Bark Grip

I got a chance today to finish the bark fore grip I've been working on. I really like working with this material. It's like a cross between cork and wood. As with the other grip all glued up, bored out this time to 16mm and a foam core inserted and glued. This takes a bit of the weight out.

You will notice the heavy amount of adhesive on the outside of the bark. The purpose of this is to give the bark some axial strength so it does not break before I glue in the foam core. Birchbark is made up of hundreds of very thin layers. Even though you glue to pieces together they can still come apart between the glue lines. Essentially it delamintes. The coat of adhesive gives it a sort of exoskeleton. Once its bored out and either glued to a rod, or in this case a foam core this problem of de-lamination is a non issue.
The grip ends are Birch Burl and Birch Burl dyed black with .040 corian trim rings in between.

True it up with a gouge slightly over the biggest O.D of the grip. Looks a bit more like a grip now than in that first photo.





This is it finished and sanded down to 600 grit. One coat of danish Oil to bring out the grain. Use one flood coat then wipe the excess. I'll coat this with a good urethane to protect it.

It looks really good in natural light but you get the idea. If I get a chance I'll put one up shortly.

Oh by the way finished weight is 1.9 oz or 54 grams. Just about the same as a standard burl cork grip.

A Very Handy Tool!!!!

I have found this tool to be one that I use very often. If you've been following the making of grip you will notice reference to a pilot bit which I used to bore out the grip in order to remove the weight. This is a smaller version. An 8mm piece of mild steel was bored out and slotted on each side to fit over the spur on the spade bit. I chucked the 8mm bar in the lathe, filled the inside of the tube with Ultimate Gel and inserted the bit. The chuck end of the spade bit was held in a drill chuck on the tailstock of the lathe to keep it straight while the glue cured. You can make any size pilot on any sized spade bit that you will need. I have several different sizes but the most often used sizes are 16mm and 19mm. This little tool makes the job VERY EASY!!

Finished Fore Grip

I took a half an hour break today from preparing this shed load of birch bark and finished turned the fore grip.

First thing to do is to make the O.D concentric with the I.D which I did with a round nose scraper. Your not looking to shape the grip just take enough off so you see no "wobble" when its spinning. If you try to sand it before truing it up your sandpaper will only follow the out of round grip and it will turn out somewhat egg shaped.

The ends were just lightly scraped with a parting tool so they are at right angles to the grip and again there is no wobble. Next shape the grip starting with 60 grit paper to rough it out and work your way down to 600 for a nice "velvety" feel.

One coat of Danish Oil on the ends to bring up the grain. No need to seal this wood as its stabilized and wont crack, split or shrink. This is why stabilized is so good for a fishing grip application.


Notice the foam core on the reel seat end. O.D is concentric. You will never see it once it is inletted for the seat hood. It did a good job of removing the weight and the grip now weighs a total of 39 grams. Not bad considering the grip is burl cork, wood and corian

More On Birchbark

If youve been following my blog you will have seen where and how I got this birchbark for making some very unique grips. This box contains approx 2000 pcs of premium bark.

I spent the better part of the preparing these for glueing. I figured I had better get at it.

Center hole drilled out with a brad point and clamped flat between some thick washers I machined. The quick grip clamp is a handy tool for keeping the squares flat. Each side is sanded flat prior to installing on the threaded rod. There is approximaetly 50 pcs which will do for a 7" grip once I add some wood and corian.

Watch this space for the finished product!!

Grip Making Part 4

The materials I used in this grip are relatively heavy compared with natural cork. So I want to lighten it up a bit. After all I want it functional as well.

The first thing I do is bore it out to 20mm with a pistol drill and a spade bit with pilot on the end end. This keeps the hole I'm going to bore concentric with the 8 mm bore that's already in the grip. I start from the reel seat end and bore up to but not through the front side.

Notice the material that been removed

Ive removed approx 30 grams and the grip is now 60 grams. Not too bad as its still rough on the OD with some material to be removed

Next I have machined a brick foam arbour to fit the 200mm bore Ive just made. You can see the pencil mark which is its finished length

Check for nice snug fit!!

Double check that's the 20mm is concentric with the OD. This photo was taken while spinning at 1000rpm. Not bad, no major run out.

