Hey everybody, long time forum stalker here. I've been scouring the internet in regards to this topic but I can't seem to find anything.

I'm attempting to make a centerpin/float rod with a wooden handle from butt to reel seat to offset the heavy guides. I have a 12 inch piece of cocobolo that I want to trim one inch or a half inch off of and make into the rear grip and put a half inch of cork on either end. I would like to use that trimmed piece as an accent above the reel seat to make things flow a little better.

I was hoping I could get some guidance with a few things.

I'm not sure how I can drill through the entire 12" blank, if I should go through the entire blank with a 1/2 inch bit or use two diamater bits.. Either way I'm probably going to have to use masking tape bushings on the rod blank. The rod butt is supposedly .51 inches and 12 inches up it's probably less than a tenth of an inch difference in diamater.

I would like to put a recessed button size piece of cocobolo in the rubberized cork butt but I'm not sure how to go about that. I was thinking of gluing it to a wooden dowel but I'm afraid it won't hold when shaping on the lathe.

The biggest brain scratcher for me is the accent wood ring mixed with cork, im not how would I turn the wood with cork on either end.. maybe I'll turn the ring prior to gluing it to the rest of the cork but then I'm worried about it being centered.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2018 04:23PM by Eric Zielinski.

[www.floatfishing.net]

If you aren't aware of them, this site has some great rod builders that might be able to help. A lot of them marry wood and cork.

Eric,
If you are going to drill through the entire 12 inch blank, you put the grip in your lathe head stock, put an aircraft extension bit into your tail stock chuck and advance the drill into the spinning piece of wood.
You want to support the tail stock of spinning grip with the use of a ball bearing rod rest to preclude the grip from doing any wobbling.

You want to glue on the grip and get everything shaped before drilling the center hole and then, after drilling, just make a plug for the butt end of the cork and glue it into place.

A couple of pictures:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

A couple of things that you want to do, before drilling the full length hole.
You start with your initial hole by using a 60 degree center pointing drill in the tail stock and advance that into the wood first. This will insure that you have the perfectly centered center hole.

Then, start with something like a standard 1/4 inch drill to make your initial drilling, Then, you can go up to the size bit that you want to drill full length and use a standard jobbers drill in that size first to drill the hole 4 inches deep. Then, switch to the 15 inch aircraft extension bit to complete the drilling with the size of your choice.

Here is an inexpensive set of center point drill bits to set your initial centering hole in the grip:
[www.amazon.com]

Here is an inexpensive set of plug cutters to cut the patch plug for the end of the grip when plugging the hole in the end cork piece:
[www.harborfreight.com]

Here is a set of inexpensive long drill bits for through boring of the grip:
[www.harborfreight.com]

A picture of the lathe setup, when turning the wood grip:
[www.rodbuilding.org]
I purchased additional head stock grips as well as an additional live tail stock to handle the relatively small sized grip that I was turning:
[www.rodbuilding.org]

I use Penn State Industries for the lathe accessories necessary for the lathe to do the work:
[www.pennstateind.com]

IN particular - for the head stock:
[www.pennstateind.com]

For the tail stock"
[www.pennstateind.com]
[www.pennstateind.com]

Chuck for the tail stock
[www.pennstateind.com]

==================
I had an extra disk sander and I was having trouble getting the butt of the grip perfectly perpendicular after gluing in the butt plug.
Since I was building a bunch of similar rods, all using butt plugs, I purchased a cross vise and after removing the material rest from the disk sander; bolted on the cross vise. Now, when sanding the end of the rod butt, I clamp the grip into the cross vise and use the cranks to advance the work into the sander and to move the butt across the face of the disk sander to obtain a perfect perpendicular cut on the end of the butt grip:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

With the right tools, the job is easy and satisfying.

