Started messing around with the new band saw Friday night.   This is the rear grip for a 12' surf rod I'm building for a friend.

 

as much fun as watching glue dry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once it's on the blank, I'll do a final sanding to taper it down to the reelseat and blend it in to the butt cap.

That is so cool. You have some chops, amigo. What's the orange material? Some kind of hard foam?

The orange is EVA also. It is just a block that was shaved down into 2mm strips.

I can't take credit for the random elliptical idea. That concept is Billy Vivona's baby.

That is just simply incredible!!!

Wow.  Looks awesome.

Very Nice!!

That's sweet

That is just simply incredible!!!

You want something like that, but with cork, on your 11wt RodGeeks? I have something in mind, I just have to start gluing parts together.

You want something like that, but with cork, on your 11wt RodGeeks? I have something in mind, I just have to start gluing parts together.

Hell Yeah!!! If the grip looked anything like that, I would definitly not wrap it. That would be the Greatest Rod Ever!

Very Creative and totally sweet.

 

A-Jay

Nice work Scott.

Maybe my favorite non cork grip I have ever seen!  Very cool.  I see a custom black/red grip rod in my future!

 

Jeff

That is freakin' sick!  

That is awesome!  Great work!

Foregrip.

 

You are one BAD dude.  I'm stealing that idea just so you know.

Foregrip.

 

 

 

What tool do you use when you're turning the EVA?

That's really cool Scott. I'm really drooling over that lathe though lol.

What tool do you use when you're turning the EVA?

Skew chisel. You don't use it on EVA like you would on wood. You use it to slice from the end rather than cutting from the face of the block.

Search XL Rods on YouTube and watch Billy bore and turn some grips. He makes short work of them. From square block to sanded finished grip in under 3 minutes!

Wow, that is awesome looking!

Well, a little setback tonight. Ya know, you really can't properly ream a 17" grip with a 12" reamer! Something I overlooked in my excitement to get this grip on the lathe. I had to cut it in half and ream it in 2 sections to fit the the blank. I'll glue it back together tomorrow and install it on the blank.

For those of you who don't know, Scott's work is incredibly good. He's highly talented. So much so that every time I see a rod built by someone else, I am so thankful that he builds my rods    . This is number 8! Can't wait to see this thing all assembled with the bad ass Alps seat we picked out. Looking forward to trying it out later this month!

Skew chisel. You don't use it on EVA like you would on wood. You use it to slice from the end rather than cutting from the face of the block.

Search XL Rods on YouTube and watch Billy bore and turn some grips. He makes short work of them. From square block to sanded finished grip in under 3 minutes!

I've been watching some of his videos for some time now his work is insane. I want to try some of the eva inlay/overlay technique he does he has videos and a write up of how he does it.

Skew chisel. You don't use it on EVA like you would on wood. You use it to slice from the end rather than cutting from the face of the block.

Search XL Rods on YouTube and watch Billy bore and turn some grips. He makes short work of them. From square block to sanded finished grip in under 3 minutes!

 

I just spent an hour watching Billy's videos.  Now I have to have a ban saw and a lathe...

You are one BAD dude.

Billy is the BAD dude. He really thinks outside the box with his techniques. He inspires so many and costs us LOTS of money.

He is the reason this is in my basement right now!