Ok guys here's one I'm lost on. A friend wants me to build him some crappie rods with a solid graphite handle to be used as a Tenn. handle. I have purchased several 5.75 inch arbors. Now can I glue them together with rod bond? Will they hold up to wear? Should they be coated with something to protect them? I told him I was not sure on this before I ordered the parts but he says he had one make years ago by a builder in Knoxville and the handle is still good today. I saw the rod and the handle was fine. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You can glue them together but there is no need to do that. An 8 to 12 inch graphite tube handle would only require a couple or three 1 inch arbors inside. That's all you have to do. Absolutely no need to fill the entire area under the tube. It's plenty rigid enough to support itself and the rod will be lighter if you leave most of the interior open.

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Tom, I'm not adding the tube, just the arbors.

So this isn't going to be a graphite handle? Just a rigid foam handle? If that is the case, then the next issue of RodMaker will have something that will greatly interest you.

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Doc -

Do you have a picture of the grip that the guy is wanting? Is is full length, or a split TN grip?

Would pour foam work in your case? I do my Mad-Swirl grips over a pour foam base. I have both 6# and 8#. For crappie and bass fishing, either would hold up fine. On my grips, I seal it up with an epoxy I get from Riley Rods, prime, dip, and then put on a protective coat. You get a super lightweight grip and strong grip. I have some finished grips I'll bring, and also some 6# and 8# foam that I'll bring to the get together this weekend to see if there is anything you can use. I also have some carbon fiber sleeving that I can bring.

Jeremy Reed Wrote:
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> Doc -
>
> Do you have a picture of the grip that the guy is
> wanting? Is is full length, or a split TN grip?
>
> Would pour foam work in your case? I do my
> Mad-Swirl grips over a pour foam base. I have
> both 6# and 8#. For crappie and bass fishing,
> either would hold up fine. On my grips, I seal it
> up with an epoxy I get from Riley Rods, prime,
> dip, and then put on a protective coat. You get a
> super lightweight grip and strong grip. I have
> some finished grips I'll bring, and also some 6#
> and 8# foam that I'll bring to the get together
> this weekend to see if there is anything you can
> use. I also have some carbon fiber sleeving that
> I can bring.

Jeremy,

When you say prime it, do you mean paint it with paint primer? How do you deal with fill the little voids, or do you paint on the uneven surface then let the epoxy coating take care of smoothing things out? How many coats of epoxy do you use?

I shape the pour foam to the desired shape then I put epoxy on it; thread finish will also work. This may require more than one coat depending on the voids. The purpose of the this is to create a smooth surface and fill in the voids. Sometimes I'll hit it with some fine sandpaper or scotchbrite after it dries just to make sure it is smooth. Once this is done, and dry, I prime it with either a spray can primer or some killz latex paint.

I tried using killz latex to prime straight over the foam core, and just use extra coats with the voids, but the paint caused a reaction with the foam. It crinkles and softened the rigid foam, but then went back to hard after a few days. The grips continued to have a wavy texture. It ruined a few grips, so I'm back to using an epoxy to seal up my grips before priming. I've also used a water based polyurethane, and it works fine, but you have to add multiple coats to get a smooth surface. Thread finish or something similar is what I found works the best for me.

Here lately I've been experimenting with different base coats, such as metallic paints. This really adds some cool effects to the Mad-Swirls.