Good luck

I will drill my hole, then turn my piece to keep it true to the hole. You can also put your piece on a mandrel to turn, I do this with foam cores. I use tape arbors to keep it center. I did a inlay on a handle and found that drilling after it was turned was not the best idea. I use fostner bits with extensions for any thing bigger then 1/4 inch. This is how I drill out pepper mills when I make them.

Thanks for the responses..

I didn't think about drilling the hole after shaping. I guess I'm worried about the bit wandering since the blank is so long. I think that my thoughts were that I can always try to shape the grip around the hole if the bit wanders. I'll definitely use that center pointing drill.

My lathe bed isn't that long either, maybe I can start the hole with a regular bit and then devise a way to to finish it off in my finicky drill press.

Thanks for the responses..

I didn't think about drilling the hole after shaping. I guess I'm worried about the bit wandering since the blank is so long. I think that my thoughts were that I can always try to shape the grip around the hole if the bit wanders. I'll definitely use that center pointing drill.

My lathe bed isn't that long either, maybe I can start the hole with a regular bit and then devise a way to to finish it off in my finicky drill press.

Thanks for the responses..

I didn't think about drilling the hole after shaping. I guess I'm worried about the bit wandering since the blank is so long. I think that my thoughts were that I can always try to shape the grip around the hole if the bit wanders. I'll definitely use that center pointing drill.

My lathe bed isn't that long either, maybe I can start the hole with a regular bit and then devise a way to to finish it off in my finicky drill press.

Thanks for the responses..

I didn't think about drilling the hole after shaping. I guess I'm worried about the bit wandering since the blank is so long. I think that my thoughts were that I can always try to shape the grip around the hole if the bit wanders. I'll definitely use that center pointing drill.

My lathe bed isn't that long either, maybe I can start the hole with a regular bit and then devise a way to to finish it off in my finicky drill press.

Thanks for the responses..

I didn't think about drilling the hole after shaping. I guess I'm worried about the bit wandering since the blank is so long. I think that my thoughts were that I can always try to shape the grip around the hole if the bit wanders. I'll definitely use that center pointing drill.

My lathe bed isn't that long either, maybe I can start the hole with a regular bit and then devise a way to to finish it off in my finicky drill press.

I apologize, I have no idea how that happened. John, do you mind if I ask what fostner bit extender you use? I saw a few but it seems like the majority won't work for 1/2 inch fostner bits because the diamater of the extender is larger than the 1/2 inch bit.

You right about the 1/2 inch bit, I with use 1/4 hex extensions for all up to like 3/4". I forgot I ream out for a 1/4" x 12" bit I have. You could also drill it out bigger and fill it with foam it make the handle really light.

I want the weight to offset the guides, I'm doing size 6 guides all the way up to the tip to combat ice accumulation. Cocobolo is pretty heavy though so I may be able to get away with that.

All my fostners are 3/8ths, I'll have to see if I can find some 1/4 inch ones.

I may just bite the bullet, do everything I can to assure center and drill through both ends, cross my fingers and hope the holes align.

Eric,
The beauty of a lathe with a bed long enough to handle your drilling chores, is that you can keep the drill bit stationary and spin the grip.


By spinning the work piece, you will guarantee that your hole will be perfectly centered.

Another thing to consider is to have your bulk wood glued up as you wish.

Then, drill the center hole how you wish. If you start with a long 1/4 inch drill bit and use your drill press, you can drill 1/2 way through from each end.

Then, you can obtain a long drill bit as posted earlier and do a full length drilling of the entire handle.

Now, mount the drilled center rough lumber and start shaping your grip. By the time you will be finished, the center hole will be perfectly centered and you will have the grip that you wish.

In order to make your drilling job easy, obtain foam mandrels that are preformed in a circular shape and of a size that is larger than the largest bore of your rod.
Ream out each of the arbors to match the diameter of your rod blank. Then, drill out the wood work stock to match the outside diameter of your arbors.

Shape your grip and then, in the final glue up, glue the arbors to your blank and then glue the new wood grip to your newly installed arbors.

Good luck