Hey Folks, what are you using to drill out a 1/2" thick cork ring that does not have a 1/4" hole in the center? I bought some cork rings that do not have the hole in them and I am wondering if there is one type of drill bit that is better than another. Usually I buy my rings with a 1/4 hole in the center, glue them up to the desired length, then onto a mandrel to shape in my lathe, then ream the entire grip to fit the blank. Thanks!

I like to use a "Brad point bit" as I find it does not wander like a regular drill bit.

Forstner bits are excellent for this as well, but won't come in the very smallest sizes.

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Bill,
I ream all of my cork with a circular file held in a corded variable speed drill.
I have used a grinder to grind a point and teeth on the end of the smallest file.
If I encounter cork rings with no hole in them, I use the circular file to drill the hole and then just continue reaming with the file with the drill running backward against the turn of the file.

Be safe
Roger

I figured someone would recommend the Forstner bit, but I didn't think they would come in 1/4" but they do. I have used them in the bigger sizes for similar types of wood boring with great results. One of the big box stores shows them on their web site in 1/4".
Roger, I ream my cork grips exactly the same way then if they need any additional increase the bore diameter, I finish up with the Batson Dream Reamer. It would be real nice if a file manufacturer would offer more sizes and longer files.

I use a step drill I got from the auto parts store for cork ring drilling. I use a jacobs chuck in my lathe, but you could use them in a regular drill as well. This is the process I use to size the holes to fit my mandrel, prior to gluing up the grip.

For the rings without a hole, I find the center, then start a hole with a punch, then just push the point of the drill into the hole started with the punch.

This works great for "inside" rings. If I have a tighter tolerance requirement, like the ring that ends at the blank, I use either a forstner or a brad point in the right dimension. I chuck the ring in the lathe and bore them horizontally. Makes a great hole and very smooth.

Terry

Bill,
A person might check with rod manufacturers like St. Croix.

When I toured the plant a couple of years ago, the plant uses a long tapered reamer on a drill press style drill to ream out all of their handles.

They use pre made handles with a fixed hole size.
Then, the determine the particular blank that is going to be used for that handle and have a machine shop make them a reamer that is long enough to ream the complete handle in one operation.

So, rather than spending multiple minutes to ream cork and glue up etc. St. Croix takes a built up handle, runs their reamer down the handle in about 6 seconds, hits the handle and blank with glue and the handle is fitted and glued up in about another 10 seconds.

So something under a minute per handle per rod for the entire operation.

Roger