Just wondering what brand / model reamer you guys could recommend?

I am new to rod building and will do it as a hobby only. I have the parts to build 6 rods this winter and then maybe 1 per year or so after that. I have seen the all-steel ones with the machined cutting teeth but don't want to spend $350 each since I'm not building rods for profit or that often. I also looked at the Batson economy reamers for about $25 each ($100 for all 4 sizes) that use replaceable sand paper strips.

Just wondering what you guys use? (Recommended Brand, Home-Made, etc....)

Also, if I go with the replaceable paper type with a handle, how long does the paper last? Are you changing it after every handle or does it do a few? I plan to use a drill with a 3/8 spade bit to get the hole close since my blanks are all about .480 to .520 OD at the reel seat, and then ream to fit. I watched Fex Coats How-To-Video and that's how they did it. Also, once the hole is close is it better to hand ream or is it okay to attach it to a drill to speed things up. Seems like the drill would be faster but could also mess things up in a hurry as well.

The handles I have are Fuji's premade 9" and 11" straight grip cork with a .250 ID pilot hole.

Once you get the bore close with the reverse spade bit, handing reaming to the final size only takes a little bit of work. Using a power drill at that point can result in over-sizing the bore. Do it the way you saw it in the FC video and you'll be fine.

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

The Batson reamers are very good, and I have replaced the sandpaper after about 30 rods. You likely will not need all the sizes.

In addition, you would use circular steel files, chucked into a drill with the drill running in reverse.

This is the only type reamer that I have ever used from when I first started building rods years ago.

It was the type reamer that the rod building school used and it has worked well for me.

I do prep the file by cutting off the triangle handle and then, chucking the file into a lathe and sinning the file while I grind down a circular uniform end on the file to fit nicely into the chuck of the drill. I also grind a point on the end of each file to allow the file to be started easily into smaller holes in grip material.

For example:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Best wishes

Batson Dream Reamer is very good. I know a lot of builders make their own, and good for them. But for a few bucks you can get a set of reamers that last very well, can be chucked into a drill driver (which cannot be done reliably with home grown ones based on old rod sections), and make quick work of reaming. The sandpaper tape on them can be replaced if you wear them out, but for most of us, that won't happen. Don't rotate them in the wrong direction, which is true for any reamer of this type.

Another way to reduce reaming if you make your own grips from rings glued together is to drill them out to 5/16 before working on them. Very few blanks require 1/4 inch rings. For most bass rods you probably could drill out to 3/8.

Michael,
With respect to your comment about drilling out cork is a good one.

For myself, I use a drill press. I first drill a shallow hole of a typical size of 1 1/4+ if that is the size cork ring that you are drilling. That way, if you use the drill to enlarge the hole, the hole will remain centered.

But, when you do your drilling, drill with a Brad drill bit. A brad drill bit has a unique shape that cuts very clean holes in either soft or hard woods - depending on your needs.

-----------
Note the definition of the Brad drill bit:

[www.toolstoday.com].

I can keep the hole centered pretty well by letting the ring spin a little on the drill press bed as I start the drill into the existing 1/4 inch hole. A little eccenticity doesn't really hurt since the ring will be "machined" down some anyway.

Leonard,
All the commercially available “spiraled sand paper srtip” reamers work quite well, as do home made “epoxy & grit” reamers. In the end, it boils down to how picky you are! Whether store-bought or home-made / self-fabricated, the taper is dictated by what you bought or what you made = rarely the same as the actual blank you are building!!! For many, it is a non-issue and they use winding checks to cover-up any gaps at the visible ends of the grip. Additionally, most commercially available reamers are quite coarse ~60 grit; while this does remove material quickly, it may not leave a nice, “crisp” edge on the ID of the grip (more noticeable with cork).
While possibly more time-consuming yet considerably less expensive, to achieve a perfect taper of the grip to match the blank, simply spiral wrap the actual blank with ¼in - ½in wide sanding strips of your desired grit, simply held with masking tape on either end. Obviously, this needs to be performed on a slightly smaller diameter portion of the blank. The result is an inherently identical taper inside the grip as that of the blank with no gaps. Is it necessary? That depends on whether the builder, or the build itself, requires precision or speed.

