I finally found a lathe of the style I wanted - primarily for making wood inserts and shaping cork grips. I am interested in recommendations for the type ' shape of cutting tool and RPM settings for shaping cork grips. I'll be starting from scratch with the glue beads dried and pressed outside each ring and working all the way to the finished grip. Thanks in advance for your replies.

I shape my grips using only sandpaper. Get some really coarse stuff for the initial shaping, then go down to progressively finer grades. Cutting tools don't really work well on cork.

For cork all you need is sandpaper and a 4in1 tool. 1st off get a 4in1 tool and remove the extra material to get it to a straight stick. Make sure there are no smooth areas of where the cork had not been knocked down. When it is all uniform then you can sandpaper. Start with 120 grit and shape it. Then finish it in increments up to 360-400 grit. I use 1800 rpm for cork, and I'm sure you'll get 10 different answers for that. With the glue beads, you should wipe the cork with a wet rag after you clamp it to remove the glue. With practice comes perfection, and it doesn't take much practice. I also recommend Andy Dear's dvd; The Lathe in Rodbuilding". It will tell you everything everything you'll ever need to know. Later, Bryan.

Hey Bryan -
Thanks for the quick reply and info. I'm probably showing my ignorance but what's a 4 in 1 tool? Also, where can I find Andy Dear DVD's? Sounds like just what I need. I've watched Andy Puyan's turn my cork grips for years but for some reason never captured the details. Now Andy's gone and I figure it's time to do my own. I am sure Andy did the initial rough shaping with a cutting tool on the lathe though. That much I know. He finished it with sand paper, steadily getting finer and finer and measuring against my hand to get it just so.

Drywall sanding screen works GREAT on cork.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Lamar Fishing is Andy's shop.

Gosh....if a cutting tool is used for corks, that would be something to see ! Granted I don't get out much or get very far, but of the 6 "pro" shops in BC I've visited, they all used a dedicated lathe, and sandpaper. Some used more RPM than others.
I use about 1000 RPM, start with 50 grit open coat aluminum oxide to break all the glue at all the rings, and work my way from the breaker, to 100, to 220, to 300, then to the backside of the 100 paper, which would be about 1000.
Works for me....your mileage may vary.

Josh,

A 4 in 1 tool is a type of coarse tooth file that has different cutting surfaces on the various file surfaces - different cutting surfaces on the 4 surfaces. Lowe's and Home Depot has them.

My preference for roughing cork/wood is a rough cutting tool similar to a Stanley SurForm tool.




form.

Stan

For the initial shaping of the cork, I have found that using coarse ( 80 grit, then 120) aluminum oxide grinding discs (7" dia.) works great and they last forever. They are fairly rigid, so it is very easy to hold them with two hands and create a slight bend in them. This will speed up the initial shaping where you are creating the general contour you want. Then switch to sandpaper to finish, changing the grit progressively from say 150 to 400.

Tip
If you plan on making more then buying - save the cork dust in jars. later it may come in handy for making colored rings, end caps ----

Andy's DVD suggests using a coarse file for initial shaping rather than sandpaper, however a Stanley sureform tool would work as well. It's good to have a solid tool that you can place against the tool rest to true up the grip. You can also square up the ends and put in shoulder features with a regular bastard metal file.

Other than these two tools, it is sandpaper for me as well. 80 grit for getting the shape, then progress up through 400. I do use the drywall screen for my 120 and 220 grit sizes.

Terry

I have a wood rasp from Home Depot. It is flat on one side and convex on the other. Has nice course and fine teeth that takes material off well and fast.

I use a flat "microplane shaping" tool from WoodCraft for my first cut on newly glued grips. Works real well on grips made from various materials like cork, Andy's exotic cork, hardwoods, EVA, poker chips, and/or craft foam. After that it is thin strips of sandpaper down to whatever is necessary to get the desired results.

[www.woodcraft.com]

Just wanted to send a quick thanks to all who offered suggestions. Looks like the 90% solution is a file / rasp followed by sand paper rather than any sort of a cutting tool. Andy Puyan's used to turn my grips while we sat in his shop and drank his fee (a bottle of scotch) and he always started with a cutting tool manuevered manually on his metal lathe. So maybe he was the exception rather than the rule. I'm ordering Andy Dear's DVD anyway. Thanks to all. This is my first post on this board and the response was great.

If you are using regular cork you can get by with sand paper. If you are using Andy Dears Burl cork or something similar you will want to start with something heavier.

Make sure you use a dust mask in the very least.