
I have explored a few different ways to create a suitable replacement cap and think that I have stumbled on a fairly practical as well as aesthetically pleasing solution. Ladies and gentlemen please be amazed at this wonderful, practical, customizable and charming rod cap made from the humble wine cork.
Supplies you will need
Sand paper 150 grit and maybe a 220 grit
Drill bits (forstner bits preferably) Should match the size of your rod end
A power drill or drill press (optional)
some cording such as rawhide or paracord
Step one: |
Step Two: | As you drill the hole be sure that you don't go too deep. stop along the way and make sure that you have a good 3/8 to 1/2 of an inch of cork at the very end still that is not drilled out. Drilling all the way though defeats the whole purpose. |
Step three: | Smaller rod cap holes are somewhat trickier to sand out but are not impossible. This is another reason to use the forstner bits if you can because they cut a nicer hole than standard bits. |
Step four: |
Making stuff yourself is so much fun.
These rod caps are so practical and are a great reuse of wine corks. Much of D.I.Y. is just trying out ideas to see what happens. You learn a lot about improvising and if you are like me you get a lot of "what if" ideas along the way too. With the cork caps I realized you can also use the caps as a place to carry extra flies or to let your flies dry out a bit. The cork caps fit into your pocket nicely and are certainly not going to get lost as easily as the small stock caps that come with rods.
Let your imagination run a little wild. I would love to hear from those of you who give this a try.
Too lazy to make your own? Maybe you don't have the spare time, a workshop , tools, wine corks or patience or want to have to make your own cork rod cap. Well, that's fine too... I can tell you that I had fun playing around with these and figuring out the best way to make them and to be honest the best way is the way that I make them on my lathe and using my drill press and belt sander. The results are more consistent and I am able to make a really nice and finished rod cap this way. I would be happy to make some for you and I will be selling these soon on my etsy store in sets of three made to fit your specific rod. Thanks for reading my blog and I look forward to hearing your questions and comments on this idea. |