I've been using U-40 Rod Bond for my cork handles forever and it has worked well for me. Lately I've been toying with the idea of speeding up the process a little by switching to the U-40 Quick Bond. Does the Quick Bond work as well as the normal U-40? I understand that it sets within 10 to 15 minutes therefore there is not a lot of time to dilly dally but does anyone have any comments pro or con to making the switch? Many thanks.

I have been using it for some time now and really like it. It is not great for something where you want some longer working time so I keep some regular RB around but I use it for most applications now a days.

Charles,
Lots of folks use 5 or 15 minute epoxy to do handles. The only difference between these compared to a slower setting epoxy is that you need to work with smaller batches and smaller jobs. You certainly want to have everything in place and clamped before the epoxy kicks.

I like to use a 30 minute epoxy for most of my handle work so that I can do the entire back grip, reel seat and fore grip if applicable in one epoxy batch. I use my power lathe for cork ring glue ups, so I can spin the pieces very quickly and get the glue on all of the pieces and blank on in minimum time.

I find that generally speaking, when you talk about a usable time of an epoxy, it has about 1/2 the working time of the time listed on the bottle. i.e. 5 minute can be worked for about 3 minutes. 15 minute epoxy can be worked for a bit more than 10 minutes. 30 minute epoxy can be worked for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the batch and how it is mixed.

So - epoxy of various cure times all work fine for rod building.

The one thing that one notes with various time cures, is that it seems that the shorter the cure time, the user notices a slight more brittle cure in the glue. i.e. 5 minute epoxy is a touch more brittle than 10 minute etc.

But for rod building, the differences really don't matter and any of the glues give an excellent adhesion and an excellent final product.

Take care
Roger