Entering new ground here. Building a 12 wt. 9' fly rod. Presume that it will be used for sail fish and will need a fighting butt. For leverage, to me, this fighting butt should be about 6" nad since I have not found any this long I am think about building a butt cap on the blank; then mounting the fly reel forward of this (kind of like a split grip spinning or bait casting rod. Any thoughts
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I have a new lathe and have been starting to make my own cork grips from gluing up the rings. I bought some (estimated) grade CG3 rings (about $.60 ea) and some CG2 grade (about $1.20 ea.) I started with the CG3 and turned my grip to size...wow, a lot of imperfections (pits, "lines", etc.) not real deep but doesn't look anywhere near as nice as finished grips I've bought for $6 -$8
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I was talking to a few folks the other night at a friends house and the topic got onto the customs I've been building and someone mentioned that the use of craft foam in my handles is not the best thing for accents. It was said that the rod bond will eat away at the foam rings over time. I'm not sure about this but I've got to ask it of you guys since you know better than me. This would be the
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I have a co-worker who is an avid fly fisherman. Unfortunately he had an accident that resulted in quite a bit of nerve damage and now he has feeling and control issues in his index and middle fingers. He still wants to fish so other than learning to fish with his other hand I thought I'd explore the possibility of making a custom grip that would place his ring and pinkie fingers in a better p
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I have a couple of questions regarding use of hobby foam in grips. Will rod bond work for gluing hobby foam to cork? Will hobby foam hold up OK? My grandson wants an Iowa Hawkeye rod. I was going to use pieces of gold and black hobby foam glued together for accent rings. I was not sure if this would affect the integrity of the cork grip? Thanks steve
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I ‘m taking my rod building to the next step. I’ve turned a lot of my own reel seats and have worked a little with cork grips making modifications or resizing them, but I haven’t yet built one from scratch. I don’t think it will be too hard to build cork grips, but the one thing that I can’t seem to accomplish is to produce the clean sharp edges and lines I want. Anyone have some a
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Lately I've been seeing more and more cork grips which appear to have either shrunk or just deteriorated. Most are on factory rods but a few were custom builds. The minor damage cases appear as if the individual rings have shrunk or narrowed and pulled away from the adjacent ring. The cork often still looks fine, not gray or weathered, just shrunk or retracted away from the reel seat or other ri
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Been looking forward to the 2010 show for quite some time. I've finally decided to get Dec Wrap thread packing tools made to my specs, since there weren't any others which worked the right way. I will be demoing how to use the tool at the booth (like we always do), and will show you how to SAVE HOURS when doing a wrap > simply by having teh proper tool and knowing how to use it > I have a s
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I have been contemplating putting together one of my next handles on a scrap from a fiberglass blank that matches the butt of my rod that I am building. When all is done, I would then simply slip this over the new blank and epoxy in place. I have had reservations about this as I have yet to see anyone else do this. However, today I see Andrew Metzger do something along those lines in this
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I'd like to make some cork grips with eva inlay. The design i'm thinking of would have 3 eva strips bonded to each other, and cork rings on either side. What would be the best products to bond eva to eva, and eva to the cork. I'm trying to post a link to a pic of what I'd like to try.
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I did a bobo last night i glued up a 10" and a 21/2" cork grips on my mandrels but i made a rookie mistake i did not wax the mandrels before i glued the rings up and put them on the mandrels. I used a 3/8" mandrel and 25 cork rings. I really hate to loose that much cork as i don't have that much margin in the rod to do dumb things like that. Doe anyone have ideas on getting the gr
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When I turn cork rings I build up the mandrel with masking tape to create a more snug fit so the rings don't spin when I'm turning the cork. I'm sure there is a better way to do this. Any good suggestions to get a tight fit on the mandrel?
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I ran into a dilemma on 2 of my latest builds. The blanks I was building on had large (by bass fishing standards) diameter butts. When reaming the cork on a St. Croix handle kit, I had to ream the cork so thin to get it to fit, that in the middle of the cork handle, the walls are thin. Thin enough that I can feel the cork flex when I grab the handle. There appears to be about a 1/4 inch void
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I made a bunch of rods a few years ago and am back at it now. I build my handles by gluing cork directly to the blank, and then sanding it down on the lathe. Normally I sand a single ring on a threaded rod to butt cap I.D. size and attach it to the butt end. Unfortunately, I forgot my usual plan and glued full size cork rings all the way down to the butt end. Thus, I have no way to sand the butt
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Shaping cork grip on a lathe is one of the more enjoyable aspects of rod building for me. However, I don't really enjoying having to square up cork rings as I do it by hand on sand paper currently. A bit tedious. Good thing cork is soft. Cork rings are sometimes not squared, or have a rough torn up face that won't glue smoothly so these have to be squared. How do you guys do this? Is t
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Is titebond an acceptable agent for bonding EVA to cork?
