Reel seat positioning, and why

[oldmanjoe]

   You can still still put it on a lathe and finish sand a contort  / shape .

[thorhammer]

Suggestions: Check your diameter of the butt, and get a rubber "crutch tip" style cap from Lowes or HD. I use them all the time. You may caulk if you wish to hold it but I usually put a wrap or two of electrical tape on the blank until I get a snug fit, then it's easily and cheaply replaceable. They're usually over in furniture hardware section.

Once you have your corks glued in place, put the rod on your finishing motor (or use five minute epoxy if you do by hand), and work some epoxy into your voids in the end of the cork, filling the off-center gaps and building a ramp of about a half inch beyond  the end of the cork as well (not on butt cap end).  When you wrap the rod, wrap trim rings over the ramp-  apply thread as you would to the rest of the wrap. If the voids are very large, once the initial epoxy step sets up, you can paint the whole end of the cork with a paint pen (I'd use black), then wrap trim rings as stated. If you do this, you can simply apply rod finish to both the wrap and the painted end of the cork, which will give a glossy black finished appearance.
If you hand drill / ream / rattail file, it's difficult to get a perfect hole, and the trim rings look great even if you turned the holes out on a lathe.

[steelfish]

you can get creative on those rough edges, although cork is pretty cheap in order to keep the cost down and learn from mistakes, trust me, I had done a lot an living in Baja is a hassle to order extra parts because I messes a good small cork grip or ordered a reelseat hair bigger than the correct one, so my best bet is to find a way to save it and use it, anyway back on your grips.
what I would do in order to use them is to try to sand the edge but if you think that will keep destroying the rough parts then try to use a new razor blade, the ones for shaving not the ones to cut boxes and cut the rough edges the best you can trying to make a ramp, it will still look bit rough but dont worry that will your starting base for the ramps.
apply some clear glue on those rough edges (pointing inside the split grip) and at the corners where the blank meets the grip and pour some dust color of your color of choice, black, white, red, etc you can find them at any craft store, you can use sparkling dust too, blow the excess and let it dry, next day apply the rod wrapping epoxy to the blank on the split grip and cover the dust color with it, if you feel necessary you can add a bit more dust on those edges while the epoxy is still fresh, the idea is with the dust color is to cover that rough edges and add a unique look on the ramp, Hey, we are here to experiment not to follow the book, right?, then apply another coat or two more of epoxy without the color dust to encapsulate the color with the epoxy and have a smooth ramp.

something like this in this thread, https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=22222.0

I happened to had some white luminescent dust for lure painting and did what I described on one of my own rods, the foregrip didnt have any ramp or winding check to help on the epoxy ramp, it was like the next pic, I actually took out the hook holder and it was almost a straight cut from the grip to the blank.
the luminescent dust hold the "charge" of the light for way too long, I never use the rod at night so it has zero benefit but at least it looks cool at the ramp

[oc1]

You can use cork sawdust too.  Mix it into the glue, stuff it into the hole and then put dust on the surface.

[JasonGotaProblem]

You guys remind me why I keep coming back here. Other than wrapping the ends (I considered doing it in gold) I never would have thought of any of those. Thank you.

Being the genius I am, I just brushed off a ton of cork dust that apparently I should have saved. Oh well, i got a new end cap so i suspect I'll generate more cork dust. Or I could just grind up the failed one. Guides are supposed to arrive today.

[thorhammer]

The cork from an empty bottle of Elijah Craig or Booker's works dandily. Wine, if one must.

[jurelometer]

I don't use filler on voids in cork.  There are two categories of cork filler.  The kind that has fallen out and the kind that is about to fall out. If you must indulge, use a flexible adhesive, so that the grip's hard spots are less hard.  I HATE cork grips with hard filled voids.

The edges on unfilled voids smooth out with  use. Even pretty bad cork  is not really annoying to me once broken in,  and actually make grip more grippy.

Here is a  voidy factory rod grip that has a couple thousand hours in desert and tropical sun.  It originally came with all the voids filled.  I think there is still a tiny bit of filler left near butt .  

A grip with filler looks like a grip with filler, the voids don't dissapear.   But it seems that custom builders usually feel they have to fill the voids to meet  expectations.

All cork is pretty crappy nowadays.  I blame the bourbon renaissance...

-J

[Rivverrat]

...  I blame the bourbon renaissance...

-J

      I think you may be right... Jeff
     

[steelfish]

Here is a  voidy factory rod grip that has a couple thousand hours in desert and tropical sun.  It originally came with all the voids filled.  I think there is still a tiny bit of filler left near butt .  
-J

I gives character to to handle

[JasonGotaProblem]

Yeah I'm no fan of filler in the part of the handle you grip. And I agree that uneven cork is a better grip when its worn in. What I'm talking about is I wanna fix this mess:

[philaroman]

The cork from an empty bottle of Elijah Craig or Booker's works dandily. Wine, if one must.

Belgian Monk Ale 750ml (Chimay, etc.) -- biggest, fattest corks...  and, talk about character 
if you like it as much as I do, you'll have enough for a whole handle in no time...  maybe never buy cork, again

Champagne w/ same cork quality/size is much more $$$, and you ain't gonna drink a Magnum w/ weekday dinner

[philaroman]

also, really like 1/2" burl top trim (bottom, too -- if no cap)

[Brewcrafter]

I can endorse Phil's ingenuity! - john

[thorhammer]

Chimay GR is the bomb

[philaroman]

also, if you want to keep wine corks intact for crafts, toss the corkscrews & get a two-prong puller:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=two+prong+cork+pullers&form=HDRSC2&first=1&tsc=ImageBasicHover