ROD-MAKING: HANDGRASP AND REELSEAT
The handle of a rod is termed the handgrasp. It preferably is made of
superimposed perforated disks of solid cork, cemented together and
upon a common core, and then trimmed to shape and smoothed up with
sandpaper. In most instances the core is the lowermost section of the
butt rod-joint itself, but whether or no, the usual practise is to
incorporate the handgrasp with its adjacent reelseat inseparably with
the butt-joint.
In contradistinction to this, the author wishes to emphasize at once
his hearty agreement with the plan advocated by the late Henry P.
Wells, of fitting to the rod an _independent grasp_, chiefly for
its eminently practical value in preventing the rod from becoming
permanently bent or set under unusually severe strain of casting or
the playing of a heavy fish. With this arrangement the whole rod may
be rotated at the handgrasp ferrule, so that it may be used either
with the guides underneath or on its upper surface, the reel always
remaining properly seated, on the under side of the reelseat; and the
maximum strain thus is transferred alternately from one side of the
rod to the other. A further innovation made by Mr. Wells (the law
was his vocation though angling was his loved avocation) consisted
in shaping the grasp more perfectly to the grip of the hand than had
been the custom; and this whole device, combining the two distinctive
features of separability and shape, has since been known to anglers
as the “Wells grip.”
It is true that a rod so built is increased in weight to the extent
of the added pair of ferrules which are necessary for the seating of
the butt-joint within the handgrasp--perhaps three-quarters of an
ounce. But it is weight in a good place; furthermore, this may be
offset by use of the extremely light yet very serviceable fly-rod
reels that are available today, and by dispensing with the solid
reelseat of metal in favor of simple _reel bands_, the so-called
skeleton reelseat.
A metal reelseat is altogether unnecessary in the rod adapted for
fly- and the lighter bait-fishing, and again, the inclusion of all
this “tin” certainly adds nothing in elegance of finish to such a
dainty contrivance. When it comes to the short, bait-casting rod,
with the strenuous reel work that is imperative in its use and the
manifest advantage here of some form of locking reel-band, that is an
entirely different story, and we welcome the metal reelseat as a most
appropriate feature of the rod, under these conditions.
Not only do we prefer the specially-shaped and independent grasp, but
we like it very well when made of our common native red cedar--for
the lightest rods and except for prolonged use. This makes a very
attractive handle, as cedar is very light, is easily worked into
shape, is of a pleasing color, takes a beautiful polish, and does not
show soil after use. It affords the best material for the reelseat,
whether or no the grasp itself be made of cork.
The pattern of grasp that we shall illustrate fits the hand nicely
and we shall therefore be at some pains to give the exact dimensions,
and to explain just how it, with the reelseat, is built from one
piece of wood.
You should, some months previously, have gone to the woods and
chopped down a small cedar tree, which you have had ripped at the
sawmill into boards 1½ inches thick, and which since then have been
seasoning against the time when you would be ready to make use of
them. Your grasp you now proceed to carve out of a piece of this
cedar, 1½ inches square and 10½ inches long; and it is not difficult,
as already intimated.
The thing first to do is to bore a hole in the end that is to
receive the female or socket ferrule, before any attempt is made
at shaping the wood. The ferrule size at the grasp, for a ten-foot
rod, is 7/16 inch, but the hole must receive the outside ferrule,
and _its outside_ diameter is 15/32 inch. You will need for this
job a drill-bit, which you can obtain--with a square shank for use
in a brace--in this diameter; the wood-boring bits are more coarsely
graded in size than are drill-bits. For the nine- or nine and
one-half-foot rod, the handgrasp ferrule is ⅜ inch, and you want a
13/32-inch drill-bit for boring for its handle socket.
Place the piece of cedar in the vise at such an angle that will
enable you to sight conveniently along the bit as you stand and bore;
and bore slowly, and as _straight_ as possible down the center of the
wood, to the required depth.
[Illustration: Fig. 1--Independent wood grasp]
Now you want to find out just how nearly you have succeeded in
centering that hole. To do this, take your butt-joint or any straight
stick that will serve--winding the end with thread if necessary for
a snug fit--and thrust this down into the cedar block to the full
depth of the boring. Next sight along your joint or stick and see
if you have it properly aligned with the grasp. Most likely you
will find that the present condition of affairs is that represented
in Fig. 1--you have quite a decided angular deflection between
joint and grasp, despite all your care to have that hole straight.