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

With all due respect Mark, I'm not going to be risking a $150 or even a $30 blank by making a reamer out of it. I can't imagine working with a 7 foot reamer, hoping I know where the tip is going. Pretty likely some abrasive will get out of control, too. I like being able to chuck the Batsons into my drill driver, too.

Additionally , you are assuming the slightly smaller portion of the blank has the same taper as the butt portion where the grip will go. I'm not sure that is always true. And how "slightly smaller" should I go?

But there is no need. The tapers of the Batson reamer has never been a problem. Exact matching is not necessary.

It's easy to cut 5/8" wide strips from a sheet of coarse sandpaper, broken rod blanks are numerous and free, and contact cement is cheap. Paint the back of a strip of 100 grit sandpaper with contact cement and paint a 22" length of the butt-end of a broken rod blank with contact cement, let dry until tacky, and wrap and press the sandpaper in an open spiral around the rod blank segment to glue the sandpaper firmly in place. A piece of dowel rod makes a nice handle. I have have successfully used such reamers for over sixty years of rod building.

Homemade reamers work fine if sandpaper is used. The epoxy and grit on rod pieces can be a problem! Often the grit will come loose within the cork or foam of the grip and scratch the blank when seating the reamed grip. I speak from experience! Even though I blew out the reamed grip, some grit remained embedded inside grip and scratch the blank on an expansive build.

Michael,
I thought it would be obvious that if using the actual blank as a tapered reamer, it would NOT be used with / under power = manually reamed only. Sorry for assuming such was understood. That is why reamers such as the “Extreme Reamer” come with handles = they can be used manually or chucked in a lathe or drill-press. I manually reamed quite a few grips before adapting my equipment to accept the reamers. You, along with many others, have the ability to power-ream, but Leonard stated in his original post of building only 1 rod per year and was hesitant to spend $100.00-$350.00+ hence looking for options.
The manual method I offered is very effective, albeit slower, less expensive yet leaves the edge of the hole very precise, crisp and I use it often to avoid just slapping on a winding check. However, I use my Extreme Reamer set (under power) to remove 80% of the material first. I do not care for winding checks and hence have never used one = don’t like the generic look, they add weight and cost to the build and there is no guarantee the winding check will be a precise fit anyway. A nice, crisp edge of the grip to the blank is much more appealing to me and is an indication of more care being taken during construction. Splitting hairs? Probably, but then this site, and rod building in general, is contaminated with hair-splitting at numerous levels and degrees; this may be simply yet another aspect. Some do it, some don’t; some get it, some don’t; some appreciate it, some don’t.
You are correct that many blanks are “compound tapered” and the angle at one point along the blank may be different than at another point. In the case of Point Blank blanks with no taper in the butt section, this is very evident. However, the taper angle of typical blanks does not deviate enough to be of a concern here; we aren’t building spacecraft for NASA (even when splitting the finest of rod building hairs). Common sense and noting the thickness of the sandpaper (coarse being thicker while fine being thinner) will guide one to where to affix the sandpaper strips to the blank.
Referring to “But there is no need. The tapers of the Batson reamer has never been a problem. Exact matching is not necessary”. That is a judgment-call. As stated, some will do, get, and appreciate it; others will not = that is an individual choice.
Getting back to Leonard’s original question, there are numerous methods to ream your grips. I commend you for asking questions here and hopefully gain the knowledge required to proceed in the manner which suits your own requirements. Good luck!!!

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

On the same vein of reaming, here is another option.

Take a tapered file that is larger than the butt of the rod and with it running in reverse chucked into a drill, ream out the butt of the grip to exactly match the diameter of the rod butt on which it will fit.

Then, take a smaller tapered file that is larger than the tip end of the grip, where the grip will be placed on the rod and with it running in reverse, ream the front part of the grip to be a perfect fit where it will fit on the rod blank.

Then, take a drill a drill out the grip 1/2 way up with a drill bit that is just a touch smaller than the reamed hole in the butt of the rod. Then, take a drill that is just a bit smaller than the front reamed hole in the grip to drill out the front 1/2 of the grip.

Finally, take a minute or two to ream the center section of the grip and you will be done with a total of about 5 minutes of drilling and reaming for a perfect fit with minimal hassle and equipment.

