Hello,
I seem to remember a thread on this forum in which people discussed various ways of fixing a graphite rod blank in an electric drill for turning the cork grip. But now I can't find it.

I prefer to turn my corkgrips on the blank as opposed to using af mandrel, but after having turned a handful of two-handed fly rods I'm beginning to wonder if there are better ways than my usual method for single-handed rods (a taped drill bit or scrap rod blank inserted into the end of the butt section).

I believe Herb Ladenheim once wrote about a way of attaching the male ferrule to the drill or lathe before sanding the grip. But my memory may be wrong (?)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards,
Peter Sorensen

check out flex coats videos

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Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

Thanks. I'm familiar with the Flex Coat YouTube videos in which a drill bit is inserted into the butt of the rod blank.

What I'm looking for is a way to attach the blank to the drill by the ferrule end of the blank to allow me to turn the grip and the composite/EVA butt cap in one go.

I turn my butts on a short mandril piece I made for my lathe but you can also do it on a backwards drill bit. If you chuck your fly rod section on the ferrule you will probably damage it. I do all my butt pieces last because I will use the blank end in my wrapper for the build. Never really had any problems like that.

You could try a piece of metal tubing (aluminum, copper or brass) which has an ID a little larger than the OD of the male ferrule of the blank. Shim the ferrule with tape so it snuggly fits inside the metal tube. You can now chuck the non shimmed end of the metal tube into your drill with out the fear of crushing your ferrule. Various sized metal tubing can be found at hobby shops or hardware stores. Hope this works for you.
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2022 10:50AM by Norman Miller.

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Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

Or, drill a hole in your butt cap and insert a tapered piece of solid stock into the butt end of the rod and turn your grip.
Then, use a plug cutter to cut a plug for the butt cap. Sand the plug to size and epoly the plug into the butt cap.
Sand to the final contour of the cap and you will be set.

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I essentially do the same things when I build a grip out of cork rings and then use a burled, or rubberized cork for the butt cap.
I drill and the ream the butt cap to the same size as the butt of the rod blank.

Then, I use the tapered mandrel on the lathe to turn the grip. Finally, I use the plug cutter to cut a matching plug out of undrilled rings. Then, I glue the plug into the rear grip. Finally, I use my disk sander with the cross lock vise to sand the rear end of the butt cap to be perfectly flat and at 90 degrees to the grip.

Peter,
I really suggest that you turn your grips on a mandrel rather then the blank if you can make it work.

It only takes a single mistake and you can end up ruining a multi hundred fly rod blank during the turning of a grip on the rod.

With the use of a mandrel when turning, if a mistake is made, you are only affecting the grip and no other part of the rod, or glue, or anything else.

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When turning a grip with a butt cap installed, I use a process identical to the process listed by John in his flex coat videos.
I have taken a few 4 foot solid fiberglass driveway markers and have chopped them into appropriate lengths to use as mandrels.

If I find that the solid stock is too large, I simply sand it down to the perfect size when it is turning in the lathe to be a nice fit into the rear grip.

If the solid stock is too small, I simply use masking tape arbors to enlarge the side of the solid stock to have a press fit into the rear grip to support it when shaping the rear grip in the lathe.

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Rod blanks are too fragile and too expensive and too hard to remedy a mistake if one is made when turning a grip with the grip already glued to the rod blank.

Having said that, when I first started rod building for the first 5 years or so, I used a full length rod lathe that I had made to turn the rear grip, and fore grip on the rod blank. In all of those years, I never had the occasion to make a mistake that would have required removal of the grip from the blank. So, of course it can be done, as long as one works carefully. But, every once in a while I remember looking at the finished grip and say,"I wish that I would have made this change or that change " to the grip that I had just finished. But, of course I never changed it. If I were to think or say that now, with my current method of turning grips on the mandrel, I would just have set that grip aside to use on something else and then turned a new grip using my new ideas for its look.

Best wishes.