I realized that there are EVA butt plugs, etc made for the woven tubing, but it seems to me that this would mute the resonances I'm trying to achieve. Anyone have any suggeustions on what to use to cap the foreward and butt of a Tennessee woven spinning handle? Thanks!

Craig

What type of "resonance" are you trying to achieve? You do realize, of course, that air is not going to transmit vibrations anywhere near close to what the direct mating of pieces will.

You can cap it with a foam piece, or a rubber cap such as that sold for capping the ends of common nylon-graphite seats. Bore a hole to accommodate the rod blank and you're done. No practical sensitivity will be lost.

...............

Craig,

Look up Steve Gardner's Vibronics handles and Hot Handles. His designs are the answers to your quest, but require a bit more effort to accomplish. There are RodMaker articles describing the techniques. Using prefab parts, Batson has the EVA trim parts, and the light rigid foam arbors that will aid in the transmission of vibrations from the blank to your hand. I'm just now starting to work with woven carbon sleeving, but it is a great option as well.

Joe

Steve didn't mention what he used as end caps, but I believe he said he used no arbors with his design. Pat Vinzant uses wood or a hard plastic I believe.

How Mr. Gardner made his arbors is included in this thread, including the species of wood used:

[rodbuilding.org]

Joe

Joe I have my own ideas/thoughts but I'd like to hear yours.

Say you wanted to incoprate Mr. Gardners handle concept on heavier offshore class rods. Nothing real heavy duty....call the limit 40# class. Assume a reel seat would be desired. Ditto on a foregrip. Would you be willing to share some thoughts on how you would go about it for both spinning and conventional builds? In particular arbor materials (and the shaping of them) and what off the shelf tubing you would pick?

Thanks in advance.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russ,

Nothing like calling me out on this one. Being a freshwater bass guy building no fore grip rods for bass applications, I can't say that I've devoted as much time to considering heavier applications, and would most likely come asking you for help on an offshore rod. With that said, it's not uncommon for us freshwater guys to use lines in the 40lb. class and above. I can't say that I have the numbers, but it wouldn't surprise if most of the lines we use called 15-17lb. test came in closer to 40lb. class than their test ratings.

I'll share some thoughts, and you can tell me how far off I am for a rod to handle offshore fishing. When working with reel seats, I would probably pass on the offset handle, particularly on the rear grip. Primarily because you'll likely end up shimming the handle because the ID of the handle and reel seat are different and won't line up well, and could make for an uncomfortable grip depending on how you hold the rod. Also, from what little I know about offshore fishing, it seems that you spend more time holding the fore grip than the rear grip (could be a bad assumption on my part). The fore grip is one place where a little creativity might be applicable, as you will likely not have your hand going across the junction of the reel seat and fore grip. The fore grip could be shifted down on spinning rods and up on casting rods to allow the blank to run along your palm just under the tubing. This might be an interesting feature for rods that are held by the fore grip while jigging.

When it comes to arbor material, I would use a material that one of the local Ohio guys uses in his handles. It's a graphite and fiberglass composite. It seems to be chopped up graphite and glass pressed together with a resin. I haven't had a chance to work with it personally yet, as I don't have a lathe that will turn something that hard, let alone the respiratory protection to work with all of those graphite and glass shards flying around the shop. It's not the lightest material you'll use, but it will more than provide the strength you need, and also be much closer in mechanical properties to those of the blank than many other material choices. It's pretty cool stuff. Up until now, I've settled for the shims and bushings from Batson, and have been quite happy with the results.

As far as the tubing, the only woven tubing I've worked with has been the Batson woven graphite, but the other ones I've handled have seemed quite similar. I would go with the woven graphite, unless going for a specific theme, then the Texalium/Textilium would be reasonable compromises. With that said, I just got my first kit of foam cores and woven graphite and some woven graphite/fiberglass sleeving. I'm really kicking myself for not trying it sooner. It's much easier to work with than I anticipated, and I really think I'm going to like it. There are a couple minor things for me to work out, but my first attempt was better than I expected.

Joe