Going to use a fighting butt as a foregrip. One end is cork composite as is the need to be glued on butt cap. I like the look of the cork composite on both ends. I want to glue the butt cap on and then drill it out to match the I.D. of the rest of the grip. The cap is rather thin maybe 3/16ths. Hole does not need to be perfect as i don't need much over a 1/4" and the edges will be hidden by the reelseat. The grip is bored 1/4" so I will use that as a guide and then ream the final little bit. Just wondering best technique to drill the cork composite. Don't want it to to blow out due to all the small pieces glued together. My line of thinking is place it on a scrap of wood and drill slowly through the cap into the wood, perhaps run the bit backwards? Any advice is appreciated.

I think using a backer as you suggest will work well, give it a try on something you don't plan to use. Not sure why one would reverse the drill, but think the backing will do fine. High rotational speed, low penetration speed. Taping the end might hjelp too. I expect we'll get an expert who does it all the time to chime in.

Michael,
For this sort of work I use a round tapered file of the appropriate size that is chucked into a reversible variable speed drill. I run the drill in reverse to not screw the file into the work piece and split it.

Here is a picture of the set of round tapered files that I have used over the years for all of my filing for cork and composites.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I chuck the file into my lathe and then use a grinder to create a round chuck grasping area on the end of the file to have the file run true when drilling. I also grind a point on the end of each file so that I can use it to start the hole and get the file started into near fitting holes.

For this sort of work I never use a drill bit. The problem with a drill bit in cork and other composites, is that a typical standard drill bit tends to tear out the pieces of material leaving holes and ragged edges in the material.

Be safe

This sort of thing is best done on a lathe where you can bore large holes with a spade bit and be certain everything will be centered. But this is assuming you have a lathe.

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I collect three foot long pieces of broken rod blanks of different diameters and I buy sheets of cloth-backed "sand"paper: coarse, medium, and fine. Using a straight-edge and a boxcutter I slice these sheets into 1/2" wide strips. Using wood builder's contact cement I paint the smooth side of these strips and the entire rod piece with contact cement, allow it to dry, then press the glued side of the sandpaper to the glued rod blank in an open spiral for a length of 12 to 14 inches. I tightly wrap a piece of twine around the whole shebang for an hour to ensure a strong glue bond. I have never found it necessary to use power tools to turn these reams; I just twist and slide them with my hands. The coarse sandpaper reamer works quickly enough. Go slow and test . It's about a five-minute sanding operation.

OP is not really talking about reaming process as much as he want to bore thru the solid end of a fighting but to enable him to use as a foregrip. At least that is my intrepretation of the queston

Ron is correct. Grip is bored .25. Just need to drill the butt cap out. It is only approx 3/16 thick.

I would probably start with a 1/8” or 3/16” sharp wood drill bit, and then move up to a 1/4” bit. You can wrap masking tape an appropriate distance above the bit point to get a good fit to the hole in the fighting butt. This will keep the bit centered in the hole. Using a wood backer is a good idea. This should minimize any tearing of the rubberized cork. Once you have a hole it should be easy to enlarge using a reamer. I have drilled holes in rubberized cork rings that came with no holes without problems.
Norm

When I do a job like this one, I use my drill press and take a block of wood for a start.

Then, I start with a small drill bit to form a pilot hole.

Then, I use a forstner bit to make a hole in the wood that is exactly the size of the butt cap and drill the hole about 1/4 inch deep to be deep enough to maintain the stability of the butt cap and keep it exactly centered. Then, I start with a small bit, to make the first hole and up size the hole to be a bit smaller than the item that you want to go through the hole. Then, I use a reamer to ream the hole to be a tight fit on the item that you wish to have the cap slip over.

The item will always be perfectly centered, and the hole will be sized exactly.

If you don't have a reamer, purchase one. It will pay you back many times over.

[www.amazon.com]

when I work on cork I like to sand it some how , not use drill bits , as the bits tend to rip the cork up way to much for me , sanding it can be a file , sand paper,
even ruff sand paper will rip the cork for me , this happen because the cork is so soft .

William Sidney
AK

The speed you drill at will have a great deal to do with whether you cut the cork, or mostly tear it.

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Actually, if one wants to drill a nice hole in a piece of cork with a drill bit - use a Brad Point drill bit:

The cutting tabs on the side of the drill bit, slices through the soft material without tearing it.

For example:

[www.irwin.com]

If you haven't used a brad point drill bit before for cutting materials like cork, buy a set and enjoy the clean cutting of the material.

Take care

When in need of a precise, clean, crisp hole in cork or composite cork, I use a short, sharpened length of “hobbier’s” brass tubing chucked in my drill/mill or hand drill; very nice results.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

A lathe is ideal for boring true holes through blocks of wood or metal. A lathe is awesome overkill for making true holes in cork - like using a chain saw to shape toothpicks.

Sharp 1/4 " bit in the drill press, wood block beneath butt cap, proceed slowly, It'll be over before you know it.