Hello, In a thread below Mr. Kirkman linked to his article on Grip Boring Great Looks - Less Weight, in which he discussed the process to bore holes in wood stock intended for rod grips. Perfect timing as this is just what I was about to start researching. I recovered some parota wood off the beach in Mexico after a hurricane on a recent fishing trip, and I want to build some grips out of the wood for a surf rod. I read the article and I have a follow-up question or two.

After I bore the center hole in the square side wood stock (3/4" hole ) then I need to mount it to the lathe to turn it round and make the hole concentric. First question: How do I mount the stock in the lathe with the 3/4" center hole? Do I first insert and glue the urethane foam core inside the wood stock and then mount the urethane core to the mandrel? So I would have like a 1/4" centered hole in the urethane through which I insert the threaded mandrel, and then lock the grip tight to the mandrel with washers and nuts on the threaded mandrel?

How Do I get threaded rod to stay in the head stock and tail stock? I have a Jacobs chuck for the head stock. But what about the tail stock? I assume it needs some type of concave end? Can I buy this somewhere? I have no mandrels currently.

Note, I am not doing this for weight savings, as the rod butt is approximately 5/8" so there will be little urethane left after I ream to fit the blank. I just need a process for boring the wood hole and then turning it concentric on the lathe.

Thanks in advance.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2021 02:20PM by Bob Ginther.

Bob,
The very best way to drill the hole in the wood is to use your lathe.

Use a 4 jaw chuck to hold the piece of wood in the chuck.

Then, insert the drill bit into your tail stock and turn the lathe onto the very very slowest speed and start drilling.

By spinning the work piece, the hole in the work piece will be perfectly centered.

Best wishes.

For example:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

p.s.
If you don't have a 4 jaw chuck or a jacobs chuck for your tail stock, now is a good time to buy one of each.

You can slide the core in the wood bore and adhere it. Then use a mandrel through the core to mount the turning stock in the lathe.

There are a lot of options here - you can even use a section of pipe or tubing (assuming it fits) in the wood bore for a temporary means of mounting in the lathe, afterwards remove it and mount the foam core inside. The pipe or tube will have to be a snug fit, of course.


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

I turn the wood round first, then bore, insert foam core(s), mount on mandrel, then shape. Reaming for blank is last step.

Bob,
Another way that may work even better for you.

Use a 5 point attachment for your head stock, and a single point in the tail stock to hold the raw unshaped wood.

This will allow you to turn your wood to a nice round, but not final shape.

Then, with this work completed, especially, if you turn a round piece on the end to hold the wood for turning, you can then use your current three jaw chuck to hold the roughly shaped round piece of balanced wood. Then, with the shape in place, you can do a through hole through the wood.

Then, from that point you can go through the necessary steps for an arbor, shaping and final drilling. By doing this you would not have to buy a 4 jaw chuck if you don't have one. But, if you are going to use the lathe to drill - you will still need to purchase a jacob's chuck or equivalent to hold a drill bit for drilling the thru hole.

Best wishes

Roger I do not yet have either a 3 jaw chuck or a 4 jaw chuck. I will need one eventually for other projects. As I understand the difference, a 3 jaw chuck is for holding round stock, and a 4 jaw chuck is for holding square stock. Correct? So with your three jaw chuck approach mentioned above I would use the 5 point compression head that I have along with the single point tail stock to make the rough round shape. Once the rough is mounted in the 3 jaw chuck I turn it to final size/shape (no tail stock needed?) and then bore the hole in the final shape piece using the 3 jaw chuck and a bit mounted in the Jacobs chuck in the tail stock. Is this correct sequence? Once the hole is bored then I just glue in the foam insert and hand ream to size. No mandrel required?

Can you recommend a decent 3 jaw chuck?

Bob,
Yes, Maybe, maybe not.

If you start with a piece of wood that is solid and larger than your grip, you can do all of your shaping and turning with a space near the head stock to continue to grip the piece of wood.

With all of the rough shaping as well as the final shaping, you will be using the 5 point on the head stock and the single point on the tail stock.

So, except for the final cut off of the piece of wood holding the piece to the head stock point.

However, at that point you have not bored any hole yet through the grip.

Without a head stock 3 or 4 jaw chuck, I don't know how you would hold the work piece secure to do the boring.

Also, if your grip gets to be thin with your forming and shaping and with the hole in the middle, the piece will certainly be more secure with a mandrel running through the grip.

Summary:
If you are going to be using your lathe for this sort of work. i.e. wood turning, boring thru holes and shaping, you really need to have a multi fingered head stock of your choice along with a jacobs chuck style tail stock.

There could be some way to do some sort of jury rigged setup to get your job done, but to do the job easily, quickly and safely, it is to your very big advantage to have both the head stock and tail stock chucks.

Out of curiosity - what is the make and model of your chuck? What is the diameter and thread size of your head stock and what is the internal taper of your tail stock?

Best wishes