Replacing handle on rod

[Wally02]

Hello everyone,
I have an old loomis 7'6" heavy action that I want to use this fall, but it has a really short handle. I am wanting to change it to a longer handle that you find standard with most steelhead and salmon rods.
I do have the anglers workshop catalog that sells them for about 30.00.
Has anyone attempted this? If so, do you have any info to share with me , so I dont screw up my rod.
A longer handle would give me alot more leverage, which I will need for my first season of nookie fishing.
Thanks,
Wally

[Chukrchaser]

Think about the way the rod is tappered -- when made, the "handle" is put on first -- It is barely possible to put on a new rear grip from the back-- but tougher than nails to remove the reel seat--- if you want to add a longer fore grip you would need to remove the guides first none of this would be recommended for a novice---------

Chuck

[Wally02]

I guess I wont be replacing the handle
Thanks for responding

Extremely tough! I had a black lab chew all the cork from a rod of mine once. All that was left on the butt section was the guides and reel seat becasue he stripped it clean. I decided to not even try!

[WaterDog]

The blank usually extends to the end of the cork. To lenghten the handle you would need to move the real seat up thus moving the fore cork etc. Not easy as been said.

[HOGTIDE]

You could try this-

take the butt cap off of your orignal handle. Find a partial blank that that will snuggly fit into the buttend of your original blank, just like the ferrule works on a two piece rod. Make sure it inserts about 5 or 6 inches so it is sturdy. Cut the attached piece to the desired length. Extract it, cork it and place it back in with a good quality epoxy. Sand your new cork down to match the contours of the original handle. Your in business!

I have done this process successfully several times to make new ultralight rods have a salmon/steelhead type of handle. Anglers workshop out of Woodland will be very helpful for this endeavor if you don't have a bunch of spare rod parts around. They frequently will just give you the partial blanks.

Try it. It's not tough to do and I bet you will be successful!

[Wally02]

Wow, great idea
I figures someone on here would have a good suggestion. That sounds great

Thanks again

Wally

[KillerDave]

As long as you don't want to move the reel seat, it's easy to add a little extra length to the handle. I have some extra rod sections (Email me) or tubular aluminum (available at hardware stores) works well too.

[otter]

Wally,
You might want to take a look at this site,
http://www.rodbuilding.org/list.php?f=2
Lots of good info

[Bait O' Eggs]

You got a couple options that run from selling the rod and buying a new rod that meets your needs to trying to modify the current rod.

I have never replaced a butt cork before but believe I understand how it us usually done without removing everything ahead of the butt cork (ie. reel seat, fore cork, eyes etc....)

Removing the cork is the easy part adding back on a new cork is where it gets a little tougher. You need to adjust for the taper in the rod. This can be done by building the rod up into a straight shaft by a couple methods. I would wrap thread on the rod until I had removed the taper from the reel seat to the butt end of the rod. Masking tape wrapped tightly could do the same thing. Then you will need to lengthen the blank. This will be far tougher than any part of the project. I have never read any material on lengthening rods but can make a couple guesses at how to do it. You will need to find something that will join up to the existing blank and be able to transfer load from this added on piece to the existing blank. A wooden dowl may do this but I would try and find a piece of rod and epoxy it up into the existing blank. How much you could add to the rod without moving the reel seat will depend on how long the existing handle is. You said it was short. With a "normal" pre formed butt cork being almost 14 inches long I doubt you would be able to add more than the difference between the existing cork length and the 13.75 inches pre formed corks come in. I will guess at the length of your current cork and say you will only end up adding 4 inches give or take to your rod with a lot of work. The other option is to build your own cork by glueing up pieces of cork and lathing out the shape handle you want, but the even adds more work to the project.

If you do remove your cork, add a short piece on to the rod, build up the lower end of the rod until the taper is removed, you will need to drill a straight hole thru the new cork and slip it on from the bottom.

Removing a reel seat from a rod is quite difficult if it was installed properly. Which means working from the top side of the rod is almost out of the question, but not impossible.

Good luck.

[will_e_fish]

Good advice from all posts. I have had this Danielson for some time and the cork was deterioating it was hard to hold and I took it in a shop they quoted a price of a new pole to fis it and several weeks wait. I was goiing fishing with friends the next day. I am being impatient and a bit of a risk taker not wanting to break out the bucks I didn't have. Had the idea to get some heavy cord wrapping over the cork and gluing it down with gorilla glue and aqua seal. Made nice tight wraps and next I got smaller cord for above the reel seat. Looks kinda bank pole ugly but functional for the last 2 years as a back up pole or guest kid pole. Have had comments on it but it catches fish the cord has not been a problem. I thought it would be a problem using it and would do all the work to rebuild it. Now I think I would rather find a Rainshadow blank from a informative, helpful Rainshadow Rep and build a new one and add my own creative magic to it!

[Predator]

Hey Wally02,

Try D&E Rods in Vancouver (360) 687-3856 and ask for Rosie or Vern. They are wizard's on rods. They also tie up alot of the Loomis rods and they may be able to help you.

[ 08-27-2002, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Predator ]