Discussion Board
Laminated hardwood grips
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 01/21/2010 12:50 PM
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MWatts9728
Joined: 10/26/2008
Posts: 17
Location: Sylmar, CA
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Laminated hardwood grips
I've always like laminated wood rifle stocks. And my father has some 40 year old rods and the wooden handles are in great shape. when his cork handles look a little worse for wear. And the handles don't seem all that heavy really.
I have a super seeker 15-25# 8' live bait rod I intened to build for myself. I really like the finish on the blank as it came from the factory, it's beautiful, it looks like a pool que. I think a laminated wood grip would look really cool and hopefully make the color in the blank POP a little. Plus I haven't seen a rod like that yet.
My question is: Would a laminated wood grip be to stiff and heavy for rod grip? Is there a reason I haven't seen any rods with laminated wooden handles around? Other than the fact that it is very labor intensive.
I went from sooping up cars to RC helicopters to save money. Then sold it to buy a motorcycle. Fishing is suppose to be cheapier than motorcycles. And now I need a sooped up fishing boat.
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01/22/2010 02:04 PM
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TunaChuck
Moderator
Joined: 12/31/1999
Posts: 1244
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
I was hoping you would get a response by now, I'm curious to hear what people say... I figure its do-able, just a bit of work on the lathe
-Chuck-
Allcoast Field Editor Malibu to Santa Barbara
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01/23/2010 12:13 AM
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mogandave
Joined: 04/19/2007
Posts: 1441
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
I would think it not that difficult, although probably tedious.
Were you thinking of laminating long narrow strips and then turning it round and boring it or stacking doughnuts? I think long-ways would look better.
You could just turn it round and bore it from a solid block of something nice with a pronounced grain like Zebra wood.
If you planning on using it I would do it blank-through. A buddy of mine lost a nice TLD30II last year when the hardwood butt of a vintage Sabre broke off in the rod holder. Sea ya!
_______________________________________
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02/03/2010 11:40 PM
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MWatts9728
Joined: 10/26/2008
Posts: 17
Location: Sylmar, CA
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
hey guys thanks for the onformation. However I've looked into it. And still plan to do it but can't afford to do it on this rod. My options are mill my own very thin pieces of materail. Every piece of veneer has a base wood core with oposing grain. And I plained a few sample pieces to 1/16th of an inch and even submerged in solvent & wood dye for 48 hours it won't completly saturate through the wood. So I need replan that portion of it.
My other options are Laminate a bunch of oak together and cut it at 1/16th of an inch. I have plenty of oak laying around the house. And oak seem to accept the stain very well. another even more labor intensive option is to but allot of 1/40th of an inch edge banding which would accept the dye easily but would not show any grain detail as the pieces are to thin.
I've seen laminated turning blanks but there $120.00 a pop. If you got some advice I'd be happy to hear it.
BTW sorry I forgot about this post as I've been recking my brain trying to figure it out.
I went from sooping up cars to RC helicopters to save money. Then sold it to buy a motorcycle. Fishing is suppose to be cheapier than motorcycles. And now I need a sooped up fishing boat.
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02/05/2010 08:56 AM
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okie man
Joined: 05/07/2007
Posts: 146
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
if you are an experienced wood worker you could make a taper jig for a table saw and cut tapered bevel pieces in 2 or more different woods and laminate them around the butt section then turn them down on your lathe and finish with a marine finish.mahogany and curly maple would look awsome on a super seeker blank.
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02/06/2010 09:18 PM
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MWatts9728
Joined: 10/26/2008
Posts: 17
Location: Sylmar, CA
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
I've found some information on the rod buildiers libary website. I know the guys that make laminated rifle stocks use a vacume to fully saturate the wood with dyes. This webpage shows a homemade vacume chamber he built to make pen blanks. Obviously a pickle jar won't work to well for me but the principal is the same. I could use PVC drain pipe. However I wont have the luxury of watching it all happen through the PVC but it keeps cost down. And I have a vacume pump from doing brake jobs.
mogandave sorry I forgot to answer your question. I originally intended to run them lengthwise at a 33 degree forward angle to allow a small amount of flexibilty along the rods spline.. But mostly just becuase it would look very cool. And this is still my intention. I still laminated the strips same as I would otherwise. Just cut the stock into pieces again at the angle that looks best and glue the peices by clamping the into a corner jig. Then rip it again on the table saw lengthwise. Run each peice over the router table cutting a tiny half circle into each piece to later act as a pilot hole for the drill bit along centerline. And then flip one piece and glue them back together. Forming a >>>>>>>>> effect. With every 3-5 slats being dyed reddish brown to compliment the blank and the other 2-4 slates being like every gun stock I've ever loved. Hopefully it will all work as planned. Or not as planed but still look cool.
