Hi All,

It's been many years since I've posted here. I've really gotten into speyfishing and have about 7 rods I'm about to build.

I plan to glue individual cork rings directly onto the blank and wish to shape the rubberized butt cap without having a mandrel hole in it.

Insights or comments on my following questions would be greatly appreciated.

Questions:
1) Is Titebond III okay for gluing rings directly to blank?
2) What are my best options for turning the lower (5") cork/rubberized butt cap without having a hole in the butt cap (from using a mandrel pushed through the butt cap)
3) are some healthy wraps of masking tape enough to protect the rod blank from my Alps power wrapper chuck?

re: question 2...

a) Could I use a short 6" metal mandrel and turn the lower grip without a lathe support on one end so I can shape the butt cap? Or,
b) Could I use a rod lathe and turn the entire lower blank section with grips and stabilize the end grip with a rod stand/rollers? Effectively doing what I'm asking in part a) with the 6" mandrel, rather using the entire lower blank section as the mandrel and shaping the exposed butt cap. Would this be stable enough to shape a rubber butt cap?

Lastly, I don't have a proper wood lathe. I only have an Alps Power Rod Wrapper.

All insights and comments appreciated.

Thanks,
Preston
Toronto



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2013 01:10PM by Preston Quan.

Preston, I just finished making an 11' 6-7 wt. switch rod. I posted pictures of it on the Spey Pages web site under Rods New Switch Rod. I glued up all the cork on the blank and turned and shaped it on my rod lathe. I used 1/2 of a squash ball for the butt cap. I am now working on 2 14' Spey rods for 8-9 wt. lines and plan to make wood butt caps I guess you would call them out of quilted maple and feather crotch walnut. I am going to turn the wood so that it has a spigot that will fit into the butt of the blank after I trim the blank by about 1". I am going to make matching barrels for the reel seats. The 1/2 squash ball works good, but is not as decorative as I would like. I shape all of my grips on the blank. I have done it this way for over 40 years, and don't see any reason to change now. Good luck with your builds!! Randy

I have made many spey rods but turn the handles on my lathe then mount them. I could suggest maybe turning the grip on the rod and when complete just gluing on the rupperized cork ring no hole and shaping with a rasp, file then sand paper. I have had to do this with a few repairs and though it is not the best method it does work.

When I do the grip on the lathe I shape the bottem grip on the mandrel and when complete I remove it, glue on the last ring and put the mandrel in and close chuck it and turn it then slide it on the rod and glue it on first followed by the rest of the stuff.

The question about Titebond.....it is not recommended for adhesion to a graphite blank as it a wood glue, you are better off with epoxy.

Preston, forgot to say that for gluing cork rings directly to the blank I use a product called Liquid Fusion. It is available at most craft stores and since Trondak no longer makes their Cork Bond, it is the very best thing for bonding cork rings to the blank and to each other. No visible lines between the rings, and has a good working time for making adjustments.

Preston,
I have glued up many grips directly on the blank.
If I want a butt cap with no hole on it, I take a 2 inch mandrel and put it into the head stock of the lathe.

Then, if the rubberized butt cap has a divit or hole in it that will allow a mandrel to fit, I slip it on the mandrel.

If the rubberized cap is a flat piece of rubberized cork, I use a flat faced shaft inserted into the head stock. Then, I insert a short 1/16th drill bit into the live tail stock chuck. Then, I slip a flat faced metal turning that is a touch smaller than the finished size of the butt cap with a 1/16th hole in the center.

Then, I place the flat butt cap in between the flat face on the head stock and the flat face on the tail stock with the very short - 1/8th inch long drill bit protruding from the tail stock. The short drill bit will keep the butt cap centered when turning the butt cap.

So, go ahead and do all of your turning on the lathe of the butt cap pressed in between the two flat faces on the head stock and the live tail stock chuck.

Use a caliper to monitor the progress and diameter of the butt cap. When you have a perfect match of diameter of the butt cap and the butt diameter of the rear grip. Remove the butt cap from the lathe, clean It up and use 5 minute epoxy to glue it to the butt of the rod.
Use just enough epoxy to coat both surfaces and squeeze together. As soon, as everything is nice and tight, use DNA to clean up all excess epoxy. This will be your one chance to get all of the glue off of the butt cap and off of the grip - if any has oozed out of the joint.
Keep hard pressure on the cap as the glue cures to be sure to have a good joint.

I have used a wide flat craft stick with a couple of heavy binders on each side of the craft stick. Then, another flat board with a hole drilled into it large enough allow the board to nicely slip down the rod, or a U slot in the board to fit over the front of the front of the reel seat or front grip.

Then, hook the heavy binders between the board holding the butt cap and the board on the front of the reel seat.

Now, with the binder clamp in place do one more double check to insure that 100% of all of the glue has been removed.

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The typing has taken 5 minutes, but you can do this entire job in just a couple of minutes, once you have your lathe setup with the appropriate fixtures.

With a good lathe setup, a good caliper, and a good touch, you will have perfect fitting butt caps with no holes at all.

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p.s.
I stopped using this method a couple of years ago, because of the additional time that it takes to do the job.
Rather, I just turn my grips on the lathe, including the butt cap - with a hole in the butt cap.

I get the pefect shape and size on the rear grip and butt cap.

After everything has been set up, I will use my plug cutter to cut a plug out of matching material for the butt grip hole. Then, when I glue the rear grip on the rod, I also glue in the butt cap plug. I always make the tapered plug a touch long, so that the plug sticks out past the end of the grip just a bit.

When all is dry, I use my cross vise disk sander to sand the end of the butt grip and plug flush while keeping the end of the grip at 90 degrees to the butt grip;

[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2013 03:12PM by roger wilson.

My process for spey rear grips with a rubberized cork grip and no hole in the butt is similar to Roger's with a small variation.

1) Glue up the rear grip on an appropriate sized mandrel. Since you will be mounting from the rear, you may need to shim the front of the grip because of the taper, but the butt will have no hole to plug. It's one or the other, or turn it on the blank. Make sure you drill a partial hole in the end ring (I use the ones with no hole, 1 1/2" diameter rubberized cork)

2) I use a short mandrel that just leaves enough room to work off the head stock so about 7-8" is fine. If you are turning a full ball shape, you may have to add some masking tape to the mandrel if the grip slips at all. If you are not making a full ball shape, you can use a jam chuck with a piece of wood or a cork spacer jammed between the tail stock live center and the end of the grip.

3) Shape the grip as you normally would. Sand and finish.

4) Remove and mount to the rod.

I wanted to eliminate the hole plug as well but as Roger discussed, having a quick tool like a plug cutter makes short work of plugging a hole if you use a mandrel all the way through the grip. Using a 1/2" or 5/8" mandrel will help any wobble issue you might have. This method doesn't work well with smaller mandrels so I feel you are better off plugging the hole.

Terry

Oh and just to second, Tite Bond is not a good adhesive for gluing the grip to the blank. Epoxy is your best choice here.

Terry