Working on some fly rods and assembling the top fixed hood to the wood body, and had one break loose (before putting on the rod).

The top fixed hood does not have as much glue surface as the threaded barrel - any tips for gluing it more solid?

Any glue type preference - paste or liquid?

Thanks - Marc

Keep it simple - that's all I can handle!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2016 04:00PM by John E Powell.

Marc

Good advice from John P. Got to clean then scuff / rough up the hood interior and insert exterior to provide "tooth" for the adhesive.

if the hood is to be hidden (the grip is inlet to accept the hood leaving only a trim band visible), you will need to clean then scuff both the interior and exterior of the hood being very careful NOT to scuff the trim band. Glue sand paper to a dowel to make scuffing the inside of the hood and threaded barrel easier.

I have successively used both U-40 Rod Bond and ProPaste (the 15 minute version). No failures thus far, but I could be living a charmed life!

By the way, if you put the epoxy adhesive in the hood and barrel interiors only you will have less excess epoxy to clean up. Same for a hidden / inlet hood - apply adhesive to the interior of the grip inlet.

Not too much "tooth." Epoxy bonds best to smooth surfaces, although they do need to be de-glossed to a water-break-free condition.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I prefer the gel/paste type epoxies for adhering reel seats to the rod blank, but any good 2-part epoxy will do. A more liquid type might be better for the small tolerances on your seat parts. Devon, Flex Coat, etc., will be fine.

............

Metal parts often have some surface oils from machining or forming. This needs to cleaned off for a good bond, I use alcohol, then scuff.using sandpaper.

One of the problems I have found, is that some fishermen leave their rod sitting in hot sun, this then heats up the metal parts (especially bad with black or dark titanium metal) then when a fly reel gets a little loose they crank hard on the reel seat nut, which can break the softened epoxy bond on the threaded portion from a wood insert.

I have fished with some who's reel seat metal got so hot, it would almost blister you.

Marc

My response assumes that the reel seat hood you have is the type that gets inletted into the rear of the cork grip.

Your first step should be to cement the reel seat hood into the recess in the cork grip. This is done BEFORE the grip is cemented to the rod blank. I use U40 Rod Bond for this. There are other adhesives that will work but my preference is Rod Bond, and I have never had a bonding failure using it.

Secondly, cement the threaded barrell to the wood spacer. Again, I use Rod Bond for this. At this point I set both parts aside for the epoxy to harden.

Next, cement the wooden spacer and threaded barrell assembly to the rod blank. Scuff the rod blank surface where this assembly will sit with fine sandpaper so the cement will have a better gripping surface. Only scuff the surface. Do not sand through the blank finish. Again, I use Rod Bond for this. At this point I attach and cement the grip in place, but as a beginner you would probably do better if you allow the cement holding the wood spacer in place to harden before installing the grip.

Installation of the grip is pretty straightforward. Use Rod Bond as the adhesive. Again scuff up the rod blank finish under the area where the grip will sit. Apply Rod Bond to the blank area where the grip will sit, Put a small amount of Rod Bond inside of the metal reel seat hood where the wood spacer fits into it and slide the grip assembly up tight against the wooden reel seat insert. Use a twisting motion as you slide the grip into place to insure better distribution of the adhesive. At this point check to see if any epoxy has worked it's way into the reel seat hood area where the reel foot goes. If so clean it out. That's it! You should have a reel seat and grip assembly that is solid, stable, and will last for years.

Hope this helps.

John A.