This slide set takes you through the process of making grips for fishing rods using natural birch bark. The grips are beautiful and feel great in the hand.

1. Birch Bark Grips
Michael Hackney

2. Birch Bark
Birch Trees are native to the North East
Valuable building material since pre-historic times
Can be cut, bent & sewn
Strong & water resistant cardboard-like bark
Paper-like outer skin used for paper
Medicinal properties - preservative, anti-bacterial

3. Why Birch Bark Grips?
birch bark grips are attractive
they transmit more “feel” than cork
they are great in the hand; not slippery, not rough
lightweight
they can easily be kept looking like new
high quality cork is so #$%^ expensive
birch bark is cheap and “Made in America”

4. Anatomy of a Birch Bark Grip
Olive Wood Butt Birch Bark Olive Wood Tip
Burnt & Burl Cork Burnt & Burl Cork

5. Birch Bark Collection
Please do not cut bark from living trees
downed trees yield excellent bark
Use a box cutter to cut a “vertical” slit through the bark
Slit around the tree in 2 places 6” apart
Use a putty knife to peel the bark starting at the vertical slit
Avoid limbs and other large scars
Collect a LOT of bark!

6. Birch Bark Preparation
The bark will tend to curl and needs to be flattened & dried
stack the bark between 2 pieces of 20” long 1x8 pine
cut strips to 18” long
use 4 clamps to flatten the bark
allow to dry for a few weeks
Once dry, the bark can be cut in to circles with a hole saw
peel off the white paper layer
use a 1 1/2” diameter hole saw with a 1/4” pilot drill bit
sand rings lightly with 220 grit sandpaper

7. Making Birch Bark Stacks
Glue up 1 to 1 1/2” tall stacks of bark rings
Use the short stacks as accents or to build a grip
Tools & Supplies
Several sets (10) of ring clamps:
one 1/4” x 2 1/2” hex head bolt
two 1 1/2” diameter fender washers or 2 plywood disks
one 1/4” nut or wingnut
Tightbond 3 or epoxy

8. Making Birch Bark Stacks
Glue up a stack of rings
coat 1 side of birch bark ring with glue
slide it glue facing up on to the 1/4” bolt
coat next birch bark ring with glue
slide it glue facing up on to bolt
orient grain 90° to previous ring
add enough rings to make a 1 to 1 1/2” stack
Use 2 wrenches to clamp the stack tightly
When dry
remove from clamp
ream stack with a 1/4” drill

9. Making Birch Bark Stacks
First disk glued Second disk - note grain orientation Completed stack

10. Building the Grip
From this point, the grip is basically made like a cork grip
use the short stacks of birch bark like cork rings
birch bark is very fragile until it is glued onto a core
difficult to remove from a mandrel
difficult to ream to fit rod
Birch Bark Grip Design
use contrasting materials & colors
all bark is a little boring
since bark is a medium brown, darker and lighter
contrasting elements work well

11. Turning the Grip
Two choices for turning the grip:
1. glue up on a mandrel and turn on the lathe
2. glue up on the rod and turn the rod on a lathe

12. Turning the Grip
use a sharp gouge to rough the grip into a cylinder
be careful at the transitions between bark, cork & wood
go slow and let the tool do the work
birch bark is harder than cork but softer than pine
be careful that voids don’t tear out
rough grip to within 1/16” of final dimensions
perform final shaping with sandpaper - from 100 to 400 grit
don’t worry about small imperfections/voids in bark

13. Finishing the Grip
Apply the finish after the grip is glued on the rod
When turning on a mandrel, the grip WILL break in several
places when you remove it, don’t fret!
carefully mark breaks with a pencil so you can realign
glue the breaks when you glue the grip to the rod
lightly sand with 400 grit once glue has cured

14. Finishing the Grip
Apply Tung oil with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper
The slurry fills in the imperfections
birch bark absorbs a lot of finish
let dry and apply 2 more coats
Use Tru-Oil for the final finish
8 light coats applied with a cotton cloth

15. Grips
Birch Bark
reel seats too

16. Now for Something
Completely Different

17. Faux Birch Bark

18. Turning the Grip

19. Cigar Shape Works Best

20. Burning in the Tip & Butt Sections

21. Undercoat with White Acrylic

22. Drybrush “Maple Sugar Tan” & White Blotches

23. Drybrush “Mudstone” & “Maple Sugar Tan” Stripes

24. Drybrush thin “Rain Grey” stripes

25. fan brush “Burnt Umber” & Black Crescent Scars

26. Topcoat with Matte Acrylic Varnish

27. Guide Wraps and Ferrule Wraps Too

28. The Aspen