I just turned my first cork grip yesterday. I know someone with a lathe who is fairly experienced using it so I went and did it with them. I'm not quite sure how it happened (I suspect that the rotation of the lathe was a bit eccentric), but the center hole in the front of the grip wound up about an 1/8" off center. The hole on the back end of the grip is dead on. My question is twofold. If I line up the axis of the grip in such a way that the imperfection is in line with my casting motion ill this affect the performance of my rod? And if the performance will be affected is there a way to correct the mistake and realign the grip properly?

Thanks

Were you turning the cork on the blank or on a mandrel, is this for a fly, spin or bait caster, and if for a spin or conventional bait caster do I assume correctly it is the main rear grip? If the grip was turned on a mandrel was the off center before the grip was reamed to fit or after reaming to fit?

Dan,
Really simple.
Just take a drill and drill out the front of the grip to be in the center of the grip.

Then, when mounting the grip, just add a bit of tape on the offset hole side to keep the grip centered on the rod blank.

It is simple and works well to correct such a situation.

Good luck

Dan,
One way to avoid such an issue in the future would be to ream or bore out the individual cork rings before gluing the cork together.

Then, align the out side of the cork when gluing up.

Then, build up the mandrel with masking tape to match the inside diameter of the reamed out cork and the cork will be centered properly each time.

Be safe

"One way to avoid such an issue in the future would be to ream or bore out the individual cork rings before gluing the cork together.

Then, align the out side of the cork when gluing up.

Then, build up the mandrel with masking tape to match the inside diameter of the reamed out cork and the cork will be centered properly each time."


It's for a fly rod. ^^This is exactly the process I followed. I used a threaded rod as a mandrel and I'm not totally convinced that it fit the lathe properly. The guy I was working with said it would be fine, but it looked to me like the end that was resting up against the fixed end of the machine was wobbling more than it should have been. I hadn't intended to use a winding check but if I drill out the front of the grip again i guess I would have to. The thought of trying to drill out the top of the grip concerns me. It sounds like an easy way to ruin the grip.

The problem with either with his tailstock, tailstock center or he used sandpaper to rough down and shape the cork instead of doing the bulk of the work with a cutting tool.

If you align the offset either up or down to your casting stroke, it's unlikely to affect anything other than your mine, and at some point you'll be too busy catching fish to remember it.

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We used sandpaper the whole time. He told me that he thought a cutting tool would tear the cork apart. I'm kind of inclined to agree that the offset is unlikely to affect the performance of the rod I just figured I'd get some other opinions.

You have to use a cutting tool, such as a round nose scraper, to get the cylinder concentric. Otherwise the glue squeeze out and any hard spots in the cork will simply float the sandpaper up and away from those spots. Always rough the stock down with a cutting tool then do the final shaping and sanding with sandpaper.

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I have not had good luck using any sort of a scraper on cork.

However, I do use a Stanley surform file. This does a wonderful job of truing up the grip as well as cutting through glue lines.

[www.google.com]

If it can float on the surface, which a file does, it won't make a concentric grip. You have to cut from a stationary position.

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Problem could be the threaded rod. If its not straight that could be part of it.Roll it on a flat surface and see if its true.

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

That could be it too, the threaded rod was a little bowed when I rolled it. Whatever happened I'll try to prevent it with this advice next time, but I think I'm just going to line up the imperfection with my casting stroke and not worry about it for this rod.

I use a wood rasp on all It has ruff teeth that take a lot off so be careful Just for a quick shape Then 36 paper on a block going finer
[www.google.com]

Bill - willierods.com

I use one of these to do initial shaping.

[www.amazon.com]

If the tool lies/floats on the grip stock instead of cutting against it from a consistent distance, you're apt to get an out of round or non-concentric grip.

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