In order to correct this, by accurately centering the joint in its
socket, you must plane the cedar block down to one-inch square, in
the manner indicated by the dotted lines of the illustration. You
then sight along another of the surfaces of the block, adjoining the
surface first marked as shown, and plane again as may be necessary
to straighten up the other two sides. Now your hole is centered, and
grasp will line with rod, in all positions of rotation.
[Illustration: Fig. 2--Wood grasp]
Withdraw the joint and you now are ready to shape up your grasp. Cut
a pattern of cardboard or stiff paper to conform with the diagram,
Fig. 2. The diameters are as follows, to which you can gauge the
finished grasp with a pair of calipers: At B, one inch; C, 3/4; D,
1-1/32; E, 11/16; F, 7/8. Distances are: A-G, 10½ inches; A-B, 1
inch; B-C, 3/4; C-D, 2; D-E, 2⅛, and F-G, 3⅝. Lay this pattern on two
opposite faces of the cedar block and trace the outline in pencil.
Place the block in the vise and cut away the wood with a chisel, from
A to F, down to the penciled lines. Then trace the outline on the
two remaining surfaces, and cut away similarly. Next saw the part
from F to G down to a full ¾-inch square. You now have the whole
thing in the shape shown in Fig. 3.
[Illustration: Fig. 3--Wood grasp]
Take your jack-knife and cut away the corners equally, till the
whole grasp is reduced from the square to an octagonal shape on
cross-section.
Next we seat the female ferrule. Before cementing this, get a
winding-taper or -check (A, Fig. 4) that fits nicely over the
ferrule and up against the welt; fit this over the thin edge of
the wood, around the mouth of the hole in the grasp, mortising it
in flush with the wood by filing a recess to receive it, with the
triangular saw-file, and cement it in position. This will guard
against splitting of the grasp as you force the ferrule into it; but
for the first attempt, it will be safer to seat the ferrule in the
cedar while in block form before starting to shape the grasp. You now
can melt some cement, spread it evenly over the whole outside of the
ferrule up to the welt, as you hold it over the flame with a pair of
pliers, taking pains the while _not to get any on the inside_; then
thrust it into its hole, and by pushing down hard against the floor
or the solid door-jamb, using your whole weight, _quickly_ force it
home to the welt.
Great care should be taken to have the hole positively accommodate
the ferrule, though snugly, making use of a round (rat-tail) file to
enlarge the boring if necessary to this end. The ferrule expands a
bit on heating, and if the hole be too small the ferrule will stick
before reaching the whole distance down into the grasp. Meanwhile
the cement has cooled and thickened, and the only way that you now
can remove the ferrule without injury is to split off the wood,
making it necessary to _begin all over again_. Be encouraged however
in your perseverance to have the grasp right, by the knowledge that
when once completed one of these independent handles can be used for
several different rods for the use of one angler--a nice insurance
furthermore against the borrowing of your pet rods.
Finally, round up the whole with the convex surface of a wood-rasp or
coarse file, followed by number 2 and then number 1 sandpaper; mount
the reel-bands and fit the butt-cap. The sliding reel-band should
have a milled raised edge to grip with the fingers. The German-silver
butt-cap and reel-bands selected by the author are ¾ inch in
diameter, and were obtained from the T. H. Chubb Rod Co., of Post
Mills, Vermont, at a total cost of forty-six cents. Before cementing
on the cap D, (Fig. 4), and in order to seat the reel securely, file
a flat surface on the side of the reelseat that corresponds with the
line-guides when grasp is jointed to the butt in the position, with
relation to rotation, that gives the most perfect alignment of grasp
and butt-joint. It is a good plan to glue a little piece of leather
to this flat surface for the reel-plate to jam against when the reel
is seated; a strip of an old hat’s sweat-band is just the thing.
[Illustration: Fig. 4--Wood grasp]
The completed grasp will appear as represented in Fig. 4. A indicates
the taper hugging the ferrule-welt, B is a band that largely is
ornamental and may be dispensed with, C is the reel-band proper, and
D is the butt-cap.
But when it comes to a real fighting implement, and for continuous,
prolonged usage, there is nothing in the same class with a solid-cork
grasp for the rod--not a mere veneer of cork; and to make one of
these you may proceed as we now will direct.
