Tips on rod building you won’t see in print – Creating an inset on a cork grip
by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods You ordered all the parts. They look great and the rod will be wonderful. Uh oh, you ordered an uplocking reel seat to go on the Flor grade western cork grip you had in your arsenal and now you realize you have to create an inset in the cork to slide the hood of the reel seat into. What do you do?
Well, it takes a couple of tools but nothing too expensive. First thing you need is a drill and a hole saw. You want to get a hole saw that is 3/32 to 1/8 smaller than the diameter of the reel seat hood. The hole saw has a drill bit in the middle. You want to tape the bit so that it just fits nicely inside the hole that runs down the center of the grip. This will be used to guide the hole saw and keep it true.
Wrap tape around the hole saw just above the depth you want to stop drilling to. This will keep you from going too deep. Now, drill out the grip butt. Once you have done this, you will have a cork ring inside the grip butt that you will need to break out. You can easily do this with your fingers.
You now have a roughed out hole you need to clean up. To do that, you will need a dremel tool. You can get one for about $20 which is less than the cost of the cork grip that you will ruin if you don’t get it. Use an abrasive stone cutter on the dremel and slowly increase the diameter of the hole. Test the diameter frequently as you are going by trying to insert the reel seat hood. Take your time and you will have a great result.
One other thing, get a reel seat that has a flange on the hood. This will cover any slight imperfections you create and give you a nice finish. This usually means a slightly more expensive reel seat, but it will be worth it.
