This may be a dumb question but here it goes anyway. I've seen posts regarding both types of glue used on cork. If you are going to glue the rings directly to the rod rather than a mandrel, I would assume you would use the Rod Bond since you need to glue the cork to the blank as well. Is this correct or will the Titebond work for gluing the cork to the blank as well? Also, not knowing much about lathes, can you turn a rod on a mini lathe or can this only be done on a rod lathe.

Titebond will not work well for adhering the rings to the blank. Use RodBond all the way if you're going to do that.

The only problem with turning a rod on a mini-lathe regards the length. Most mini-lathes have short beds. If the rod blank extends out past the end of the bed and you have no way to support it, the rod will "whip" and likely be damaged or ruined. There are some solutions to this, of course, as you can fabricate all sorts of supports and stands to keep the rod from whipping. Or, you could just turn your grips on a mandrel and then transfer them to the rod blank after you've shaped them on the mini-lathe.

.........

The other issue of turns grips mounted on blanks is how do you chuck the blank in the lathe without crushing it. Turning on mandrel is infinitely safer if you're using a mini lathe, plus if you really screw up the cork you don't have to go through the hassles of getting the cork off the blank.

Amen...


Andy Dear
Lamar Manf.