okie man your right mahogany and curly maple would have looked amazing. But since this is an experimant and currly maple is a little cost inhibitive concidering at least 60% of the wood I by will wind up as saw dust. And to be honest I have red oak plenty of red oak. The reminats of a 18 month job using mainly red oak. I also inteneded to go for mahogany as alternating strips but got a little
side tracked by the Bolivian Rosewood. That I intend to use near the rod butt... Just like a pool que angles & all.
I know this post is getting long. But I have a question. I plan to use the router table to cut half a 1/8" pilot hole into each side before glueing them back together. And then once Im ready to turn the stock I'll use the 3/8" hole in my tail stock to run a 3/8" drill bit through. Will this work for my center hole? I've looked online hoping to find someone who has tried this already. But no luck.
Here is a link to that sit;
http://www.rodbuildingtutorials.com/gripseattutorials.htm
I went from sooping up cars to RC helicopters to save money. Then sold it to buy a motorcycle. Fishing is suppose to be cheapier than motorcycles. And now I need a sooped up fishing boat.
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02/06/2010 09:22 PM
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MWatts9728
Joined: 10/26/2008
Posts: 17
Location: Sylmar, CA
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
Oh yeah and if after all of this it should wiegh just shy of a metric ton. and I'm also looking for suggestions in regaurds to coreing the whole thing out farther than needed and use some Eva as a arbor between the blank and the wooden grip. To save wieght.
I went from sooping up cars to RC helicopters to save money. Then sold it to buy a motorcycle. Fishing is suppose to be cheapier than motorcycles. And now I need a sooped up fishing boat.
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02/08/2010 12:36 PM
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J_AkuHed
Moderator
Rodbuilding
Joined: 05/12/2004
Posts: 4660
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
I don't have any experience with wood for handles, however, they are out there and I've long admired the craftsmanship put into those ahndles. I do know that PacBay sells precored wood inseerts for skelaton seats in either fly or spinning. They, Alps and I think AmTak have reel seats that have cut-outs where you coul utilzes these inserts.
There is also a lot of work being done, even on commercial productions rods (e.g. Phenix) that utilize wood insert accents in their FW rods, these techniques could easily be adapted to larger SWrods. they could be used with varigated EVA or burnt Cork rings.
Good luck with your search and please be sure to post your work to share and maybe inspire other ambitious builders to try it out.
Hana pa'a!
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02/08/2010 03:12 PM
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MWatts9728
Joined: 10/26/2008
Posts: 17
Location: Sylmar, CA
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re: Laminated hardwood grips
I hope this all works out. This is my 10th rod I'm building. And only the second one for myself. The rest have been gifts to family and freinds. And my first rod was for me and I made it for myself soley because I wanted a sensitive casting rod that ranges from 4-10 lbs. And built to handle salty water. I used a St. croix 3S70mlf and ATC titan casting guides. I love that rod and it will possibly always be my favorite just becuase it was my first. However I look at it and think wow I've learned so much and would do it so differently now. That rod has been great and catches allot of calicos & sandy's. Even 3 WSB a halibut, and nearly 1 thresher shark. fish. But it really dosent stand out from many of my factory rods in terms of appearance. So I'm doing what I can to make this one appear custom.
I went ahead and built two smaller vacume container out of some plexy glass masons jars I found at walmart and air compressor fittings. I decided to cut the peices a 6" lenths and make a wooden jig to clamp them together for glueing. This is more labor but less money. As doing it in smaller containers requires allot less Denatured Alcohal. Anyways the important part is that they both seem to holding pressure And I believe the wood will accept enough dye this way.
Now its a wait and see stuation. Tommarrow when I remove the Orangish brown pieces and the first batch of black I'll cut all the edges exactly to see size so they fit in the clamping jig evenly. And I'll get a chance to see how the dye penitrated the wood. But for now its time have a drink and play some PS3
I went from sooping up cars to RC helicopters to save money. Then sold it to buy a motorcycle. Fishing is suppose to be cheapier than motorcycles. And now I need a sooped up fishing boat.
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