I made some mistakes with my first fly grip on a steel mandrel, glued the grip up with wood glue and left it on the mandrel until I could get it on the lathe to turn it. Sat on my bench for over a month, finally turned it on the lathe and it was perfect........when I went to remove it from the mandrel it absolutely wouldn't budge. I tried everything to remove it and it finally came off in pieces. Just sick about it, plus cork is expensive. I recently bought new rings but before I start what should I do differently? Does anyone wax the mandrel before gluing the rings? Any suggestions?

Tim

Hi Tim. Absolutely wax the mandrel. I bore my cork rings and wood inserts just slightly larger than the mandrel which helps stop them from sticking as well, but if you don't wax the mandrel, it is guaranteed the grip will stick. I use a 1/4" wood dowel for stacking my cork on and two ready rods with wing nuts for applying pressure while drying. I use simple candle wax to coat the wood dowel. Comes off easy every time. When turning on the lathe, I then insert a pen making mandrel. Works like a charm.

cheers
Harold



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2008 01:53PM by Harold Dean.

I always wax the mandrel before putting the cork rings on it. Nothing too heavy, but just a nice light coat. I also ream out the cork rings to where they slip on fairly easily onto the mandrel.

Tim,

I use paraffin (sp?) wax and wax my mandrels that I glue the grips/rings up on, then I "pop" the grip off the waxed mandrel and move it to a threaded mandrel and turn it on the threaded mandrel. My mandrel that I wax is nothing more than a solid brass rod from any hardware store. Doing it this way keeps your GOOD mandrels in perfect shape 100% of the time as they never see glue. The threaded mandrels only have one end threaded and a "stop" that locks down with an allen wrench and is moveable to fit any length grip. You can take a standard mandrel and thread it yourself with a die set, or you can buy the ones already threaded. Robert at Fishsticks4U carrys them, they are a sponsor on the left of this page. There are some pic's of a few on the RB photo area, you may want to search that and see one, once you see one the idea of it comes easily.

DR

i use a waterproof wood glue - Titebond II. If you use a stainless mandrell to glue on, it will break free relatively easily. Even on threaded rods, it comes off pretty good.

I use titebond II for gluing cork blocks for making duck decoys (as it is the generally agreed upon glue to use in the decoy carving world) and it holds up excellent.

Regards,
-Justin

This is one of those things where a little background information would have ended up saving you money. Articles on turning such as in RodMaker, the book I did for Amato or one of Andy Dear's DVDs would have been helpful to you.

In the meantime, just lightly swipe the solid steel mandrel with a bar of paraffin wax which can be found at most grocery stores. The rings, fitted snugly, will allow you to turn and then can be "popped" loose with a quick twisting motion.

One last thing - Titebond is highly corrosive. If you use it to glue your rings, get the grip turned and off the mandrel within about 24 hours. Otherwise your mandrel will be severely corroded.

...........

Thank you all for the answers, I never thought about using a seperate rod for glue up of the rings......this makes perfect sense. Does most everyone use Titebond II? This is the glue I used before.


Tim

Tim,
I drill out my rings to 5/16, 3/8, or 7/16, whichever is closest to the smallest diameter of the rod blank, and glue them up with Titebond II on a waxed hardware store steel dowel rod. Next day, pop the cork off the dowel, ream to fit the rod blank, then mount the reamed blank on the same sized THREADED rod that's shimmed out with electrical tape, with nuts on both ends. Chuck the threaded rod in a lathe and turn your grip. Gives you a perfectly concentric grip every time. Reaming before you do the lathe work works great with foam and wood grips too.
Tom White

I have a modified lathe that has a hole all the way through the head stock . I glue , clamp and turn dirrectly on the rod blank , no need for mandrels . This way I always get a snug fit at every point on the blank , there are no pockets that would be left with a "preformed" grip . All metal lathes have a hole through the headstock , they can be pricey , but if you shop around you may be surprised what you find . Mine is a lathe that was enetirely handmade by someone ( bed, headstock, tailstock , used motors , and belt ) and I picked it up on craigslist for 75 bucks , and it is perfectly on center . I have a 6 jaw chuck (doesn't crush the blank) that I bought for about $130 to fit onto the headstock . I learned to do grips on a metal lathe from Burkheimer and after strugling with drills and stands for a couple years before that , I'll never go back .

Ditto to all the above and yes , I think everyone uses Titebond II or III. It is a good water proof glue that works great on cork. And it will definitely corrode your mandrels. Got to clean mine quite often.

TimK,

No, I dont use titebond on cork. I use one of two things depending on how many rings I'm glueing at once with cure time factored in: 5min Flex Coat 2part epoxy or Andy Dear's 15min
Ultimate Epoxy Gel.

Either of these can be turned very quickly with short cure times.

DR

I use the same as DR - i could use titebond and dnothing wrong with it, but whats the point in having 5 different adhesives when only a couple will do

I use U-40 RodBond, I think this is the best adhesive I have ever found. I used many evaporative type glues in the past and would never go back to them. I haven't tried Andy's new 15 minute Gel or U-40's new short cure time epoxy adhesive, but will i the future.
Mike Blomme

I bore all the rings close to size and use Titebond and glue them up on a pc of twaxed hreaded rod. If it sticks, you can just put one end in a vise and "unscrew" the grip. I then transfer to a mandrel for turning. Besides, Titebond or other glues will quickly rust a steel mandrel

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!!

Tim,
I also use threaded rod for glue up, I use a washer and nut on each for clamping make washers bigger than your rings. I also grind most of the threads off except for the end where I tighten things down if you take off to much use spacers to take up the space. The dried handle will screw right off ,I let dry about 12 hrs before taking off rod. then let dry for a while before turning, titebond will be somewhat on the inside. When I put my handle on a mandrel and start turning. The threaded rod is cheap to have multiple handles glued up at once.
Enjoy the hobby.

Mike

Mikes Custom Fly Rods