I am about ready to turn my first grip, do you use a mandrel or glue the rings on the blank and then turn? I am a little scared of turning the grip on the blank cause if I mess up I'm stuck. Can you all give me any advice here?
Thanks,
John Chaney

Either way will work fine. If you do not have access to long rod lathe, then turning your grips on a mandrel is your best bet.

Lightly coat the mandrel with paraffin wax (this is so you can get it off later) and glue up your grip. Clamp to remove any voids and let cure a full day. Turn away. When you're done you just pop the grip off the mandrel and ream to fit.

It may help you to prebore your rings large enough, and use a corresponding sized mandrel, so that the amount of reaming you have to do is very minimal.

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I've been turning my cork on a mandrel because I was afraid the speed on my wood lathe was to high to do it on the rod. What speed do most use to turn the cork on the blank. I would prefer to do it on the blank as it would center better.

Thanks
Ray

If you do it on blank just put masking tape on blank right in front of grip and where you will be supporting the other end.. Dont worry about screwing up the cork because you can always remove it from blank.. I have turned handles both ways and I do prefer turning grip on rod.. Thanks Davesrods

the slowest speed on my lathe is 600 rpm. My biggest worry is that the blank will get to whipping and jump out of steady rest. I've been meaning to take an old piece of blank and give it a try....

Ray

It may do that for sure. I learned the hard way and though my blank did not jump out it did rise up and contact the support and cut a groove all the way around it. The blank was ruined. I would turn it on a mandrel unless you have the perfec set-up or something like the renzetti lathe for turning an entire rod safely.

When I first started buiding rods, I turned all of my handles on the blank. Someone, I don't remember who, showed me how to deal with rod whip. Put a tip on the rod with a dab of hot melt glue, so you can remove it later, then lay a single sheet of newspaper over the blank,(you may want to protect with masking tape). The weight of the paper will keep the tip from whipping around. It really works! Bob Vasko