I recently had a rod built but the handle is Way to large(thick) compared to the factory handle but was told by builder he could not turn down because it could not be chucked up.So can I take sandpaper and sand it down myself if so what grit,because it won’t get used like it is now.
Return the rod! Get one built the way you want it. A competent builder should be able to change the grip. If you approved of an oversized grip it can be removed and replaced for a fee. If you didn’t, then don’t accept the rod.
Absolutely! Return the rod. It CAN be chucked up and turned down a bit for you. If he can’t chuck it up, he needs to remove it and turn it down, turn a new grip, or otherwise fix the issue for you. Maybe he can pay another builder to fix the grip for you.
wow I don’t know who built the rod for you but any builder would be able to make this right. Any builder that says it can’t be turned down needs to step back and fix his/her mistake. sorry to hear of the misfortune. to sand the cork I start with 80 grit to form the grip. then I go to 100 and take it down to 600 grit to make it nice and smooth. hope this helps
Like the others said, any experienced rod builder should be able to sand down a grip. There are mandrels that fit different sized holes in the cork. http://www.anglersworkshop.com/grip-turning-mandrels-1-4-1-2.html He would slip the grip onto the appropriate sized mandrel mount it on his lathe, and it shouldn’t take him more that 15 minutes to sand the grip to he proper size. Then he simply uses finer grade paper until he has the grip nice smooth. Now that he has assembled the rod, the process is much more complicated because he has to remove the reel seat and grip. His problem, not yours.
Jim Smith
Appears to me that you told the builder you wanted it slightly larger than the factory grip.
even without removing the reel seat it could be chucked and mounted with some steady rests then turned down. I’ve done it before on a rod I bought and didn’t like the grip on. just need to becareful and take your time. any decent custom rodbuilder should be able to do this. However it should have been done right the first time.
It was done right the first time, he told the builder he wanted it slightly larger than the factory grip. I know this builders reputation, and you get what you ask for.
Having talked with both sides of this issue, I think this should explain the confusion. I jumped to conclusions with my first post and was wrong. My deepest apologies.
The top grip is similar in size to what was made.
The middle grip is a plain old factory grip from Mudhole.
The bottom grip is what Thomas likes and was calling “factory.” It is considerably smaller than anything any builder I know would call “factory” even though the rod came from St Croix with this grip.
There were two very different definitions of “factory” in play here. Thomas clearly got what he asked for but not what he thought he was asking for.
While there was clearly some miscommunication here it is clear that Thomas has a custom rod that he feels he cannot use. I don’t understand why the builder says it can’t be fixed at a reasonable cost. For what it is worth I think that the blame for the problem probably rests with both parties. If Thomas could have been clearer about what he wanted, the builder should have been sure that he understood what was being asked of him. If he was building a grip on the St Croix blank to be bigger than a factory grip he should probably (in hindsight) have checked the grip on the factory rod. I don’t know how acrimonious their discussions have become but if they can still work together I would think that a repair at a reduced price would be fair
I know better than to jump in on this, but, I will anyway and please understand that I am not taking any side and do not mean to upset anyone. Lets put aside who said what and who was wrong because neither case will eliminate the problem which is that the “receiver” feels he has a rod that he cannot use due to the cork grip being too large. What needs to be done is provide the “receiver” with a means to turn the grip down which I feel can be easily done by either the builder, another builder or the “receiver”. I know that I have purchased factory rods that I felt the grip was too large for my small hand and I just took the rod to a rod builder friend of mine in Tullahoma and he took the butt section and chucked it up in his lathe and used sandpaper/emory cloth and within a matter of miutes, had turned the cork handle down. Unless there is another problem that I am not familiar with, I really do not understand why the builder cannot do the same as the builder here does. He just taped the butt of the rod so his lathe chuck did not make any marks on it and turned the lathe on and sanded the grip down. This only takes a few minutes. This same local builder has built rods for me and he always called me to come over when he was ready to turn down the grip so that I could grip it and let him know when he had it right.
Just my 2 cents worth and nothing more. This whole post has turned into a battle on who was wrong and who was right and the question was how to sand down a grip that was too large.
It’s been handled, Warren. I turned it down for him.
Kevin,
He may not have said, “thank you”, but I do. I know there was a lot more to this, but, I do thank you for doing this.
I just came back to my topic and MY GOD all the comments in negative I see.As for a comment on size of grip if a “professional builder” knows his factory rods he or she should know the handles sizes.Like anyone can do go to St Croix site and you can clearly tell the difference.As stated Kevin has turned it down on his lathe and problem solved,and yes many thanks to him.Guess a good investment for builders is a lathe to make quick work.
And on another note,I hope you are doing well Kevin with your treatments,i know my heart doc wasn’t happy with my pulse at 150 when he was trying my nuclear stress test yesterday.Hey when your nervous your nervous.
Ain’t no reason to really know how the 1000’s of factory rods are built, professional builders build custom rods, not factory clones. That same rod throughout its lifetime has had no less than 3 different grip designs.
Maybe this will be a good lesson for those looking to have a rod built.Explain in Great detail what you want,if you have to take pictures or better send a factory built rod along with the blank to make it less confusing.On this topic I probably should have said after Kevin’s first resp once that he had taken care of it.