Guys, obviously there are many discussions/posts on lathes to purchase, all sorts of different brands. However, these products are often fairly expensive. I've heard several people on this website and others, say about how they have made adaptations to home tools to make there own lathe for spinning cork handles. Well I need help/advice making or modifying tools to create a cheap, decent lathe for spinning cork handles.It would be great if you could include pictures. I'm fairly mechanically oriented, but no engineer.

Also, I have a question about the procedure for spinning the handle. At what point of the process do you turn the handle. After the entire handle is glued and set up (including reel seat, rear-grip and fore-grip)??

RodMaker has run several articles on such things. You can make a homemade vertical lathe from an inexpensive drill press. A grizzly hobby lathe (less than $50) and a power drill works wonders.

Many guys mount their cork on the blank and then shape. Others mount the cork on a mandrel, shape, and then mount to the blank. The former requires a long bed length (as long as your rod or rod section) the latter only needs a lathe with a bed as long as your grip.

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Check the photo page for ideas under equipment

Matt I just purchased the grizzly Tom mentioned, works well for cork maybe not so well for wood, I dont know but for cork it great and probably on of the smallest investment Ive made for rod crafting. Also a lot of times I fingd that making my own items can cost me more to make than buy an item by the time I figure my time

"Although my questions may seem simple to some, not asking them would make me simple."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2005 09:16AM by JIm Rosch.

Matt Look at @#$%& Item #7139630777 Do a Search for that Item