First off, Hello to everyone, I am new to this forum. I want to build a new fly rod and was considering a wooden grip. I really do not want to go through the expnse of buying a lathe and the accessories needed to accpmplish this. My question is, are there any members who do this, and are there any drawbacks to using a wood grip.? I have a few really nice pieces of Kingwood that I think would look great.

Thanks

Frank

Hi Frank. I'm relatively new as well and I found a GREAT deal on a lathe, extension bed, and stand on craigs list. Someone here locally was selling this stuff dirt cheap and I snatched it up so that I could also do my own wooden/cork handles for fly rods and spinning rods. If you are patient, and you look hard enough, eventually you'll find a deal too good to refuse. I found a Jet 1014 mini lathe, the extension bed for it, and the stand for it all for $225....WELL worth the wait (I've been looking every day for about 3 months). That way, if I decide later I don't want to make rods anymore (which I doubt will happen), I didn't drop a whole lot of money on this stuff brand new. Anyway...good luck!

Justin Goodwin
Tallahassee, FL

Unless you overbore it and sleeve with foam arbors, there will be a little more weight to deal with. However, you will also gain much greater control and efficiency from your subtle hand movements versus a cork grip.

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Check out the handle and grip section of the photos on this board. there are some very nice wooden handles to give you some ideas of what is possible.

Mike

Frank, there are many of us on the site that do custom wood grips. Your email is hidden so I cannot contact you direct, mine is not so if interested email me.

Sorry about that, I did not see that it was not available. My email address is now available, thanks for the heads-up.

Frank

Frank, Last week I fished with a fly rod with a wood grip (Chestnut) for the first time and I loved it. Tom`s account for increased control and greater efficiency are dead on. I had never fished with such a handle but am now a believer that a wood or rattan grip provide superior performance plus look wonderful. You will end up with a high performance piece of art!!

[www.tackleworks.org]

That is a listing of commercial rod builders by geographic region. Many could probably make a grip for you, perhaps someone in your own area.

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Whatever you do DON'T buy a wood lathe. I made that mistake and I havn't fit a vehicle in the garage in over 2 years. You would be amazed at what all you can do with a lathe. My Garage is now stuffed to the brim with any piece of wood that "Looks Interesting". The cars stay cleaner outside anyway, with all the sawdust in the air. I have just finished expanding my deck now as I found that wood stacked on pallets with a tarp over it keeps very nice underneath the deck. My neighbors are alway shouting obsenities at me, they didn't know I could run that fast with a load of wood under one arm and chainsaw under the other. Thay have also all built a fence around their wood piles some of them with concertina wire around the top. You have been warned woodturning is almost as addictive as rod building............lol

That is funny, I could picture that.

Frank