This scares me a bit. I just jumped into rod building without learning anything about it first. Probably the first 3-4 rods I made, I did not do ANY abrading! I just epoxied the blank and slid everything on!

The cork grips were fit nice and tight, so I'm not too worried about them. But now the question is: Do you think these reel seats are going to break loose and spin at some future time? Or will I be saved by the adhesive power of the epoxy?

TH

Well you certainly have some rods that could fail in those areas. But maybe they won't. Many factory rods don't get the proper prep and glue up and they manage to hang on. Most of them anyway.

Only time will tell. The one good thing you've got going for you is that being a rod builder you have the skill to make any repairs if they become necessary. I wouldn't worry about it. Fish 'em until something breaks, if it breaks. Then fix it correctly.

I agree with William. If you used a quality epoxy your reel seat is fastened much better than the vast majority of commercial rods. I don't think you should be concerned.
Part of the fun of building rods is working your way down the learning curve!

Hugh Miller

Don't worry, I've built several baitcasters, several years ago that I didn't abrade the surface, some fly rods too. No problems. And don't expect any as the epoxy was put on thoroughly.

Now heavy tackle is different. I've abraded them all as the stresses are much much higher.

Thank you very much for the replies. What you both say makes sense.

One thing I did on my early rods that may help, was rabbett the ends of the cork to fit inside the reel seat before epoxying everything together. I did this because I didn't fully trust those urethane bushings, and I wanted to increase stability.

Have any of you done this with spinning reels, and do you think it makes a significant difference? I know some conventional cork grips come that way, so I figure it can't hurt, right?

TH