Can anyone recommend a home made tool for easily shaping a "roll" of cork rings into a handle? For instance, once you know the desired dimensions, a template that you can hold against the turning rings to quickly and easily sand / cut / shear the "roll" into the desired shape?

I was thinking a template cut into plywood, the edge at an angle, with grit glued on. Something like, you know?

I don't know of anything like that available for purchase, but I don't see why a homemade jig the way you are thinking wouldn't work. Sort of like a molding knife. Make a wood form and use sticky-back sandpaper so that you could work your way through various grits down to your finish sanding. Be a good way to duplicate grips if that is what you are going for.

If you get some of the templates from past issues of RodMaker you can just turn grooves at 1 inch intervals on your lathe close to the specified dimensions than take out the rest to that level, same as they have always done for turning wood. Than just sand down to size. The other way I don't know how you'd keep everything square and level to get repeatibility as your work got further from you as you sanded it. The other way you just have to move your tool rest closer to the work as you progressed.

Spencer has the better idea. The old template with cutting grit idea doesn't work very well. It could probably be improved on (commercial grip manufacturers use a shaped "stone" to cut their grips) but would require a bit more work to get to the point where you could get repeatable results every time.

Shaping your grips by hand isn't hard to do once you have a few under your belt and get the feel for it.

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Thanks to all who responded.

So, if I take a template and work in one inch increments, are we talking a lathe with a rest for the cutting tool? I have not used a lathe since middle school. If you fix the tool rest and know how far you are from the center rod that is holding the rings, how do you make sure you get down only to the correct distance?

Thanks.

Use a set of calipers

Bill in WV

The distance of the cutting edge from the center of the mandrel equals 1/2 the OD of the piece being turned.

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Hi Tony,
I do not have a lathe yet but I lot of other builders who do say that Andy Dear's
DVD is a must have for those who want to turn grips, reel seat inserts, ect.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Andy's DVD is an excellent learning tool. I learned a good bit from it. Ralph

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

Honestly, I think that with a decent set of calipers, you can get almost exact replicas without a template. I do it quite a bit on my personal split grips (for bass rods), and on fly grips, as I've found a shape I like, and I want them all to be the exact same size/taper. Here's what I do.

1. I come up with a standard. I turn a few pieces of cork, and find the one that is exactly what I want.
2. With a set of calipers, I check the o.d. at 1/2" intervals. I actually make a scale drawing with my o.d. measurements marked on it. It's good to measure each 1/2" o.d. a couple times, just to make sure you're getting accurate measurements.
3. Turn your replica, checking the o.d. often. I use only sandpaper, no cutting tools. When I get within about 0.1" or 0.15", I move from my finer cutting grits (80, 120, 150) to my "polishing" grits (220, 320). The 220 and 320 will take the cork down the last little bit. Then, for the last 0.03 or so, I use my 400 and 600 grits.

Occasionally, I'll get all the o.d.s absolutely perfect. Most of the time, though, I'm off by just a hair (i.e. 0.02 or something like that). However, I'm always close enough that I can't notice the difference while holding the rod. As crazy as it sounds, if you're willing to take your time and measure often, you really can get nearly perfect replicas.

I must issue a disclaimer here, though. I am a little obsessive, especially when I'm at the lathe. Most folks wouldn't be willing to spend as much time as I do turning cork.

If you figure out how to come up with a really good template, let me know. It would sure be worthwhile to have!

Thank you to all who responded. People had great suggestions.

I am a manufacturing person who enjoys repetition and predicatbility, so while I can appreciate the Zen of measuring, turning, measuring, turning, I will let you know how this replicator thing works out. The guys at the tool stores tell me this is an excellent application for turning cork grips but it does not make economic sense unless you are a factory. I agree, but I am going to do it anyway. My compadre is buying a lathe anyway and I will buy the replicator. We'll let you know how it turns out.