Hi, I completed gluing up a handle assembly on my 7' downrigger rod last night. One problem I always seem to have is where the threaded part of reel seat meets the grip. In this case a size 18 seat meeting a cork foregrip. I taped the edge of each part but i cant get a clean glue line there. It seems to bulge out there. Any tips for avoiding that? Also should i have some kind of clamp device to hold it all together until it sets up or is gravity enough? thanks, mark

Mark,
A tooth brush solves your problem.

Also, if you wish, you can use a couple of simple clamps to hold things together. You can just take some appropriately sized wood, and drill a hole in the wood that is large enough to easily slip over the blank. This will slip down to the reel seat.
To avoid any issues with the glue and the wood, I put a piece of wax paper on top of the reel seat, before pulling the wood clamp down to the reel seat.

Then, I put another piece of wood on the end of the grip. Finally, I just take a few #64 rubber bands hooked over each side of the wood from in front of the reel seat to the end of the rod grip to supply tension on the joint to avoid any gaps.

If necessary for lengths, just loop a few rubber bands together to get the necessary length.

With respect to the tooth brush. After things have been glued together, I use a tooth brush and denatured alcohol to remove any epoxy residue that is on the outside of the grip or reel seat. Then, I put the binders on to apply pressure to the joint. If any more glue squeezes out of the joint, I will again do a follow up with the tooth brush and denatured alcohol to remove any glue from the outside of the grip or reel seat.

An easy way to make the wood clamp is to use a piece of plywood, and trace a nice shape out that will bulge out for the reel seat and then come back in to supply the extensions to hook the rubber bands. On the butt end of the rod, I just take the piece of wood and drill a hole - larger than the rod butt, part way through the wood to supply a centering hole for the grip to keep the clamp in place when you apply the rubber bands and pressure on the grip and reel seat.

Be safe

Thank you Roger, i will try your tips next time. mark