What kind of clamps do you guys use to keep the seat and the grips on each side of it in place? My regular clamp wont work.

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I do one piece at a time with Devcon 5 minute epoxy.

George Forster
Fort Collins, CO

Jonathan,
I have made my own cork clamps.
Basically, two boards with a hole in one of them, and a pair of holes on the sides of each board.
For conventional rods, slip the board with the hole over the tip, and butt the other board against the bottom of the grip, put on the wing nuts and tighten down.

For split grips, I made a similar pair of cork clamps.
The only difference is that the bottom board has the hole sawed out on one side, so that this creates a U shape that easily slips over the bottom of the upper split grip.

Then, for the lower or butt grip, I use the same u shaped clamp for the top of the butt grip and use the flat board for the butt side of the butt grip.

I normally have a hole bored part way through the bottom or butt clamp which is larger than any of my grips. That hole will keep the bottom clamp centered on the butt section.

If I am gluing up a rod that does not have an integral butt clamp, I also have a screw threaded up through the bottom clamp board. This screw simply slips up into the butt - along with the partially bored out center butt board hole to center the butt of the rod in the clamping board.

Good luck

Roger

I slit a piece of PVC pipe and use it as a spacer between the split grips. That way you can use your clamp as usual and then remove the PVC spacer afterwards.

The best cork clamps I found I copied from Mike Barkely. You may find a picture in photos. put his name in and hit all dates and it may show up.

Anyway, it is an 18" Irwin bar clamp. I drilled a 9/16" hole on the one end and used a jig saw to cut down to the hole from the top of the end. This formed a nice "U" which the blank will fit into. The other end just has a 9 /16' hole which will allow the blank to slide into, It is extremely fast to adjust

Not all of the clamps will allow you to do this, they have a gusset in the center of both ends. Mine have two gussets on each end and that is where I was able to drill the hole

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

never needed a clamp. My handles go on snug and fit so well that the seat and butt grip has no gaps.
A little glue turn several times done. Clean.

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,
In particular, my post was referring to the use of clamps to clamp individual rings in a split grip style, Glue up the rings, and then turn the handle while the rings are on the rod.

In this case, you must use clamps to clamp the rings or you will have big glue lines on your rod.

Most folks do not glue up the rings on the rod. Rather, they glue up the rings off the rod, turn the handle pieces, and then assemble the handle pieces to the rod blanks.

Roger

Yes I do But I use a threaded rod to glue the rings together, Then ream to fit an arbor and shape. After done I ream to fit the blank

A lot easer then on the blank to shape.

Bill - willierods.com

I always turn my grips with an arbor on the lathe, then ream to get the proper spacing and fit as to where the grip is to be placed. I am not set up to turn the cork when it is installed on the blank, unless I use my power wrapper, and that ain't never gonna happen, don't want a particles flying around in the room where I do my wraping and finishing.

Ron Weber

Richard- The split PVC pipe idea es genius! Ideas like that are why I read these posts. Thanks for the tip, I'll put that to work.