Since I don't enough rods to justify a lathe, I've opted for making one out of my drill press. I have a live center on its way and have a 2" thick piece of red oak to make a nice base out of. Her's my question form the article:

"You will be without a tool rest so use of standard lathe tools is impossible unless you wish to also fabricate a verticle tool rest." And satisfactory results can be acheived by using 80 grit, then 150-200, and progressions of 150, 220, 320, and finally 400 grit.

But if I do install a sturdy verticle tool holder, what "lathe tools" could I use? Wouldn't regular wood gouges chew up the cork? Seems like a flat mill file might work but any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

All you really need to use is a round nose scraper. The only reason you would employ this is to get the rough cork cylinder concentric with the mandrel.

Anything that "floats" with the cork will not make it concentric. The purpose of the scraper's cutting action is to remove high spots until the tool is cutting or making contact all the way across the cylinder, at which point the cylinder will be concentric with the mandrel. At that point you can begin the actual shaping with files, rasps, sandpaper, etc.

There is an earlier series of articles in RodMaker that deals with turning and shaping cork. There is also a brief "how-to" on cork shaping in the Amato book, Rod Building Guide.

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Hi Tim/... I'm also one who don't make enough rods for a big lathe, so since I had a drill press I set it up with a live center to use as a vertical lathe .It worked out ok but I just couldn't get my grips to come out to suit me. I tried to fabricate a tool rest but could not come up with any thing suitable for the task.
So I seen the picture that Mike Barkley posted in phtos of the Grizzly Hobby lathe. I liked what I saw and I orderd one.I'm well satisfied with it. It was under $100.
I mounted it onto a board and I put a receptacal box with a plug in and a on /off switch combo on the board also.With this set up when I want to make a grip all I have to do is take the lathe out side put it on saw horses and do my thing and not have the dust to worry about in my work area indoors.
If you want to see the Grizzly Hobby Lathe just click onto photos and scroll down the page it is on the lower right hand side. As you can see it has a tool rest .
Now I know that this is not for everybody but it sure does serve well for the ones that don't do alot of turning. Just my $.02 . Don

Tim,

I've used the drill press / lathe setup on my shopsmith to turn several grips, without using a tool rest, with very satisfactory results. I've simply used strips of 80, 100 and 120 grit to rough out and finish the shape (after laying it out on 1/4 graph paper). I don't know if it will translate to a vertical press, but it can be done.

Wayne Chubb

I wonder if you could help me out--I'm pretty new to this hobby, but have decided I definitely want to turn some cork handles for my light saltwater rods (I hate hypalon and am a bit tired of cork tape and cord). Anyway, I have a grizzly catalog, and want to buy the drill holder/personal lathe you are talking about. My question is, what ELSE will I need--what kind of chucking device and mandrels will I need? I've been reading messages about 3 jawed chucks, PSI, mandrels etc. until I am lost in a cloud of confusion. I believe I want to make the handle on a mandrel as opposed to gluing to the blank and trying to turn the blank, though I'm certainly open to that possibility as well. If I went that route, any suggestions on additional equipment needed above and beyond the Grizzly? Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Also, what's the capacity of the grizzly, do you know, in terms of thelength of cork that can be worked? Thanks a lot for any help you can give. Chuck Horan