I am in the process of building my first fly rod. It is rather small being a 6' 6", 2wt. The handle that I have for it is one of the smallest available, with a bore diameter of .250. Given the size of the blank, the handle does not fit snugly over its entire length. Is there a preferred method of dealing with this, or do I just try to use plenty of epoxy to take up the space?
Your help is much appreciated.

If you can do it I'd use some thread in a wrapped in spirals up the blank on the part that does not fit. This will act as a shim and take up the bit of space you have. That will keep it well centered as you apply your epoxy and glue the grip on. If the space is more than a single strand of thread will take up remember that there are several sizes of thread and you could move up to size D or even E for use as a shim.

Kevin has given you some good advice. How much space do you need to take up? If the thread wrap idea won't provide enough of a shim, there are some other avenues to pursue. Keep in mind that when you make that spiral of thread, you can reverse and spiral back down which effectively takes up a bit more space. Two layers on a spiral is about all you can do though.

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I am relatively sure that a single wrap of thread would take up the slack. There is very little play. Would it be better to use a single wrap of tape over the area to get solid contact over the entire length of the grip?
Thanks for your suggestions.

Brett:

Stick with the thread. The epoxy will fill in the space between the thread spiral wraps and soak them as well. The result will be a good filler that will not break down over time. Yes, you can shim with tape, but why use someting that will not bond to the butt section of the blank?

Doug Weber
Weber Rod Works