I’m building a 3wt CTS rod. The taper on the butt section is very gradual. My reamer is a little more normal taper. When I ream to match the back end of the grip the front is too tight. If I continue to ream to allow the grip to slip further down the blank the back end will have a larger inner diameter than the blank. My thought was to add a tape arbor to keep the grip centered. Does that make sense? Thoughts on this approach?

Thanks

That will work well.

Personally, I don’t like to use tape as an arbor under a grip, or anything under a grip when this could happen.

I’d visit a hardware store and try to find a round Double Cut file. Some auto parts stores may also have them. I have found them to be good for those in between moments when a commercial bought reamer has to much taper as compared to the blank.

Another option is to make your own out of a scrap piece of blank.

Just ream a little from the front of the grip with the same reamer. Hopefully you haven't reamed too much from the rear already. I have used tape arbors on carbon wrapped foam where the hole was too big for the blank and it worked well. If you don't want to use masking tape use drywall fiberglass tape.

It looks like with a little reaming with the rat file and I only need an arbor of .75mm at the back of the grip. I was going to try a 1/2” wide mesh fiber tape about a 1/2” from the back of the grip. That should keep the grip centered and allow the epoxy to dam a little.

Just be careful of having a "void" between the grip and blank.
If epoxy does not fill it when installing, you may have a crack appear in the cork later on.

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

I would wrap the back of the grip with thread (size E) to center the grip and use a liberal amount of epoxy on the blank to fill in any voids.

To start with if this build is using a recessed hood style seat, If you have properly arbored the seat, it will automatically center the back end of the grip. While I do not recommend it totally if overly large between the rear of the grip and the blank even with minimal arboring as you slide the grip down to meet the seat, the excess glue is most likely going to fill and compensate for any voids during the process

Ron Weber

you can make an arbor out of wine corks an it works just fine , you need to fill the void in the grip as much an you can so the grip will not fall apart over time ,
PS I got my wine corks off the NET cheep , I suppose you could drink a couple bottles of wine to get them , your choice ,
just a different way of doing filling the void ,

William Sidney
AK

You buy me the wine and I'll send you the corks for nothing! lol

I solved my problem by going slowly, and changing the width (size) files I used on the large and small ends of the handle. Also, constantly sliding the handle on the blank to test the fit is another good idea. My main problem was that I tried to get the reaming job done too quickly. I found my patience was the key.

I rub a soft lead pencil along the blank where the grip will fall, push the grip down the blank to its desired location, twist it around a couple of times and remove the blank. Then I take a big rat-tail file and lightly file down the pencil-lead marked areas in the grip tunnel.

Phil,
What a cool idea.
Bruce,
I had the same learning experience, i.e. not enough patience... Coulda done 1,000% better job if I had only had a lil more patience.
It's my 1st build and I was excited to finally have the last of the parts delivered (took me 3-4 wk.s to get all the parts).
That's my excuse, and I'm stickin to it!

Take care
Roger