Ebony and Bark

Rodbuilder Peter Mulbjerg of Denmark was kind enough to send me a photo of his latest grip made with our Birchbark. A job well done and truly a custom rod. I really like working with this natural material. The dark ebony really gives a nice contrast to the light coloured bark. Again well done Peter

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!!!