I'm going to use Ultimate Gel for this part of the job. Its thicker and stays where you put it. Very easy to mix just eyeball equal part A and B on a piece of card and mix for about three mins folding like cake icing

Smear the brick foam with adhesive and insert it moving it around and back and forth so as to fully coat the inside of the grip. Insert the mandrel to keep everything straight and once again clamp with light pressure.

Next its the fun bit THE TURNING and SHAPING!!!

Glueing It All Up Part 3

Now that all my "rings" are flat and parallel its time to glue it up. These are the things you will need:

Adhesive
Cork Clamp
Mandrel
Rubber Gloves
Wooden Stick
Plastic Cup
Ruler
Newspaper
De Natured Alcohol (for cleanup)
Paper Towels

First measure out equal parts of your adhesive. Here I'm using 5ml each of Ultimate Epoxy. This adhesive gives you plenty of pot life so there is no panic or rush to get everything coated.Check out the measuring cup as you can see a colour change from the resin to the hardener.

Mix well through until the colour of the adhesive turns a uniform colour. I usually mix for 3 minutes.

Smear the glue with a wooden lolly stick on to the faces of your rings and slide up your mandrel one at a time. Use the stick to scrape the faces so the rings have just a "wet" look to them. You don't want excessive adhesive in between the rings or you will end up with visible glue lines. This is why I take my time making sure that each ring is flat and parallel. More glue doesn't make up for sloppy fitting parts.

Next clamp them all together using light pressure. There is no need to crank the nuts up. With a ruler measure the distances on each side of the clamp to make sure they are parallel. If the space on one side is greater than the other just tighten that side. I have put handles on my glue up mandrels so once the grip is clamped I can easily pull the mandrel out without disturbing the placement of the rings. These rings are bored to 8mm so I am using an 8mm mandrel. I have made several of these in different diameters. Some builders wax their mandrels so the grip can be turned and then "popped" of the mandrel. I found this to be a hassle so I like to pull the mandrel out.

Take some paper towels and wipe your clamp or anything else that has unwanted glue on it. The only thing left to do is just wait until the adhesive is cured.

Custom Grip Part 2

Ok last time I parted of some Box Elder Burl rings that will be used in my custom grip. I cut them a little thicker than 3/8". The next thing I need to do is bore them out and get the surfaces flat and parallel. I have found the easiest way is to use a little tool I made up on my metal lathe which you can see in this first photo. It has a little nub left in the centre which fits into the bore of the ring. I can easily fit my hand over the metal button to flat sand each side. I measure with a vernier to make sure the ring is parallel. You don't need to use it on these thicker rings but I find it makes it more comfortable in your hand. It really comes into its own later on with the thin trim rings I am going to make.

I want to add some blue and white trim rings. The material I like to use for my trim rings is Corian. Ive got 1/2" thick sheets which I cut into squares with a slitting disc on a 4" grinder. I can chuck the squares in a 4 jaw chuck and centre bore them to fit my mandrel. Ive just shown the white rings here. The ring on the right has been put on the mandrel and turned round.

I can then take a 1/16"parting tool and cut the ring into several thinner rings.

Now back to my little tool again. As I want these rings to end up at .040" it would be very difficult to put even pressure on it or even to hold it for that matter. I can place the tool on the parted ring and sand in a circular motion on a pc of 120 grit paper. I use a vernier to measure the thickness as I go.

A finished ring at .040"

I have added the blue and white corian rings on either side of the Box Elder Burl. The front portion of the grip is Black Ash Burl, the middle is 1/2" Laguna Exotic Burl Cork. After parting and facing all the rings I put the unglued grip on my mandrel and rough turn the OD. The nut on the end of the mandrel squeezes the grip so it doesn't spin while turning.I always do this so I can get an idea if I like the colour scheme and layout. I find it hard to see when everything is rough looking. Its still plenty big and quite a bit of material still has to come off before I get to finished size. For this grip final OD will be approximately 1 3/16"

This is the fighting butt.

Notice the trim rings are nice and parallel and all the same thickness. I find taking care of the fine details is what really sets a grip off.

This is the grip before glue up. I have roughed turned a nice piece of Black Ash Burl which is going to be used for the reel seat. Here i get a final look to make sure I like everything before its glued.

Next job is to glue it up and bore it out to take the weight out of it. That's for another day. Come back and see how I do it.