Replacing Grips

[Garage]

I have one perfectly good (although very well-used) 10 wt rod with a seriously worn grip, and one broken, almost unused cheapie rod with a grip in magnificent condition.

How do I get the grip from one rod to the other?

Help from the rod builders would be much appreciated.

[FlyFanatic]

Hi there

Michael is your guy, i think he is the most qualified to answer all your questions. But i recently asked him the same q, and his reply was that its nearly impossible to remove the grip without damaging it..

The easiest way to remove the grip, and thus also the reelseat at the bottom, is by boiling it off. Just submerge the whole grip and reel seat in boiling water, and wait, after some time the glue (normally epoxy), will become brittle and you can then go on removing the components.

Good luck!! If it doesnt work, nice grips dont cost an arm and a leg

P.S. If i got any of this wrong, please correct me Mike and others

[MCC]

Good afternoon Michael

This is an easy question. Send the rod (with worn grip) to one of the rod builders to fix.

The rod builders can correct me, but you can't "swop" grips. The individual cork rings are in all liklihood glued to the blank and they will have to be broken off the "good" rod. The section of rod, with the worn grip, will have to be stripped right down to the blank before a new grip can be glued on. After the grip is done, the guides etc can be re-attached.

Cheers
MC

[Korrie]

The process of the couple of rods that I have built is as follows, and these where given to me by some rod builders.

The blank is tapered. Each cork ring is filed down with a rat tail file, so that it fits the area where it is supposed to fit on the blank.

Once the order of cork rings are filed out, it is then glued and clamped.
This glued handle is then epoxied onto the blank.

Afterwards the guides etc is wrapped on the blank.

So the process you want to do is to strip all the guides, loosen the grip and then the grip might not/will not fit on your other rod/blank.

Rather do it yourself.
It is not too difficult, and great fun and satifaction will be great once it is done.

If you are not too sure what to do, do a thread on Flytalk, lots of advice free of charge here.

[Garage]

Thanks for the help guys.

The answers are what I guessed (including MC's!).

The well-worn rod is a Stealth Extreme and accordingly not that expensive, but it is my favourite casting rod (save for my Scott STS's).

I'm not sure that my ten thumbs and complete lack of rod-buidling experience should be let loose on the poor rod.

I think I will wait until the grip gives up the ghost completely so that I then don't have a choice but to try to replace the grip. If I fail (which is the likely outcome) then I haven't really lost anything.

[Korrie]

It is really not that difficult.
Even a guy, with 11 thumbs will be able to do it. It takes a little longer.
And it is worth the effort.

[FlyFanatic]

Garage, what you could do for the time being, until the grip finally parts with the rod, is to go buy some woodfiller, Oak matches the cork grip nicely, fill all the gaps in your grip, and give the whole grip a nice sanding with fine sandpaper. It'll look as good as new!!

[Garage]

I tried that, but neglected to seal it all.

The result was a right armpit full of wet woodfiller (from the rod under the arm).

You'd be amazed, but I sometimes consider myself an intelligent man...

[Michael]

Hi Garage

Indeed, it's almost impossible to remove a grip. I've never tried in fact. It's easier to remove the grip and fit a new one. You have to cut off the fighting butt, then boil the reelseat to soften the glue and pull the reelseat off (takes a while, but works good)...then while the glue is tacky and soft you must remove it all from the reelseat's inside and the blank.
Then cut the grip off.

I've been importing my own cork rings for some time now...and it's amazing that a few years ago "flor" grade was almost flawless, but nowadays the best grades are like yesterdays medium and even A-grades. Getting good quality cork these days is getting harder and harder.

a New grip can cost anything from about R 150.00 to R 400.00, depending on the cork quality. I build up and turn my own grips, but you can get pre-made grips from about $ 14.00 and up. Then you rat-tail file or ream the I.D. out to the size of your blank's O.D. where it will fit, and expoxy in place, then the reel-seat, and then a new fighting butt too of course.

If you have the time and inclination, I'd be more than happy to have a look at it for you. You'll just have to get the butt section to me in JHB. I'm sure we can make a plan.

Regards
Mike

[Korrie]

Hi
I notice you are in the Cape.
I can give you a hand if you want.