I'm attempting for the first time a carbon fiber grip. It's going to be a 4.75 TN handle split grip on a Batson RX8 XP840 panfish rod with minimas and a ceramic tip.

I bought some 8lb foam, mixed it, and poured it into a square plastic container. I sprayed Pam on the inside of the container....the foam did not stick. I then used a radial arm saw to cut 1 1/2" squares about 10" long.

I now have a shaped tn piece done that is 4.75". My questions is, do I ream the foam for proper fit to the blank prior to applying the epoxy and carbon fiber, or do I do the carbon fiber and epoxy, let it dry, sand, then ream to fit? I had planned on reaming it to fit, then doing the carbon fiber and epoxy.

As far as fitting goes, I was going to fit it, zip tie one end, wet it out, then zip tie the other end when done. Is there anything wrong with that?
Thanks,
Jeremy Reed

You could do it either way and be fine. The stuff is so easy to ream I just do it afterwards, but if you'd rather have that part ready to go, then go right ahead. If you do it beforehand, you wouldn't have to worry about the coverage of the carbon skin over the bore.

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

I usually wait until after the carbon skin is on to ream the grip.

It is much easier to trim the ends cleanly and I can sand it on my lathe