Cork Butt grips with rubberized cork ends are always a drill, grind, ream, file guessing game for me. How do you ream down to the rubberized cork dead center while leaving the rubberized cork end in tact...and do it for a snug fit on any blank??

So does the fighting butt dead end with the rubberized end? If so, I use a set of drill bits. Find one that fits the hole very snuggly, and turn it by hand until it bottoms out. Then go the the next size drill bit and repeat, then repeat until the rod butt fits snuggly. You can use a cordless drill but you increase your chances of cutting through the rubberized cork end. If you use the power drill still go ‘bit by bit’ and let the cork occasionally slip in you hand, this helps to keep the hole centered. I like to turn the drill bits by hand, you get less chipping but still goes very quickly, you are only drilling a couple of inches. I also have a set of 12” long drill bits that I use for long dead ended grips.
Norm

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William Sidney
AK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2018 01:32PM by Bill Sidney.

Thanks, Norm. Bill, can you be more specific?

Jim

My process is similar to Norm's with the addition of the use of masking tape on the bits to mark the depth of the grip to the rubberized cork. It means I do not have to rely solely on feel to keep from removing too much rubberized cork.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2018 03:43PM by Donald La Mar.

there are some metal rings to go on your bits you can get , but the tape will do the job just as well ,

William Sidney
AK

Jim,
I do it very simply by taking a long drill bit and drilling all of the way through the grip - including the rubberized rod butt.

I ream as needed and then when finished, I take a piece of matching rubberized butt or ring material, cut a plug for it; and glue it back into the butt cap. Then, I use my disk sander to sand it flush and you are finished.

Plug cutters:

[www.harborfreight.com]

[www.harborfreight.com]

Examples of rubberized cork material - no hole:

[www.google.com]

This is a picture of a disk sander with a cross vise mounted in front of it to precisely sand flat the butt of a rod grip after gluing in a matching plug to finish off the rod:

[www.rodbuilding.org]



Much easier than worrying about not drilling through the butt cap.

Good luck



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2018 09:13AM by roger wilson.

Or you can take the butt grip and use low tack masking tape to wrap about 6 turns around the butt of the grip as well as somewhat near the tip of the butt cap to avoid leaving any chuck marks on the grip or any rod rest bearing marks on the grip as well.

Then, use various sized drills and lengths to drill out the grip to the appropriate depth and size to be able to slide nicely onto the butt of the rod.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Insert the grip into the chuck lathe, support the end of the grip with a ball bearing steady rest, then chuck your drill bit of choice into the tail stock.
Spin the grip by use of the lathe and chuck and use the stationary drill bit to drill out the interior of the grip by use of the lath tail stock that has a jacobs chuck mounted in it while holding the drill bit of choice.

Run the lathe on the slowest speed possible to avoid ripping up the grip material.

You can buy inexpensive extension bits to use after you use up all of the length available in a standard machinist bit.

[www.harborfreight.com]

After reaming out the grip to the size of the butt of the rod blank, use masking tape to create an arbor on the outside of the blank so that the rod blank outside diameter is constant in size from the butt of the rod to the tip of the rear grip.
When making the masking tape arbors, leave a 1/16th inch gap between the rows of masking tape wrap, so that you can get epoxy into the gap and have a full contact of epoxy all of the way to the grip - thus sealing the masking tape in a bond of epoxy.
Have the butt of the rod blank, the built up tape arbor and the inside of the drilled out grip all the same size and the grip slips nicely onto an epoxy coated blank butt with no issues for a good long term use of the grip and rod.


Good luck

Great advise gentlemen, thanks. I've been on the right track just not at the right level of precision..HA!

Or, you can simply use an extension bit that is the same size as the interior of the grip and drill through the butt cap.

Then, use your conventional reaming techniques to ream the interior of the grip to the desired size with the appropriate butt taper.

Then, cut a butt plug to have on hand, after you glue on your grip.

After reaming to size, slip the grip down over the length of the rod blank with the end of the blank well coated with epoxy, including several inches above the final position of the grip.

Then, when the grip is slid into place, the extra epoxy above the final grip position nicely coats the interior of the grip.

As soon as you get the grip in place, take an epoxy coated plug and plug the end of the grip. Then, use DNA to clean all of the excess epoxy off of the rod blank, and off the grip - including the butt end of the grip.

Finally do a flush sand of the grip for an invisible butt plug installation.

Good luck

Ditto Roger, also for pistol grips..

Roger, your plugs will be in 1/8 in increments, right? What about blanks in between. ?

I used to drill through then mix an epoxy/shavings mixture, plug it, sand.

Now I usually drill through then plug with an auto interior trim rubber bumper available from auto parts shops. Gives a good , soft feel to the end and a pad on which the butt rests when the rod is stood up on its butt.

Michael,
I just use a plug that is as large or larger than the blank.

If I need to make a larger plug due to a tooling requirement, I just drill out the butt cap only to the larger size for the plug.

Works very well and is very easy to do with a nice fit and a good match.

Be safe

Got it, didn't think of that.