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A very generous guy on this site set me up with a cork lathe. I was going to shape a handle when I realized I already glued the butt cap on. Can I remove the cap and and fit the but end of the blank in the drill? Can I remove the butt cap by heating it near a alcohol lamp?
I think... I have an idea of what your attempting to do. You can remove the butt cap easily by applying heat. I would heat up a pot of water to boil , submerge just the butt cap and in a minute or two the butt cap will side out and off. .......That's the easy part,.. but what's that leave you with? The rod blank will not be protruding out past the real seat, so you wont be able to chuck anything in the drill. If you remove the reel seat(same way you'd remove the butt cap), you could chuck the butt end of the blank....... This can be dangerous, and one must take extreme caution not to scar or crush the blank. It can be done ...but........Not the ideal way to shape a grip for sure.
Another thing you could do if you already have the Grip glued to the blank is to very carefully drill the butt cap out being carefull not to hit the blank. Then if you have a piece of junk blank laying aroung Wedge it into the blank AGAIN CAREFULLY Use it to chuck up and shape your grip....Once you are all done mix some cork dust with some wood glue and fill the hole.... Sand the Butt cap ... And you're done....
It sure sounds as though I screwed up big time. I was shaping the entire handle by hand before the lathe arrived, but the handle is not nearly where I want it to be. I thought it was until I glued everything together, gripped it in my hand and realized I had a way to go before it felt comfortable. Maybe it would be easier to salvage the reel seat, accompanyng equipment and start over with a new blank and handle.
Would you not be able to finish the grip further by hand, and still enjoy this rod? It may not be perfect, but certainly would be serviceable. Rev up the lathe for your next project.
Don't be so harsh on yourself. We've all been there at one time or another ... sometimes many times!
Betty has a good point there. Also I sent you a response to your PM Bruce...........Ed
I could finish it by hand, Betty, but I'm excited to use my new lathe. LOL! This will be the first time I can finish a rod from start to finish by myself without having to rely on someone else's equipment. It's the little things in life that excite me. I suppose I could wait for my next project.
Thanks for the help people
Then finish it by hand. And enjoy the thought that you built this rod from scratch and used no mechanicals! You'll have done something I've never done in that accomplishment. I've never finished a grip by hand or lathe!!