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TXTrout wrote:

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When I saw the grip I thought EF Payne and Hiram Hawes very soon after they had gone their own way after having worked at Leonard. I've used a simular grip on several cane rods, it will be on two that are in the pipe line and I used a simular grip on this rod.


I made the grip fuller, but you could call it a Hawes or Payne style. Only cane people may reconize the name Hawes.

I've seen an early Hawes that was a dead ringer for your grip.

I've deleted your pictures, though they are worthy of being included more than once. I'm afraid the extremely sharp flair in the front of your grip would prove to be too fragile. I could see it being broken off fairly easily.

Boo wrote:

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Here's a photo the same grip made for me by M.McFarland. This same style grip was called a pecker head grip on the web site of a well known rod dealer [no lie]. That is the only name I've ever seen given to it. A half wells variant may sound better, more like a fly than genitalia.

That's a nice natural shape. In my experience I think most folks want some taper at the back too making for a swell in the middle. If you think of most of the popular grips over the years, the largest diameters are just about always right in the middle. A cigar tapers from the back to the middle then off a little more pronounced with some folks to a roll off at the front. Same with a half wells or full wells. I've even done two handed grips with a couple swells in the upper grip to give that swell folks seem to like. I think the only grip I've done without the swell in the middle was a long straight taper from the smallest point at the reel seat to the largest point at the upper end where it dropped off at a 45 to the winding check. Sort of an angular version of the Shakespeare Wonderod grip of the 50's. I thought it was a most uncomfortable grip. I did it for a customer from France. He had a name for it and thought it was the best grip he had ever seen. The grip above is of course great for the thumb on top rod hold. I never use the thumb on top, rather more along the side with the index finger along the other side. That dip would work pretty well for my hold too, probably. That really does look kind of like that milk bottle shape, Tom had suggested.

Grip shapes are very subjective, but cigar, and full and half wells have seemed to have pretty well ended up being the norm any more. It is refreshing seeing some diversion from those long standard shapes. I'm really enjoying this thread, lovely pictures, lots of great suggestions. I think I will stick with the Hawes moniker. Has a nice ring to it and is nice and short and has a history to back it up. That is what I was looking for.