what a pain to work with! I know I have meat hands, not a finesse kinda guy, but man this stuff is frustrating! I just finished ruining a reel seat insert that I had already glued up 3-4 times!

I am using sharp turning tools...what other tricks are out there to make it easier to work with this stuff?

Abrasives rather than tools?

Hi Carrington,

I only use sand paper. It takes longer, but I don't have the mortality rate that tools do.

Take care,

Chris

what are your issues? It turns fine for me. It does take some sanding to get all of the turning marks removed. Make sure your tools are very sharp and use a light touch. That helps tremendously. Keep it supported on a mandrel as it has very little lateral structural integrity without the support. Once it is on the rod it is again supported and you should have no issues

I use high speeds and an Easy Wood Tools r4 rougher. I start by feeding just the corner of the tool into the end of the grip at the tail stock and then work it across to round it. Once it's close I start sanding. There have been times where I've saturated the thing in super glue and let it dry for a day. I've then used the super glue as a finish also.

If you are turning a "reel seat" insert from Birch bark, there's not very much material left to hold together as the bark is made up of many thin layers that do not bond well to each other. I turn quite a lot of Birch bark, but would not attempt a reel seat insert for the fly rods I build unless the rod butt diameter is very small.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2015 05:55PM by Phil Erickson.

I think I will try the sandpaper route. I also need to make sure the entire length is snug to the mandrel, as I think that might be part of the problem. Thanks for the tips, appreciate it.

Carrington

High speed turning seems to help the bark cut more cleanly. Works for me.

I don't know exactly what type of problem you're having. Do you have any photos? The ends of the assembled bark core need to be supported with nuts and washers that while undersize of your final turning dimension, still keep some pressure on the turning piece. This helps keep it from breaking outward. But again, I'm not sure what your actual problem is.

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

I glue my birch on an arbor before turning and haven't had an issue

X2. I do the same as Brian.

Tom, what you describe is probably a big part of my problem. I did not have pressure on the ends while turning.

The arbors are a great idea, I am having to use them after the turning of the grip itself (which has turned out pretty good!)

Thanks, this board is great!

As Tom pointed out, I use a threaded mandrel complete with nuts and washers of the final finished size of the grip or insert.

Also, if the bore is larger than the mandrel, build up the mandrel with masking tape to have a slip fit onto the mandrel.

Also, turn at high speed.

If worried about tools, then use abrasives - rather than turning tools to shape the bark.

Good luck

All of my fly rods have birch bark reel seat inserts. I only use turning tools to knock knock down the size somewhat, then spend the vast majority of my time from there - sanding. Also, I've recently been coring not only my birch bark grips but my reel seat inserts with carbon foam arbors that I've turned down. This results in a much more sturdy platform to not only turn with, but taper reaming is very quick and easy.

The best way to sand down Birch bark is to use Mirka Abranet, it works much better than regular sandingpaper.

Give it a try.

Greetings from Germany