I'm making a rear grip for a split grip rod and want to use a 1/2" wide rubberized
cork ring on the end as the butt cap.
I don't want to have to put a hole in the rubberized cork to shape it to size (1 1/8" dia.).
I'm turning the cork grip itself on my lathe (from rings)
What is the best way to accomplish this?
Glue the rubberized cork on after I fit the cork grip to the rod and hand sand?
Suggestions appreciated.

Steven Garvey Wrote:
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> Glue the rubberized cork on after I fit the cork
> grip to the rod and hand sand?
> Suggestions appreciated.


That’s how I do it.

I use the same ring with the 1/4" hole and turn it on the lathe with the rest of the grip. I don't ream it though, I glue it on after I'm done with the rest of the grip but before I do any guide work, then I plug it with a 1/4" piece of 1/4" round rubberized cork. I set it in flush and then hand sand just the bottom to remove any evidence of it being a plug, it's not noticable to the untrained eye. I have glued solid rings on the end, and have hand sanded them but I found that to be more work than using the plug. You can trim the ring down if you leave it solid and that will save some time.

here is an ice rod I used a solid plug on, I don't have any pictures of it now, I sent it out for testing with the plug trimmed but not sanded, once I get it back I'll post before and after pics of the sanding work.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I have glued it on afterwards and then slipped it back onto the mandrel on one end. Was able to get a snug fit of the cork on the mandrel using some blue tape on the madrel itself. Then I slipped the mandrel back into the chuck and through the head stock. Only had the portion of the mandrel sticking out that was under the cork.

I like to glue the bored rings together first and ream to fit. Then glue on the butt. I then slide it on my mandrel and shim with masking tape to fit. Slide it on until it bottoms out on the mandrel.

Steve,
I do the following :
1. I shape my handle - either on or off the rod and insure that it is glued in place along with the rest of the rod.
2. I then complete the rod - i.e. all of the guides, wraps etc. I just find that it is easier to hold the rod, not mark the grip with a chuck by simply installing a piece of solid rod section up the inside of the gip and then chuck the solid rod in my wrapper 1/2 inch chuck.
3. I then use my sander with the cross lock vise on it to insure that the butt of the rod/blank and handle are all perfectly square and smooth.
4. I use a caliper to measure the precise diameter of the butt end of the rod.
5. I use my lathe to shape my butt piece as follows:
a. I replace my three jaw chuck with a 1/2 inch keyless chuck. In the keyless chuck, I place a 1/16th drill bit that sticks out from the chuck about 1/8th inch. I use the drill bit to insure that the butt piece stays on center.
b. around the drill bit I have a piece of flat stock aluminum that is a bit smaller than any butt cap that I want to shape.
c. On my ball bearing tail stock, I have a flat faced rest that is a bit smaller than any butt camp than I want to shape.
d. I then clamp the piece of undrilled cork between the head stock and tail stock. Finally, I shape the butt cap to shape, doing frequent checks with the caliper to insure that I don't go to far. Since the tail stock face has a flat surface it
will securely clamp the butt cap piece of cork without leaving marks. The headstock side will have the small 1/16th shallow hole in it. So, when shaping the butt cap, I keep in mind that the tail stock side of the pice will be the extreme end of the rod.
6. After completing the piece, double checking the piece for a perfect fit - not too big, not too small, I take it into the shop and glue it onto the butt of the rod using 5 minute epoxy - holding it securely with finger and palm pressure until the glue has cured.
Part way through the cure, I make sure to clean up an residue glue which might have squeezed out of the point between butt cap and rod handle.

Do a final clean up and call it good.

Actually, I purchased this extra - small lathe to do this one job very well. My other machines simply didn't work as well as this smaller lathe for this particular purpose.

Take care
Roger

one option you can use is to bore the rubber ring and keep the dust. after turning use the dust and mix with epoxy to fill the hole and you will be hard pressed to see it.

Thanks for all your inputs.
Last night I bored the grip to size to fit the blank, then glued the rubberized butt cap on
and turned it on the lathe as Mike suggested. It worked well and as the taper on the butt
end is very slight I was able to slide the (rear split grip) grip on from the butt end.

i bore/ream each ring to fit the blank and then glue them up. I use the rubberized with the 1/4" hole in them and just glue everthing together on a 1/4" rod arbored with masking to tape. Then i just toss it on my mandrel (again arbored with masking tape) and turn away. Use the the 1/4plug and with about 10 seconds of light sanding you'll never notice it was even there.

Regards,
-Justin