bamboo fly rod question

Question

handle  

handle 2   I
have a bamboo fly rod that I want to remove the old handle to either
fix it or change it completely,it is on crooked.I have already removed
the reel seat and need to now unglue the rest.Can you help me with
that,and also to reassemble it or a new one.I thank You Luigi DeLucia

Answer
Hi Gino,

It is probable that the glue holding your handle in place has dried out and allowed it to loosen and twist.  Can you move it at all?

You remove the old cork by slicing into it and essentially breaking, peeling and scraping the rings off of the rod.  If the cork is old and dried out it won't be too difficult.  Once the cork is off, you will also want to scrape away any residual glue left on the rod to make the surface as smooth as possible for the new cork handle.  It is a destrucive process and you won't be able to use the old handle again.

Normally, a new cork handle, or new cork rings to make a handle, are installed from the tip end of the butt section downward toward the handle location.  The reason for this is that the rod shaft is tapered and to achieve a snug fit the cork must be reamed with a tapered reamer to fit.  Reaming is done from the butt end of the cork hanlde, or for each individual cork ring as they are dry fit to the shaft to assure that the inside diameter of the cork handle fits snug against the rod shaft.

It is not necessary to remove the reel seat to install a new handle, but since you have done this we may be able to figure out how to make that work for us on this particular project.  With the reel seat off, is there still a wooden spacer (or arbor) fit to the rod shaft that holds the seat?  Remeber, the shaft is tapered but the inside of the reel seat is not...so an arbor must be added to level out the location where the reel seat is glued in place.  If the arbor is still in place, this will create problems for us trying to install the handle from the butt end...if it is there, you can pretty much resign yourself to installing the new handle from the tip end of the butt section.

You usually remove the guides and hook keeper from the butt section to permit sliding the new cork handle down into position after it is reamed.  This also allows you to do the reaming and test the fit all at the same time.  Ream a little, test the fit, ream a little, test the fit, and so on until the cork slides into place with a snug fit.

You can buy a pre-made cork handle of the correct length, or you can buy enough cork rings to make a new handle, and then ream it to fit and glue it in place.  Use a two part epoxy glue that is water resistant (Loctite 5 minute works) when you get to the glue stage.  I suggest using a pre-made handle to avoid the need to turn the cork rings down into the proper handle shape for this rod.

This will mean you will have to carefully remove the guides and hook keeper and re-wrap them later...and refinish the wraps as well.  If you are comfortable doing this, I' walk you through it.  Your other choice is have a professional do the work...or better yet, attend one of my rod building classes and I'll show you how to do it and anything else you want to learn about rod building.

Assuming you are good with proceeding onward...send me an email and I'll tell you how to remove the guides and where to get the new handle.  It is not hard work, but it does take time and attention to detail.  Send the email to [email protected] and we'll get started.

Thanks,  Joe