My supplier, Homewood Toy & Hobby Shop, can no longer get the 2 hour 2part epoxy I prefer for bonding cork rings into grips. Bob Smith Industries no longer makes, or purchases(?) this epoxy. Where can I buy a low viscosity 2 hour extra-slow-cure epoxy? I'm assembling several fly grips from 1/8 in. rings and need this much time as I am either meticulous (slow) or sloppy. I refuse to do sloppy. I like Rod-Bond to attach grips to blanks, but I need thin, not viscous or paste epoxy, to assemble and bond cork rings my way. I hope you can help me. Thank You. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2005 08:37AM by Ralph Jones.

Ralph is busy overseeing the construction of his new "rod room" and probably won't see your request. In the meantime, you can buy slow cure epoxy at most home hardware stores. Failing that, try a place like WoodCraft or Rockler Hardware either in your area or on the interent. They both sell System Three Epoxy which can be had in a variety of set times.

You might also want to look into use TiteBond III woodworking glue for grip assembly. It's up to the task and you have plenty of working time.

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Devcon is another two part epoxy, more liquid then rod bond, drys overnight

Tom, Bill, The best I've found in a 30 mile radius, approximately, is 30 min. epoxy. Except for Thick stuff like PC-7. The Devcon here is also a 30 min. epoxyor faster. This means about a 10 - 15 minute working time. For what I'm doing I need at least two or three times that much time without mixing more than one batch of epoxy. Also two or three clamps & mandrels, or two or three days to bond one grip. There are 60 1/8 in. rings in a 7 1/2 in. grip. Can anyone show me where to buy a low viscosity, clear, two hour, or longer, extra-slow-cure epoxy? Thank you. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

Ralph where do you live? It seems to me any decent hardware store should have what you need or can order it for you. I live in a farm community of less than 1,200 and our hard ware store carries every thing I need for building a rod. ( I pay more)., but if I need it I have to pay for it. I have even used contact cement to glue rings to gather. and have never had one separate, do to the fact I use Rod Bond on the blank to hold my finished cork rings.
Good Wraps Bob

i,ve been using rod smith glue and really like it. thinner then u40 and thicker then flex coat. longer setting time then flexcoat but faster then u40. im sure some of the sponsors cary it stan lothamer

Again, System Three will have what you want. You may have to mail order it, but they offer various setting times. It's used by many boat builders who need similar long working times.

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Thank you, all of you for the help. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

I received some phone calls from afficiendos telling me to get with it --- haven't been very active on the computer lately and would have missed this one.
Ralph You have in your possession the very best materiel for bonding corks that is in existence. I would'nt listen to these amatuers like Tom Kirkman, they might lead you astray. There used to be a popular song which went something like --- "It ain't what you do, its the way you do it". So it is with rodbond and corks -- it aint' what you use its the way you use it. Try the following and you will never use anything else for bonding corks.
Apply your normal mixed rod bond to your corks to be bonded thisaway. Smear on a light coat on the first cork to be bonded, then immediately wipe/scrape all of the adhesive off the cork. Scrape it real hard and be sure and remove ALL of the adhesive, repeat this for the second cork and so on until all corks have been coated and scraped. Apply to your mandrel or blank as the case may be, and apply firm pressure. Look for squeeze out. If you find any squeeze out ---you blew it. I said to scrape off ALL the adhesive, if you find any squeeze out you didn't scrape it all off. Squeeze out means visible glue lines: If you have no squeeze out you will have no visible glue lines. Let the adhesive cure under firm pressure at least 12 hours before removing from the mandrel or sanding/machining.
This method will withstand any destructive testing that can be devised, you have lots of working time ---figure at least 2hours between scraping of adhesive and application of pressure. In colder weather say 60 degF you can stretch that to about 3 hours, and there are no visible glue lines.
Back in the days when I was posting regularly to this board, I used to make this particular post about once every 6 months. I wonder if we could talk Tom into putting it somewhere thats immediately available to new builders.

Ralph

I could certainly put it up in the library if you'll write out the individual steps again - I don't want to pull it out of a message board post, even though the information would be practically identical. Just more of an article format.

RodBond is great for making cork grips. I think we moved on to other products only because the orginal question specified no RodBond and no thick or paste expoxies. But there is certainly nothing wrong with RodBond for making cork grips and you would get a long, long working time with it.

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While you're on the subject of glueing cork rings together...I read somewhere to apply wax to the mandrel (I noticed it wasnt mentione above though), to prevent the cork from sticking to it I think. I was wondering if the wax/residue winds-up on the ID of the cork rings and subsequently into the bond between the cork handle and arbor/blank; and if so, what effect if any does it might have on the integrity of the system in particular the bond?