If you purpose making an independent grasp, first you construct
a short bamboo-section, not tapering but of the same thickness
throughout, and of the proper size, when rounded, to receive snugly
the handgrasp ferrule, which is both cemented and _pinned_ to one
end of it, as shown in Fig. 5. Bore a short piece of cedar and shape
its end to receive a metal taper, just as in making the all-cedar
grasp; then slip this over the bamboo-core and up against the
ferrule-rim (welt or shoulder) and cement it fast, as seen in Fig.
6. Next slip on and secure with glue or ferrule cement successive
cork-ring sections sufficient for the needed length of the actual
hand portion of the grasp. Cement them in place, several at a time,
and allowing these to set before putting on the next installment. Jam
the last ones you are placing, firmly against their predecessors by
putting the bamboo-core between the vise jaws and pushing the cork up
against the ends of the jaws; then tighten the vise and leave things
awhile. It is a good idea to have the grain of each disk of cork to
cross that of its neighbor.
[Illustration: Fig. 5--Independent cork grasp]
[Illustration: Fig. 6--Cork grasp]
These cork rings or solid disks that you can perforate as required,
may be had of selected quality from your tackle-dealer, or you can
utilize the best of large corks obtained from the paint or drug
store, such as are used for gallon cans or for the wide-mouthed
vaseline bottles. To perforate these, you file a cutting edge on the
end of a brass ferrule or other piece of metal tubing of suitable
size; you either may fit this with a handle, or secure it in the vise
by means of your wooden holder (see chapter on “Ferrules”) and bore
the hole by turning the cork backward and forward against its sharp
end.
[Illustration: Fig. 7--Cork grasp]
Finally, make a cedar reelseat of similar style to that described
above, but with a hole, an inch or more in depth, bored into its
front end for fitting that over the other end of the bamboo-core
and up against the hindermost cork-ring, where it is glued into
place and reinforced by insertion of a piece of the pointed end of a
small brass escutcheon-pin. Your cork-ringed fly-rod handgrasp now
will be in the state indicated by Fig. 7. It remains to finish up
the reelseat, including the mounting of reel-bands and butt-cap, as
already detailed, and to work the cork part or grasp proper down to
shape as shown by the dotted lines of the above illustration. A file
cannot well be used here--it would tear the cork--and the result is
accomplished, after shaving to approximate shape with a _sharp_ thin
knife- or razor-blade, with sandpaper wrapped about a round stick
of about five-eighths inch in diameter. This is manipulated with an
oblique sliding and turning motion--slide it away from you as you
turn toward you. Finish by twisting the grasp within a fold of fine
sandpaper held snugly in the left palm.
[Illustration: Fig. 8--Cedar grasp for bait-casting rod]
The process employed is somewhat different for the bait-casting rod.
Here the grasp is not removable, and because of the increased strain
on the handle of this rod, the butt-joint should extend down inside
the grasp to within two inches at most of the butt-cap, this part
of the joint first being filed down to a uniform size. In this rod
the reelseat is placed above the grasp. A pattern for the handle of
cedar is shown in Fig. 8, one piece of wood extending from A to I.
G–I represents a German-silver reelseat, slid over and cemented to
its cedar-core. This reelseat has a simple but effective locking
reel-band (H) and it was obtained from James Heddon’s Sons, of
Dowagiac, Mich., for one dollar. The ridge at E projects between
the first and second fingers of the rod-hand, insuring a secure grip
and obviating the necessity for the somewhat ungainly forefinger
“trigger” (hook) with which many bait-casting rods are equipped, as
indicated by the dotted lines at F. A is the butt-cap; B, the end of
the butt-joint. Measurements are: A–G, 5⅝ inches; G–J, 4⅜ inches; C,
1⅛ inches; D, 21/32 inch.
[Illustration: Fig. 9--Cork grasp for bait-casting rod, with mushroom
butt, and finger-hook or trigger attached to reel-band]
We rather favor a solid-cork grasp for this rod, and like one with
a cedar butt-cap of a mushroom shape (Fig. 9). A shaped cork-grasp
for a bait-casting rod--and any other individual parts of their
standard models--may be purchased from the Dowagiac people; and not
only the individual cork-rings or solid disks, already mentioned,
but cork-grip handgrasps, in a more or less finished state and
in a variety of patterns, are obtainable from most of the larger
tackle-houses.
ROD-MAKING:
VARNISHING AND FINISHING