I'm planning to put EVA Tennessee handles on some ice rods.

The butt ends of the blanks are only about .150"

The smallest ID hole for EVA or cork that is offered by this vendor is .1875.

I'm thinking of using either masking tape arbors or wrapping D sized thread around the blank. They also offer a .250" dia. graphite tube that can be used to fill in the difference between the blank and the handle.

I'm probably over thinking this, but I'm not thrilled with any of these options. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Dan

Prep the blank for a good bond and use 1/4" tape as an arbor

Bill - willierods.com

Dan,
If you do some searches, there is a supplier who supplies cork handles with a small hole set up just for ice rods.

Be safe

Ive done a few Ice Rods over the past couple of weeks and have went with the masking tape arbor. To make yourself feel a bit better about it just make sure to build up the epoxy on the sides of your tape arbor.

BLAIR

Janns Netcraft sells a korkalon ice fishing handle that works wonderfully. It is designed for small diamater blanks. Here is the link, but I see that they are out of stock.. www.jannsnetcraft.com/ice-rod-parts/027462400001.aspx

Thanks for the replies. I'll use masking tape arbors on these rods and will order some 1/8" hole cork and/or korkalon handles from Janns next time I order from them.

Are there any sources for 1/8" hole EVA?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2014 08:36AM by roger wilson.

Dan I have yet to see a 1/8" ID for EVA and could also use direction on where these might be available outside of making one myself.

BLAIR M.

Dan, a couple of thoughts...

In your original post you ask about EVA, but you also mention cork. I'm not clear if cork is an option or not for you, but you can find cork rings without holes and drill them to any size you want.

As for eva, have you considered pouring your own foam core? You could use the same lightweight foam for building fiberglass/graphite skinned foam grips to create a core that you could slide a larger EVA grip over. The core foam shapes pretty easily, you could do it by hand if you don't have a lathe.

It would be a lot of extra work, but on an ice rod it should be significantly lighter than building up tape and filling the gaps between the tape with epoxy.

The difference in the space on your sizes is less then a millimeter It will add some weight Use more 1/4" tape arbors

Bill - willierods.com