Recycling My DIY Upcycled Rod Cap Post from 2019

RECYCLING 
This post is a shortened rewrite of a post I did back in March of 2019.  Anytime we can reduce reuse or recycle we should. This post is about how to upcycle a wine cork as a solution to solve a common challenge we almost all most certainly have had.

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED

• Wine Corks.
• Sand paper some 150 AND 220 or finer grit
  
• Drill bit just a little bigger than your rod.
• A power drill or drill press if you have one
  
• Cordage such as rawhide or paracord
  

Somewhere in the depths of hell, near the same corner where all the unmatched odd socks collect there is a second pile of lost items known exclusively to tenkara anglers around the world. Yup, a pile of rod caps. Its amazing how important these things are but also how quickly we lose them. Once you have lost one you realize quite quickly how actually expensive they are to replace. Today I want to teach you a quick DIY solution using just some basic tools that you probably already have in your garage or that can be purchased inexpensively at a hardware store.  The instructions that follow are given with the express warning that any craft project has it's hazards. Please be careful when making your end cap and use common sense so that you still have fingers to tie your flies on with.

Step one: Collect some wine corks
You may have a cork or two already living in a junk drawer in your house but if you don't start saving them from your favorite bottles of vino. If you don't drink wine then your next best free source is to ask the bartender at you local restaurant for a few. They usually have a bucket of them behind the bar. If you want to throw some money at the problem, then you can go to a hobby store and buy some there. You want a good selection to choose from as, the quality of corks varies. Corks come in different densities. While for the most part, any wine cork will work for this project I prefer the more dense cork. These are the ones that seem like they are made from lots of teeny tiny pieces of compressed cork. You will want a cork that isn't damaged or have too much damage done to it from the cork screw when it was pulled from the bottle.

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Step Two: Sizing your drill bit
You will want to pick a drill bit that is about the same size as your rod end. Don't worry if you go too big or too little at first, but get it pretty close to start.
I use a "forstner" style of drill bit but you can use a standard bit as well. The forstner bit has a unique blade design that lets you drill smooth sides and a flat based hole. Once you have selected a bit. Mark the center point on the end of the cork with a sharpie. For the next step, put on some gloves or better still clamp the cork in a shop vice.
Using a hand held power drill, slowly start drilling a bore into the cork. I said "SLOWLY" ...and I mean it. Don't rush as you will risk drilling all the way through the cork or worse still, out of the side of the cork and into your hand. Let the drill bit do the work. The slower you do this the more finished the hole will be.  Alternatively, if you are lucky to have one, do this on a drill press. DO NOT DRILL ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Stop a little short of going all the way through the cork. Drill down so that about 1/4" (at the most) of the cork isn't drilled.

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Step three: Good fit and fine sanding.
At this point, without forcing the cork onto your rod end, check to see how close to size your hole is to the actual rod. If it looks like it will be slightly too snug, that is okay. You will be sanding down the inside bore. If it is just right then you have to be a little careful when sanding not to make it too big.
Sanding the inside out helps to smooth out the inside of the cork. Drilling into the cork leaves "burs" of cork bits. You don't want these falling down into your rod shaft so you sand them down.  I use a semi-course 150 grit wood sand paper to start followed by a 220 grit sand paper. Depending on the size of your rod the hole may be small and the sanding will be more difficult. In those instances I recommend rolling sandpaper up into a narrow tube shape that fits into the hole and then twisting it to let the sand paper do its work. Spraying the inside of the cork with some cooking spray is not required but is also not a bad idea to be sure the cork is moist inside.

SANDING THE BORE SMOOTH
Start with a piece of 150 grit sand paper rolled into a small tube, to de-bur the inside of the cork. Then use a finer piece of sandpaper 220-400 grit to finish the sanding to create a smooth bore. If you want to seal the cork a little too, add a light coat of wood glue with a paint brush inside the hole and sand that with a fine sand paper after it dries. You don't want any cork particles inside the bore. Once smooth, check to see how the fit is on the end of the rod. If it is slightly loose don't worry the next step can help with that.

 Step Four: The finishing touches 
Certainly you can decide that you are happy and now done with the cork cap at this point.  BUT you may also want to kick it up a notch and sculpt it a bit. Cork sands very nicely. You can use a piece of sand paper to shape your cork cap a little too. Sand a bevel on the top end of cork or sand off the the printed design on the cork so that you can put your own personalize marks on the cap. Color the cork with a marker or stamp your initials onto the cap. I have found that it is a nice touch to put a piece of cording or rawhide on the bottom end of the cork near the hole. This can help add just a touch more tension to the opening and create a better grip of the cap onto the rod. To do this you should use sand paper to make a groove around that section of the cork for the cording to rest in. Once that groove is made you need to put the cap on the rod and then carefully put the cording around the groove and then cinch it down just lightly enough to make the cork contract slightly around the rod tip.

That is all there is to it!  You will also love that this rod cap is easy to keep track of and is also a great way to dry flies.

Be sure to let me know if you try this DIY hack in the comments below. I am also happy to answer questions.