I'll have problems with is the 8wt I just built. When I was out test casting, the rod felt good, but my thumb was resting right on the soft foam rings at the top of the grip. I can see a tumb indentation wearing there over time, but the front of that grip is on the rod as solid as ever.

[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2010 08:45AM by Andrew Metzger.

You're correct, your buddy knows "a little bit" about rod building, but that's all - just a little bit.
.........

Geez, Rod Bond eats craft foam? I don't even understand what that means. If you are gluing up those inlay sandwiches with rod bond, that is not the right way to do it. Cork/EVA isnt a problem, but EVA to EVA with rod bond leaves a hard seam

Ya know Billy, I'd love to work with EVA inlays, but I have not had a reason to build an EVA handle yet. I've been at this less than a year now, so I'm still in-experienced. I've been using the craft foam for inlays, not to be soft, but just for the color. I've convinced my wife that I can self sustain this hobby of mine with repair work and re-guide work so I will have some $$ to work with eva for a few rods of my own.

I've been using craft foam for trim for years with no problem but use contact cement to avoid the hard seam and I think that it holds better, since foam is closed cell and does not absorb.

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!!

THose white/red trim rings - those are foam inlays, no? If so, if you glued them together with rod bond you will see how hard tht glue line gets as you fish the rod a couple of times. I'm not sure what teh RM Mag backorder issue is with the EVA article, Tom does though. I just put a pic up of hte only fly rod handle I've ever done, everything is glued up with contact cement, and you can see the glue lines in the pic, so I guess you could see them in real life too. honestly dind't see them when I gave the guy the rod.

Andrew -

You might want to give acrylic accent rings a whirl. They hold up really well and turn nicely. Here's a set of grips using natural cork, burl cork (burnt and green) and white acrylic rings (cut from sheets with a hole saw). FYI, the entire grip was glued using Rod Bond.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Jim -

Jim, that looks great. I'm open to using anything fore trim rings, I've even thought about getting some cheap acrylic poker chips that already have the checker pattern to them and seeing how well the checker looks when you get past the outter ring of the chip.

If you want really thin accent rings, cut up plactic bottles ( plastic cooffee cans, laundry detergent, bleach bottles, etc) I use a 1 1/2" hole saw but you can just cut square pieces with a box cutter. Glue them up with your cork, wood, etc. They turn like butter and make striking accent rings. Pick up some aluminum gutter flashing (thanks to Mark Blabaum) and do the same thing.

My wife now chooses her laundry detergent by the color of the bottle depending on what I'm low on.

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!!

Awesome mike....I've got a coffee can I'm about to empty and a customer that wants red and black trim, foldgers will do nicely! Thanks for the tip.

Rough up both side and drill a few random holes to help the epoxy bond to the cork. You will love 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!!

" When I was out test casting, the rod felt good, but my thumb was resting right on the soft foam rings at the top of the grip. I can see a tumb indentation wearing there over time"
If you look at South Bend bamboo rods.many were built with a "Comficient" cork grip. The grip was made with a thumb indentation. I have seen many other bamboo rods for repairs that were "customized" by fisherman to mimic that feature. Was it good or bad? Only an individual fisherman can say. Just remember,all opinions are subjective. Add to that,the fact that little was known of ergonomics back then. There wasn't such a word in anyones vocabulary. I just thought I would throw this out there for the sake of discussion.
Obviously,if you want to retain such trim rings in the handle,without the compression,you will have to use them elsewhere in the grip. Otherwise,find denser,firmer,colored rubber. One source,albeit with a limited color selection, is rubber gasket material. This has been mentioned on this board before.

"I've got a coffee can I'm about to empty and a customer that wants red and black trim, foldgers will do nicely!"
You may just find that only the outside of the can is red and the rest of the ring will be silver. Its worth a shot anyway. Right? ;)

When joining EVA to EVA,thinned contact cement rocks! it works well when used on cork also. So does Titebond.

Chuck

These days, many "cans" are actually made of plastic...including the venerable Folgers can. I wish I could find a metal one; they're great for storing things. Plastic cans work as well or better, but just don't seem as "cool".
I never understood the Comficient grip, but enough people must not have disliked it, as South Bend used that design for years. Ergonomics??? What's not ergonomical about a stubby, backwards-mounted, 5 inch, sort-of reverse half wells grip, with pronounced turned grooves and a big depression for your thumb? I think that it was primarily a marketing gimmic that South Bend used to differentiate itself from the Montagues and Horrock-Ibbotsons that it sat next to in the hardware store.

Chuck, I'm not worried at all about the grip, I've only built two rods for myself that truly look good and that fly rod is one of them, the indentation is not going to bother me one bit, I'm hard on gear, so if it wears, it wears, I can fix it later very easily with it being a 4 piece. The foldgers "can" is plastic, black plastic lid, red plastic container. I'll have to switch it up for the next one and get some maxwell house to get a blue and gold color plastic :)

Jim Gamble Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Andrew -
>
> You might want to give acrylic accent rings a
> whirl. They hold up really well and turn nicely.
> Here's a set of grips using natural cork, burl
> cork (burnt and green) and white acrylic rings
> (cut from sheets with a hole saw). FYI, the
> entire grip was glued using Rod Bond.
>
> [www.rodbuilding.org]
> /photo/10031
>
> Jim -

Where can one purchase this acrylic?