Fly Fishing Forum banner

Can't center cork grip turned on blank

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Gregory DeFoe 
#1 ·
I glued-up my first grip ever on a blank and when I turned it in the drill lathe the seat hood showed through on one side. Obviously the grip became offcentered somehow. The reel seat is a REC with a round hood. I epoxied in a threaded REC fighting butt insert and then used a headless bolt threaded into the insert chucked into drill lathe. I did notice a little wobble that disappeared after a while. My thought was that the fighting butt insert or the reel seat itself was not centered. The difference between the width of the edge of the cork ring arround the hood is over 1mm. I would have noticed that difference if the reel seat was off by that much.
I then glued up another cork grip on another rod. Same model seat but without the fighting butt insert. I used the bushing made for the seat and it was centered perfectly on the blank. I bushed an old blank and inserted it into the butt end of the blank I was turning and it fit perfectly. Before I started I noticed that the cork ring over the hood was symmetrical at the aft end. When I started turning the grip the same thing happened. While I was careful not to exrose the hood like the former one, it still wanted to become offset. I sanded the high spot bringing the grip back to symmetrical. After I finished the grip is great but the ring over the hood is still offset.
To produce a straight stick of cork I epoxied 60 grit paper to a smooth board and applied it carefully to knock down the high spots. I use a Flex Coat lathe with 2 steadies.
I can't figure what I am I doing wrong.
Advise would be appreciated.
Herb
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Off center cork grip

It sounds like the inletted bore of the cork ring was not concentric to the ring and/or the reel seat was not centered. When finished this would be the thinnest cork on the handle and minor errors could show up as you describe. While it is probably me, I do not fully understand your description of the method you used. If you would care to PM me with contact info perhaps I could talk you thru it. I build 2handers and turn all grips on the blank and have yet to have a problem like that.
Greg DeFoe
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top