I am building my first birch bark handle for a 4 weight fly rod. Its my first birch bark and it will be sandwiched in ebony and cocobollo with checkerboard of the same in the center. My question is this the RM article says to use slow cure epoxy to glue. I usually use tightbond 3 for wood glue up. Is there a reason for the epoxy? Perhaps it gets obsorbed more by the bark? or drys stiffer to prevent cracking? Just trying to figure out if there is any reason to use it over tightbond? Thank you for the advice. Billy

I have used titebond for years with birch bark and have not had any problems. be aware that birch handles are very brittle without a mandrel supporting them and will take Very little lateral pressure to break. they are fine once they are on the rod.

Titebond should be fine. Make sure to scuff the surface of the cocobolo prior to applying glue. Wood will oxidize just like other materials and you want to expose a fresh surface. It also won't hurt to wipe the cocobolo surface with alcohol to reduce the high resin content at that point prior to gluing.



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I want to second what John said about the lateral weakness of birchbark. Once it is all glued up it takes very little lateral pressure to snap it. When I am doing ther final reaming for a birch handle, I tape it long way and also wrap it spirally with masking tape. It is a beautiful, solid handle when finally glued up on a rod.

A really nice way to use birch rings - alone or in combination with other type rings, is to glue the birch and any other rings on the blank.

Then, spin the entire blank, using a full length rod lathe. That way, you don't run the risk of having to move the handle and breaking the handle during the move from mandrel to the rod blank.

Take care
Roger

That's almost scary Roger. I never really liked the thought of using a blank as a mandrel turning at a high enough speed and power to turn a grip from scratch. Your more confident than I am, that's for sure. I actually prefer to glue up rough sections of squares to create blocks about 1 1/4" thick, matching face to face and back to back grain patterns at 90 degrees difference between each mounting surface. I prefer to use epoxy because it becomes a grip that is bonded in an absolutely water-proof resin. I feel that the thermal reaction that occurrs while the epoxy starts curing helps create a better bond and "squezes" the epoxy further into gaps . I have no substantial evidence to support this, but it's confidence in the bait your using that catches to most fish. I actually have'nt had as much durability using titebond (but I only used it on a seat insert that easily broke twice), but it leaves a better visual than the epoxy - i will give it that. For me, epoxy has won in the durability (and confidence) department. I always use the slow setting epoxy too. You need the time to carefully match your pieces together.

From here it's easier for me to turn out a half dozen small cylinders and square them up on a table sander. This way I've got a more symetrical block to square up the ends. Try to square up the more "wooded" sides of the bark - it's easier if you remember to leave your blocks with the wood side of the outer "rings" exposed rather than the more rice-paper-layer sides. I find my birch grips have a bit more lateral support for the reaming process - but i'm also careful to encapsulate the grip in its finish of choice and a couple of layers of shrink wrap until it's on the blank glued up.