K&D @ Red Leg And Fly Rod Handle Reamers 28Feb22

Kala & I finally got over to the keen Red Leg Brewery property near us. We enjoyed some nice hazy IPAs and a parmigiano chicken sandwich from Ciao Down. The new RL site is huge and very nice.

As The Rodfather, my building custom fly rods often also means turning custom handles from modified cork rings. This extra day or two really adds to the custom look and feel of Rodfather rods. Once a handle has been turned on the lathe and removed from the mandrel (to which it was secured for the assembly & turning processes), it is ready to mount on the butt section of a fly rod blank. To make it fit perfectly on the blank it is necessary to ream out the center of the handle (initially just a 1/4" hole) until if fits snugly in the right place on the blank. My typical process is to chuck a Forecast Extreme Reamer and "sand" the hole out until a dry fit to the blank butt section is perfect. However sometimes the Extreme Reamer fails; either the sandpaper rips off or even the solid fiberglass rod breaks. If its just the sandpaper I epoxy on a new strip.

I tried alternative reamers made of hollow fiberglass and covered in grit. With these, much, if not all, the grit breaks off during the reaming process. I doubt they will last too long. And even the extra small one will not fit into the standard 1/4" hole without stripping all of the grit off. Hmmm.

While I will get another small Extreme Reamer, I sought a more robust and reliable alternative. This one worked very well... I bought a 14" course bastard rat tail file whose tip was <1/4" in diameter. I hacksawed off the handle (which was a tiny square 2" piece on the end) in order to chuck it cleanly in my drill. The new file-based reamer works well though I most often use it in reverse in the drill as in forward it tends to bite in quickly and become stuck. Reaming tool problems have been mostly solved... I don't completely like the taper on the file. I don't think it will match well to light weight rod butt sections.

Anytime one is reaming out a custom turned handle they need be very aware of heat produced in the process. Let the grip cool often as even at modest heat levels the wood glue (like Titebond III) holding the rings or jigsawn pieces together can begin to fail and your careful work to turn a beautiful cork handle might break. I can always employ the faithful, but failure-possible, Extreme Reamers; probably using just reaming by hand might be safer - but boring and slow.