Hey Guys,

I've seen the beautiful handle assemblies that have been done (Eden, etc.) and have always wondered about mixing cork rings with the woods. After these turned on the lathe separately, sanded and then assembled or is there a way to glue everything up together and shape and sand as a whole? Did I miss this in Rodmaker or is there going to be an article explaining this in greater detail?

Dave

I have not tried it myself yet, but I would think that you could cut blanks of wood and drill the holes and then mount and glue them and the cork rings on a mandrel and turn them in a lathe. The problem would be sanding, the cork is much softer that the wood so a sand block of some sort would definetely be in order.

I have actually had some thoughts of trying this myself as a late, just need to dig myself out from under the stack of other projects I have going on.

I just did it for the first time yesterday. I cut some rings out of a wood block then drilled the. I clamped them up with the cork rings and put it on the lathe. I used a gouge to rough out the size of the wood and sanded the cork to size. I then sanded the whole thing together. I had to spend more time on the wood and very precise in sandpaper placement but it turned out very well.

I have doing alot of research and reading recently on this subject. It seems that most of the material has covered doing the turning of the wood rings first. Using a caliper to get it to the exact measurements that the grip calls for in the place the wood will reside. Then, after you've completed the wood, assembled the entire unit to sand the cork down.

The one thing that I thought was unique, maybe not, was using a hole saw to get the wood down to what you want. Using a homemade threaded wood shaft as a way to mount it into a drill press, and then doing the final turnings on the press. Using calipers to check diameter.

I woudl love to hear more on this subject with insight from Ray Jorgensen (sp? sorry!)

Domenic

HI guys. I have done a few cork wood combo's and have glued it all up at once. Use a gouge to rough out the wood and sand the cork and wood to shape. Back your sand paper with a block of wood so that you won't dig into the cork more than the wood at the transition. I havee also use a whole saw to rough out wood "rings". It really takes more time to do that than it does to turn them down on the mandrels.

Regards,

Ray Jorgensen
[classiccustomwood.com]
ccw@classiccustomwood.com
602 Central Ave. E
Hampton, IA 50441
641-456-4599

I do most of mine with wood/cork/EVA combos. I turn the wood round close to size then glue up wood/cork/EVA together on a piece of all thread and clamp. When done I transfer to one of Andy's new mandrels and shape/turn to final size/shape, sand and finish then mount on rod. Works great!!

Drill the holes in cork/wood/EVA close to size before gluing up. Use a piece of wood bwhind the sandpaper to get a smooth transition between the different materials as they sand at different rates

Mike

Dave,
Most of the wood cork combinations that I made, were done by first turning down the wood on the lathe so that it is oversized, centre drilling, glueing up the cork /wood and mounting the whole assembly on an appropriate sized mandrel.
Further roughing of the wood can be done with gouges to bring the wood down closer to the diameter of the cork. Finally, sand the wood and cork handle to the desired shape and diameter.
As Ray says, be sure to use sand paper attached to a block of wood to ensure that the level of the wood is flush with the cork .
Most of the time the wood turns down as easily as the cork, but certain very dense, hard woods such as ebony and bloodwood can be more difficult.
Good luck.
Eden

Dave
Mr. Bromfield is my hero when it comes to fly rod handles. I got the courage for some of my own designs from looking at his pictures as linked from this site.
I bore my wood blanks to diameter first with a drill press and a drill press vice.
Then I mount the bored wood on a proper mandrel.
Then I rough turn the wood round and slice with a narrow parting tool.
I then glue cork and composite cork and wood together with titebond III and press.
I turn cork and wood together very carefully with a sharp gouge being very light handed, steady, and attentive to seams.
Then I sand it all together from 300 grit to 3200 grit (micromesh).
Drop me a line Dave if any of this is unclear.


Josh Markvan
www.markvanheirloom.com

I turn my wood/cork combination grips very similar to Eden's description. I back my sand paper with a block occasionally but often am able to rough size the wood/cork joints with the drywall mesh abrasive and maintain an even seam. A little care and caution is all that is needed to turn nice combination grips.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I use a method very similiar to Eden's. Using gouges and chisels and normal spindle turning techniques, I turn a 4" to 5" wood block round to the same approximate size of the cork rings (~1.25"). I remount into a chuck and center bore in the diameter I need to fit the taper of the blank. I remount again on an appropriately sixed hard wood dowel. I use a Sharpie to draw a line down the spindle so that I can remember how to put the inlay pieces back in the right order to get the grain to line up. I mark the width of the pieces that I want to inlay and use a sharp, fine kerf hobby saw (with great care) to part the pieces. I then use these wood rings just as if they are cork rings - glue and clamp with the cork. I mount the rough grip on one of Andy's mandrels and finish just like it was all cork, using the sanding techniques suggested Ray, Eden and all.