G'day All

I have decided to have a crack at doing a birch bark grip as the title suggests and need some advice.I have seen some of the photos of the work done here and thought i would
love to be able to try to do that just a bit different from cork.

I ordered some sheets of bark from mudhole and have just had a bit of a play with them today.I am completely unfamiliar with this material but have read the article from the library.
Are there varying degrees in quality like cork as the sheets all differed in the amount of bark on the outside and the knots on the inside.If so where am i able to get the best quality.
You can pm me if its not appropriate to mention here.

I used a wad punch to try and get some 32mm rings and had varying degrees of success.Where the outside surface had no bark i was able to get some decent rings but where there
was thick bark i could get out a ring but when trying to get the bark off it was liable to split.I still have to punch a 9 mm hole for the centre so a few more rings may be discarded.Is there
a better way of getting the rings than a punch ? Is it better punch out the rings first then get the skin off or vice versa ?

I have a heap more questions but will leave them till later as i want to go step by step till i have a grip glued up ready to turn.

Thanks in advance for the replies.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Ray,
the irregularities ARE the higher grade to my mind.
You are not looking for smooth you are looking for inclusions to give you the most interesting results.
When you apply pressure via the wing nuts on the threaded rod; it all gets squished together and makes for one interesting visual effect.
Kind of the opposite of cork or EVA.
I like to ream mine out and put an arbor in it and put a 1/2 inch of darker brown cork composite or cedar on both the ends. That way where it mates to other surfaces(reel seat etc) it still has a sharp line.

BTW: there are many trees around you can take a few square inches of bark from and include in the mix to add contrast. Just dry between flat surfaces. Test glue as some have oils that titebond 3 does not stick to.

I think that a hole saw, used with a drill press would be the best tool to cut your rings.
Cheap hole saw kits are available from discount hardware stores like Harbour Freight etc.
The 1/4 inch pilot bit will give you a consistently centred hole to make stacking easy.

I buy a lot of components from Mudhole, but their birch bark leaves a lot to be desired. Here's a far better source - already cut into rings with a hole in the center so all you have to do to use them is strip the white bark off, and do any reaming necessary. And these rings are much thicker on average than Mudhole's:

[customflygrips.com]

One thing that helped me a lot is a tip I picked up from another builder on here - glue up the birch rings on a foam core. I use 16mm reel seat arbors. It makes all the difference in the world when you get to the turning stage - keeps the birch rings from separating.

Thank you all for your replies so far all food for thought.I am quite prepared to do the hard work and punch or cut out the rings from a sheet of bark.Very labour
intensive indeed but these grips will be for my own rods.What i am worried about is the quality of the bark as after the outer layer of the bark is removed there
is not much of the under layer to work with.I realise it is a natural product and you get imperfections but is there a grading system as with cork.

Has anyone soaked the bark in water to make it more pliable to work with and how did you go about it ?

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Ray, that's why I recommended the rings from the place I linked to - they have much more substance to them, meaning there's plenty of bark left to work with after removing the white skin. The rings I was able to punch out of the sheets from Mudhole only averaged about 1/16", but the rings from the custom fly grips place are at least twice that thick if not more than that. And, they're already cut as individual rings so you don't have to punch them out of a sheet.

Anyway, they made the process a lot smoother for me.

G'day Walt

Thanks for your replies.It certainly looks the easiest option to do buying the pre cut rings. The thickness of the rings is an advantage as well.Something i will
have to look at.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Ray,

I harvest bark from the dead birch trees on my property, which sounds like that is not an option for you. I clean all the loose "paper" from the bark, cut into 1 1/2" squares and glue and stack them as even as possible, enough to make about a 3" section. I then put them in a quick clamp which I have drilled holes in the pads so i can clamp cork rings on a mandrell. After the glue has dried I can drill the center to what ever size I need, using the holes in the clamps as a guide. I install a mandrell and start turning. It turns easy enough with sharp tools so i dont waste a lot of time cutting out circles and punching holes. I have only used birtch bark for trims rings thus far. The sheet of bark I get is, at most, 1/6" thick so about 50 pieces to get a 3" ring.

Ditto to what Gary said about the Hole Saw. I have one dedicated for cutting rings that I have a piece of MDF in to keep the cut rings from getting stuk in the hole saw. I.E if your hole saw is 1 inch deep cut a piece of 3/4 inch MDF and leave it inside the hole saw. This makes it much easier to remove form the Hole saw

Thanks again for your comments guys.No birch trees Jim where i live but could have to look into some other species of trees here in Aus that would be suitable.
Yes the hole saw is definitely an easier option than the wad punch and less time consuming.It is a fairly labour intensive way of making grips but the outcome is
definitely worth the effort if i can pull it off.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia