In dale`s book he explains tools to use to cut small hypalon foam bands. I like the different width wood pieces with duelling exacto blades. He also talks about an adjustable duo cutter. Does anyone know where I could pick one of these up? Thanks.

I had one, and I made my own. SAve your money and just cut the foam with a piece of size D thread. The Dual cutter tended to "walk", and the mateiral was never cut clean for me. Tehy are useful to get a consistant width trim ring, as long as you don't try to cut the entire ring out with them, YOu could also epoxy 2 razor blades to a popsicle stick. Or 2 sticks., or 3. Much easier to mark teh grip before it turns, and cut out with thread.

If youwant to buy one, I havent' seen a supplier who carries it, I might be wrong though I dunno. Art stores have them though, I got mine from Pearl Paint, but youmight find it in a craft shop too.

Thanks Billy,

I have lots of foam. I`ll use the D thread method. Price is right up my alley. Thanks a million for the quick response.

The next time you restring your guitar, save those old strings. They come in real handy for cutting grip material and in different gauges too! Like when you need to trim a blank, use the heavy gauge E string.The spiral outer winding acts like a saw and cuts cleanly without any burs or splinters. Give it a try.
Dennis J. Danku

Like Billy cut eva with size D thread. I would be very careful of guitar string. More chance for missing finger. To make even slices I have an old compass caliper that has sharp points on each. With machine running lightly touch caliper to eva which will make two marks. Repeat as many as you want. Then go back and put thread in small slot and even slices. Very easy.

You can also cut it nicely with a SHARP small parting tool made for pen turning, thats how I cut mine.

DR

The Duo cutter doesn't work as well as you might think - it's a bit of a dud. I have one.

Cutting the EVA with thread while the grip is spinning on the lathe is by far the easiest way.

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Thanks everyone. I used my calipers to mark hypalon like Bill recommended then D thread to cut slices. Once again my appreciation to all on this board. Billy..... When are you going to publish a book on custom grip work? The work I checked out yesterday over at the nerb site is just totally unreal. Just kiddin about the book(or not). Thanks again.

Here's an easy way to mark the grips for accurate cuts. Use a ruler, or whatever, to give you the width desired. Then, stick a short piece of tape right on that mark. Once the lathe is spinning the tape becomes a solid line all the way around the grip. It's a simple matter to simply lower the taut thread to the edge of the tape and slice it.

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thanks Tom