I'm looking at building a couple of rods with split grips but haven't attempted this style before. It appears some winding checks are inside the down locking hoods? If so when ordering these from vendors you would need to be absolutely clear as regards to measurements? I imagine it would be a bit tricky as most people would have different ideas on placement of seats? Of course I could just need new glasses!

I have built several rods with split grips using the SK2 seats and the winding checks.Yes, you must size the I.D. of the winding check to fit the O.D. of the blank where you will locate the seat.. While the winding checks fit snugly into the SK2 reel seats, there is a word of caution. Cut the graphite reel seat arbors off 1/16" short of the reel seat ends. If you don't, the winding check will not seat properly. I know from experience. Good Luck.

Can't one glue it all together and then ream it as one unit to fit if the fit is slightly off

Bill - willierods.com

If you size the winding check properly it should not need any reaming. In addition, if you ream using a drill you risk burring, or even melting the ID of the winding check. The best solution will always be a properly sized winding check. Ream the body and hood assemblies to fit , place the winding checks in position with no epoxy, epoxy the hood and body into a final position and BEFORE THE EPOXY SETS add some epoxy to the winding checks and push them into position on the front and back of the SK2 pieces. Using this method, the winding checks will perfectly align the seat on the blank. Don't forget the winding checks on the inside of the seat, under the reel foot...you can't go back.

These are made of what - rubber ?? No just checked

They are graphite - nylon so they can be reamed - of course carefully

Bill - willierods.com

Measure to fit, no need to ream. Just installed them on a Viper blank and they look great. Not flashy but clean. They "pop" into place so the fit is perfect.

Built 5 rods so far with the SK2.

I will say to be careful if you want a foregrip, there isnt much room to work with on the hood side of things.

I am just thinking --- things happen and If Needed they can be reamed Graphite and nylon

Just like seats I get them a little smaller them ream for a perfect fit

Bill - willierods.com

There's a reason why manufacturers offer a wide variety of seats and winding ck sizes and that's so you can use the correct size when fitting your parts together. Jim Ising hit the nail on the head with his answer above. I don't see why anyone would want to ream a winding ck to fit when you can get the correct size to start with. If a customer needs the correct size and doesn't know it all he has to do is ask the supplier that he buys his blank from to fit the parts together to fit the length handle that he chooses, that is if the supplier handles said winding checks and reel seats. I do it all the time.

Lance

Ok to bill's defence, he is saying in a pinch, if for some reason you got the wrong one and didnt have time to rma it back and get a replacement, if the check is too small it can be reamed

Strong wraps, calm seas
Derek

I had gotten an orange eva grip of the large ID wrong
sat there trying to figure out how I could fill the ID to fit the blank
Took almost two weeks to get the correct size

Stuff happens ???

Bill - willierods.com

Cheers for the info - I also see there are silver & gold checks which look nice, have looked at a few vendors but they only stock the grey ones. Also there is a handle grip for casting but not spinning? Couldn't I just use them anyway?? Sorry about the questions but I would like to order a dozen kits and just need to be sure. Looking at Anglers Resource the shot of the two kits are exactly what I'm after..are the butt grips also Fuji?

Thank you
Rod

Now if we could just get some SK2 seats………………….

Check out these checks [www.mudhole.com]

Bill - willierods.com

A cork foregrip for the spinning body is coming soon. It's actually nothing more than a smidge of cork for your thumb to rest on when casting but if you've ever dealt with the threaded barrel working on your thumb all day, you'll like this little guy. We also have a cork rear grip for the spinning body that we'll have in a month or two (it would be used for downlocking set-ups). Again it is a fairly short, small diameter piece designed for the area your pinky finger would hit the blank. Both are designed to keep weight down. I hope to have samples of this cork at the Expo.

Also, we noticed that the current selection of SK2 cork is primarily for lighter rods due to the narrow rubberized cork end that will not accept a larger size winding check (see web images). We are working on a new selection that will feature an 18 mm end that will ream larger and accept our largest winding checks . We will have all these new items in cork and EVA.

The metallized winding checks are very nice, using an upgraded manufacturing technique that is suppose to hold up much better than in the past. We are waiting on the first order now and they should be available shortly after we receive them.

By the way, we just received an order of SK2's. Backorders will be shipping in a couple of days we hope.

I've installed their SK2 corks recently. You need a small diameter rod. I had to finely ream the inside down to where there is basically a finger nail width of cork at the end. No winding checks could sit in front of this but I think it gives it a real nice tapered clean look if you can pull it off. Still had some cracking though and had to fill in.

Sounds like your better off just making your own

Bill - willierods.com

Adam: That is exactly the situation the new cork will solve. Stay tuned.

Thanks for the heads up, I will probably wait until the larger grips, these will be light saltwater rods. Hopefully Mudhole will stock those metallic winding checks also.

Make you own grips

Bill - willierods.com

Yes, Bill I have wanted to but have never tried it except for shaping preformed ones. I have a power wrapper but don't really have the power to turn cork. The other issue is sourcing the cork block/rings, I live down under in NZ ( next to that tiny island Aussie ) Sometime I'm coming to the States to get some first hand experience with the art of cork work & rod building in general. Would love to have been at this years Rod Expo :-( Maybe next year, can start saving now.