I am in the process of replacing a handle on a 27 year old UglyStik. Upon removal of the foam from the handle, I find a .750 diameter aluminum tube that extends the length of the handle......I will be replacing the reel seat as well. Any information on what size reel seat to use for this application, also, I want to use cork instead of foam on the grip....what is the best way to ream out the center of the cork to use on the handle? Thank you all for helping me with this.

Chris Confer

Hi Chris,
Sounds like someone has strenghtened the butt of the rod or there was a break in that area as no Ugly Stiks were built with a tube that I'm aware of.. You should be able to find a seat that will fit over the tube, check the sponsors websites.
You can use cork for your grips, you just need to ream them out to fit over the tube. You can use a reamer (sets available from sponsors) or a rat tail file to get them to the right size or you can glue up the grips on a mandril, turn them down to the desired shape then ream them to fit the blank. If you use a rat tail file you can use it in a drill but run the drill in reverse for best effect. You can also glue the rings up on the blank but you will need a clamp to hold it tight until the glue dries. You can then put the rod in a drill powered lathe to turn them down. You can do it by hand but it will take a while and you need to take care that the grip stays concentic.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Chris,

You have a few options. 0.75"*(25.4mm/1")=19.05". You could take an 18mm seat and ream it out for a snug fit directly on the tube, or you could use a 20mm or 22mm seat and arbor the seat using a foam arbor, masking tape, or thread depending on which way you go. Reaming the seat directly is a pain, but can be done, as the plastic is pretty tough.

Joe

If you are to do much reaming of cork there is nothing that I have found that works as well as the Batson Dream Reamer. It may be put into a drill chuck also.