Figured this might be helpful to anyone that is just starting out and wondered how a custom grip is made. You can do this without an expensive lathe. All you need it a good mandrel ($11) and a drill. Hope you find it interesting...


Cork comes in 1.250"x.500" and 1.250"x.250" sizes for each ring so this is what I start with.



Next I lay it out in whatever design I want the pattern to be when done.



After that I will coat each side of each ring with epoxy and put it in a clamp/jig to hold it all together to dry. The wood ends have a hole in the center and I use a section from a rod to center it all properly.



Since this one a a custom grip for a 10wt Winston Tarpon rod it will also get a fighting butt so the same has to be done for the butt.



After they dry you now have cork sections ready to mount on the mandrel and turn



I like to use a dry wall scraper screen with a handle to rough in the shape, and then smooth it out with various grits of sandpaper.



And the end result, I custom full wells grip with matching fighting butt with Struble D7 reel seat ready to mount on a rod.



Steve