Hello together,

I am interested to do some checkerboard inlays and do some cork slicing. I have seen that there are some tools around but have found no sponsor to send it to Europe.
Does someone have an idea, to get such jig ?

Second, I searched the archives and found a message from Mr. Mikko Stenberg, who likes to build one on his own. I tried to contact him but his e-mail adress is hidden. Maybe Mikko reads my message and he can get in contact with me.

Greetings from Austria.

Alex

Alex:

Gruss aus America. There is an eight-section inlay jig available from Custom Tackle Supply. It requires a fairly thick saw to slice the corks into wedges. I have found that the best tool to slice the cork wedges is a jeweler's saw with a 6/0 saw blade. This has a kerf of about 0.014 inches. It minimizes the loss of cork. Unfortunately, the inlay jig is set for using a blade over 0.025 inches in width, so you loose lots of diameter. Probably the best bet is to talk with a local machinist to make you a jig, with slots sized to fit the much smaller blades of a jeweler's saw.

There are other tools you will need, i.e. a jig for cutting the cork into slices of 1/4 or 1/8, or 1/16 inch. and a clamp that will make gluing the cork easier.

The jig for slicing can easily be made with a piece of hard wood and a forstner bit - diameter 1-1/4". Drill into the wood a half inch - the thickness of the cork. Add to the bottom of the hole a piece of paper or plastic the thickness of the slice you wish to make plus the kerf width of the saw blade. Insert the cork and use the top of the hardwood as a guide for the blade. If you wish another slice, add another spacer below the cork the width of the second slice, and so on.

An easy way to make a checkerboard is a follows: Take three 1/8 inch slices of regular cork and three 1/8 inch slices of a darker cork, like Andy Dear's Burnt cork. Glue them up in sets: light-dark-light and the reverse: dark-light-dark. I call them coins when glued together this way. You can use epoxy or the really good waterproof glue, Titebond III. Assure the outside edges of the coins are concentric - not the centers. To to this I made a gluing jig of plastic. I found a 2"x2" piece of Delrin that was 1/2 inches thick and cut a 1-1/4 inch hole all the way through it. I took another 2"x2" piece of delrin that was 1/4inch thick and carefully cut out a circle that just fit into the 1-1/4 inch hole. I took a third piece of delrin for a base. I placed the piece with the hole on top of the base and inserted one of the glued-up coins into the hole and put the delrin circle on top of the coin. I clamped the whole mess lightly until dry.

I then take one of the coins and put it into the slicing jig. Usually the coin is loose inside the jig, so shim it evenly with pieces of paper or plastic, until it is held securely and will not move. Now, slice the pie segments with the jeweler's saw . Repeat for the other coin. Assemble pieces from the original coins alternately for your checkerboard. Now to glue them up, you can use the original delrin piece with a 1-1/4 inch hole. Glue up all 8 of the pieces on the edge and put the piece with the hole over the glued-up segments. I took small pieces of plastic and shimmed the glued-up checkerboard so that is was concentric, then clamped it to hold the pieces in line until the glue set. All that then remains is to redrill the center hole to fit the mandrel you are using to make your cork grips.

Doug Weber
Weber Rod Works

I just realized why you guys were using those fancy saws to cut 1/16, 1/8 or 1/4 rings. That's way too hard, especially for those who have a lathe. Put teh cork ring on a scrap blank, fiz up some sort of a tool rest, turn teh lath on, use the same Jeweler's Saw you used to cut the ring into wedges to slice the ring as it spins.

If you find that doesn't leave a clean edge, just wrap a band of masking tape around the ring, leavign the desired amount exposed. Don't cut all the way through, make 3 or 4 passes, turn 1/8", cut, turn - until the ring is cut.

What Alexander is looking for is a way to obtain the pair of jigs that Custom Tackle sells (or something comparable) He contacted CTS and they are unable to ship to Europe. He is looking for a way to get some jigs shipped from U.S.

Mike

Hi Alexander!

Did not notice that my email was hidden. Hopefully it's ok now. Here's my address just in case if you still want to contact me:

en9mist@student.kyamk.fi

I'm in the process of making the checker jig for myself now. It's not a fast job learning how to use a manual metal lathe - fun though! :) Anyway the jig is coming up pretty nicely and I'm hoping to get it finished next week (able to do it only on Mondays and Tuesdays). The hardest things to do or be able to do seems to be the cutting channels. Just like Doug said above it would be beneficial in having them very narrow or as narrow as possible to avoid too much cork loss and enable straight cuts. Though I can't say this from experience yet but it makes sence for sure.

Here is my drawing for the jig that I'm making. It's probably not the best but hopefully works.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I did some Googling and found some nice saws sold in one German net shop. I'm concidering in making an order since I haven't been able to find a proper saw from my local shops.

[www.fine-tools.com]
[www.fine-tools.com]

Hope this helps.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2005 03:27AM by Mikko Stenberg.