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.
Save a buck or two and don’t use sooo much glue there. Last time I built one–yesterday–I only had to glue the two rings together on the flat side, not the round side…
There’s actually not that much epoxy on it. The glue on the outside is just because after I tighten the clamp I wipe the glue down the sides so there’s no dried “bumps” from where it’s squeezed out which are harder on the scrapper screen;)
Nice job. Thanks for the tutorial. I enjoy making my own handles, but finding good cork is a problem, and when you find it, it’s too expensive. I started buying the pre-made grips. Some are pretty decent. Of course I’m no expert for sure.
Bruce
Mandrel question . . . i assume it’s 1/4" since cork rings are 1/4 inch ID right? I have looked at anglersworshop.com, hookhack.com, mudhole.com, where would I find one?
Thanks for the great tutorial Steve. I’ve been reluctant to try to make a grip because I have no lathe - now that’s been exposed as a weak excuse so I’ll have to go for it!
Go to your local Ace Hardware and find the little rack of “hobby” metal shapes and pieces. S&K is what the brand is here. There will be a heavy walled aluminum tube about a foot long for a tad less than $3. Some of the bigger stores will have the same tubing in 2’ lengths, too. I got the short one and it works hunky dory neato keen cool for me.
I second the backlash mandrels. They are very nice! You might even spend a little more and get the threaded mandrels in case you decide to start turning wood handles and inserts.
A lot of guys DO glue it up on the mandrel, but I do it a bit different way myself. When I glue it up I use a piece of a broken rod as a mandrel just to get all the rings lined up in the clamp. If you look at the 3rd pic on page one there are holes on each end of the wood on that clamp. So once I get all the rings lined up I pull out the piece of the broken rod and wipe it off. That way I dont end up having to clean my mandrel all the time, but a lot of guys do glue up on the mandrel.
considering the ring are “lubed” with the epoxy . . . They don’t slip any when under clamp pressure? I see the mandrel supported in the V-blocks, what’s supporting the drill? Are you simply holding it or is it in some sort of “fixture”?
This is like most other things. Steve’s way works for Steve, but may not for you or me. We all have ways that work well for us. That doesn’t make any of the ideas wrong.
I do it similar to Steve, but not quite the same.
My glue clamp is the same. If you have even pressure on both sides, you can remove the mandrel. If not, those “lubed” pieces will slide.
I don’t use epoxy. The kind of adhesive you use is pretty much a personal preference. I use Titebond III, which is a waterproof glue and water based. I glue up on the mandrel and clamp it up, leaving the mandrel in place.
Once things are dry, I chuck it up and turn it. When the turning and sanding are finished, I just grip the grip and the mandrel breaks loose and I can just pull it off the spinning mandrel. Chances are pretty good that by that time, I will have broken the glue loose anyway by putting too much friction with the sandpaper, rasp, or whatever tool I used to rough it in. The mandrel comes out nice and clean and I ream the grip like I would a pre-fab.
Yes, the drill will need to be supported somehow. The mandrel needs to be supported at both ends while you are turning.
About the time you think you need to take just a little bit more off, STOP. The finish sanding will take you the rest of the way. You can always make it a bit smaller, but it is tough to make it any bigger once you have made it too small.
I don’t slide the mandrel(section of rod I use for glueing) out untill I have both sides tightened evenly. As long as you have equal pressure then it won’t slide out at all on you. The drill motor itself is just in my hand but the Mandrel is supported by V blocks on each end. You can make a fixture for holding the drill which a lot of guys do. Normally they just make an elongated V block to hold the drill inverted and then strap it down to the block. But since pretty much all the work on the grip is done with one hand I never saw a need for me to make a fixture.
One reason I don’t glue up rings on my mandrel is because I use Two part “Ultimate Gel” for gluing cork rings and that stuff will stick even to bare smooth metal so once it dries there’s no pulling the mandrel out when you use that stuff.
<duckin’ and runnin’>