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I'm wondering how many of you out there are making cork handles the old school way. i.e. reaming each ring and fitting them to the blank before gluing up and turning on a mandrel. My buddy was telling me that several of the builders he knows are still doing it this way. While I glue up my rings, turn and finally ream and install. He says doing it the old way results in a better fit than reaming
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G'day Guys, I'm wanting to build myself some standup rods for school size bluefin tuna (in the 15-30 kg range) using spinning reels. The reels will be Penn 650ssm spinners loaded with 500yds of 30lb Izor braid and a mono top shot. I'm hoping I can also use the rods as bottom bashing outfits if need be as well but this is not critical. My mode of fishing is lure trolling, mainly using bibles
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I have done very little work with eva grips. Most of my builds (saltwater included) have been made with cork rings (I bought 10,000 rings on a very special deal in the 1970s and still have a lot left). I love working with cork: after gluing up a grip, I just shape it on my combination belt/disc sander. It shapes easily but doesn't cut too quickly, and the results are always good. A few days a
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What is the best way to keep the rod attached to the chuck when turning cork? Right now I just have a dowel I keep adding/removing tape from. Thank you! Wade
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I favor whole cork (or whatever the term is) so I never tried composite cork. However, I figure I'd like to try some composite cork for the final ring at the end of the butt for durability the the rod is set down on the ground. I need this to be without a hole. Quick questions: 1. Are composite cork indeed much more durable to abrasion? 2.Do they differ in durability or are they all ab
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Hey folks, for those of you that are guide prep-ping using hand files, what kinda files are you using? I can't seem to get my fingers coordinated enough to work the smaller guides on a dremel so I figure i better use some hand files. If I don't, I forsee myself inadvertently grinding off a guide foot or two! Thanks!
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micro fly rod build looking to build a micro fly rod on a 30" blank found this for a reel seat/handle but it's 10' long ( a full 1/3 of the total length). Too long in my opinion. Any advice on shortening this seat/handle? would like to take it down to 5-6" Cut down with a fine blade saw in a miter box? sand to re shape? any one else make a micro fly rod? something like th
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OK, you lathe-using folks, I'll bite - how do you use one of those neat steel mandrels to turn a grip? I understand the part about coating the mandrel with a non sticky substance, such as wax, to keep the glue from attaching the cork to the mandrel, but what I can't seem to get my head around is, what keeps the grip from spinning on the mandrel when you apply any pressure to it on the lathe, sinc
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Just wondering if anyone that has used this material has any thoughts positive or perhaps negative. Thanks Jeff Leonard
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Ive been building rods for about 4 years (all light to heacy saltwater) and still the part I hate the most is gluing the grips, hancle, reel seat ect... I use the flexcoast slow dry epoxy. For a small amount of glue in mix in the small measuring cups. Stir for about 3 minutes. If I need alot of glue I take either the resin and dump it into the harder and mix. I only do this when they are both
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can you dye cork? What would you use, and will it penetrate all the way through? I want to dye it before gluing up and shaping. i plan to seal the cork with tru-oil after shaping so the dye should not run when wet, right? What are your thought/ experiences. Thanks, John
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Can anyone recommend a good book or video describing in detail the process of making a cork handle. I am looking for detail information i.e. type lathe, mandrels & etc. Thanks
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Going to try my hand at some simple EVA inlays... just simple rings. Tried a search and couldn't find anything. Couple questions: Best way to cut the EVA block (from mudhole) I am using for the majority of the grip? 18" long, need about a 3" section. What's the best way for a nice smooth cut? What's the best way to adhere the inlay foam? Contact cement? Put it in a clamp like
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Is anyone else here using Titebond carpenters glue for cork rings on a mandrel? I glued some up last week, turned them today and when I removed the cork grip the mandrel underneath is horribly rusted and pitted. This has never happened to me in many years of gluing rings with epoxy on mandrels. It must be the Titebond. Any ideas? I won't be using Titebond for this again. Costs too much to replac
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