Best wishes.

p.s.
Using the tapered file being turned backwards in a variable speed drill results in a perfectly smooth hole and if done correctly with a perfect fit on the rod blank. On the inner part of the blank, the hole can be a bit rough from drilling, but that is fine because it just gives more tooth for the glue to adhere to, when the grip is glued to the rod blank.

Yes it was obvious that using the actual blank would not allow using power, which, along with the potential for scratching the blank, makes it undesirable compared to a Batson or similar reamer. In my opinion. Most everyone has a drill driver already, so the purchase of a commercial reamer doesn't seem that unreasonable for a hobby builder. Like I am.

I don't have a selection of tapered drillls, and it looks like having a decent selection of them would cost significantly more than a reamer. Sounds like a good way to go if one has already has them. But I'm not sure if their taper is appropriate for all blanks, either.

Yes, as you say, Mark, it is not rocket science, and it is up to the individual what path to take. I'm just stating my preference and the reasons for that preference. Keep it simple, effective, low risk, not expensive, get 'R done.

I too do not always use winding checks even though I use a Batson reamer.

One really simple, attractive, tasteful way of using a check is to use the flexible black ones and when you finish the rod totally encapsulate them in wrap epoxy, forming a nicely shaped filet at the junction of the check and the blank. Looks good, almost but not quite disappears, simple black instead of the often gaudy metal ones. Returns the focus to the beauty of the wraps. And I've never had one crack or otherwise fail.

[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2021 10:59AM by Michael Danek.

In my opinion, a reamer set is a must have tool for any rod builder. The Dream reamer by Batson, and the Extreme reamer by CRB both use solid fiberglass shafts which really hold up well when used with a power drill. They also last a very long time before you need to replace the sandpaper strip. If you make your own reamer and plan on using a power drill, use either a piece of solid fiberglass or a very heavy walled blank. Reamers made from thinner walled graphite blanks just don’t hold up to power reaming, they will eventually twist and crack. Also if you make your own reamer use the sand paper strips spirally glued in place with contact cement rather than epoxy. Epoxy does not hold up to the frictional heat generated when power reaming. As Phil mentioned above, don’t use epoxy grit reamers, the grit will come off inside the handle, even if hand reaming, and can scratch the blank. If I do use a winding check, I will mostly use the black rubber/vinyl ones, as suggested by Micheal. They are inexpensive, thin, stretch snuggly into place and give nice finished appearance to the handle.
Norm

I certainly agree with Norman, Michael and others that a set of reamers is a “must-have” when building rods. However, there ARE alternatives for those who only build 1 or 2 rods per year and may not be able to justify the cost. That being said, I use my “Extreme Reamers” with almost every build and they save A LOT of time and effort.

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

One issue people often have when using reamers is to use a push-pull stroke rather than a twisting stroke. With the push-pull stroke it is highly likely that you will over-ream the larger end of the grip. Use a twisting motion and as the bore enlarges move to the next larger size reamer. Using a reamer that is much smaller than the bore also leads to an off-center and improperly tapered bore.

If making your own, try not to use blank stock that possesses a very sharp taper. Most blanks in the area where you will be constructing a handle are not sharply tapered.

........

Rod building doesn’t really make economic sense unless a person is going to do more than a few, and ultimately go for at least mid-range in price/quality. The most basic tools and supplies add up to requiring this volume and performance level. Spiral reamers seem like an essential staple to me. I tried the cheaper grit coated ones and found them to be poor in function and fragile.

I can’t pencil out the value for hobbyists in building on the lowest price store-brand blanks. Rod components cost a non-wholesale customer too much to justify installation on a commodity blank. You can buy well respected, fully built Ark rods with 40T Toray blanks, decent grips, ergonomic real seats, and aluminum oxide guides for slightly more than the cheapest CRB kit prices. It’s hard to compete in the price/performance ratio against volume rod manufactures in the under $100 price range. That $70 kit also requires a the addition of some costly tools and supplies to build. I’d grab the Ark rod everyday over the kit build with its narrow-pipe real seat and lesser blank. My point is that there is realistically a floor of both volume and quality for hobbyists once they get past their “learning attempt”. I need to either save money or have a better performing rod when I’m done. I certainly don’t want to spend more for a lesser rod.

One old, unused rod blank can be made into several reamers - and provide that "did it myself" satisfaction.