I now have the rear grip and seat attached and its time to do something with the front of the seat. I bought a handle kit from Mudhole, it came with this front cork grip and 3 different sized winding checks. When I put the front grip on it just doesn't look good to me, kinda like this big blob on the front of the seat. It actually is slightly larger in diameter than the rear grip (post not intended to dig on Mudhole BTW). I do not have a lathe or I would probably try turning it down some. I thought about cutting the length down so that I would have just a inch or so from the front of the tapered cork.



I really think I would prefer no grip up front at all. I tried just putting the winding checks on there and while one fits pretty good it doesn't look all that good to me either. I'm not looking for anything flashy, just a clean finish to the seat. I noticed that the blank is not exactly centered in the seat, just slightly off center if that matters in a winding check application.

Any thoughts?

I like a shorter front grip also.. You can cut the cork to length you want, epoxy it in place and then sand it down on your power wrapper if you have one. Winding check: you can use any kind of winding check, or mix some epoxy with pigment and let it thicken, then build a ramp to replace a winding check. These work good for me.
Good luck
Jeff

Get one of the rubber plugs intended for use on the graphite/nylon seats when used as a fly rod seat and bore it to accept the blank. It makes a nice finishing check for the front of the reel seat when used on "no-foregrip" casting rods.

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

Jeff,
The idea of an epoxy ramp sounds interesting. Are you talking about epoxy like what you glue the handle with (i have the pro paste) or are you talking about thread finish?
As short as this grip is, could I chuck it in a drill press and shape it maybe? I do not have a powered wrapper.

Tom,
I did a search on the plugs but I don't think I found them. Could you post a link or part number for this newb?

The ones I've used were from Pacific Bay. I would think the other seat distributors have them as well. Not sure of the part number, just ask the dealer for the seat end cap plug.

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

Best thing I've used for the front of the reel seat.

[www.swamplandtackle.com]

Lance

Lance, good to see you are OK

Something Bill Ballou & I have been working on recently.
[sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net]
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2012 11:45AM by Billy Vivona.

I turn short fore grips using a scrap piece of blank as a mandrel and an electric drill.
You need fasten the drill down solid, and should use a sanding block to avoid letting your work get out of round.
Garry2rs

Billy,
Those are really neat grips!

Garry,
I may give that a try, i have a drill press so I think that would make this small project easy.

Big shout out to Lance at Swampland, thanks!! He is sending me one of those checks he suggested. I think this is just what I want for this build.

those checks do finish off nice and clean. I usually turn a small piece of eva, burl, or ruberized cork to a similar size as those check to finish off a no foregrip handle. Remember to trim the threads or you'll end up with a threaded foregrip.

Matt Ruggie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> those checks do finish off nice and clean. I
> usually turn a small piece of eva, burl, or
> ruberized cork to a similar size as those check to
> finish off a no foregrip handle. Remember to
> trim the threads or you'll end up with a threaded
> foregrip.

Thanks for the reply Matt but I'm not understanding what you mean when you say to trim the thread. Could you expand on that for this newb?

What I mean is the threaded portion of the reel seat. When you mount your reel to the seat there will be a threaded portion sticking out from in front of the seats hood. here's a link that shows it

[www.georgescustomrods.com]

Matt Ruggie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What I mean is the threaded portion of the reel
> seat. When you mount your reel to the seat there
> will be a threaded portion sticking out from in
> front of the seats hood. here's a link that
> shows it
>
> [www.georgescustomrods.com]
> your_grip.htm

OK gotcha, thanks!

If you can mount the foregrip onto a piece of threaded rod and chuck it in a drill press, you should be able to turn it down quite easily using sandpaper. Similar to Gary Thorton's suggestion.