I am just about ready to turn up some cork grips for real after having a practice run on a few.After reading an article from one of
the rodbuilder magazines about creating contrast that Tom sent over it got me thinking.I turned one grip up with black
urethane spacers and it worked reasonably well.

I would like to know what other types of material people use but is still able to be turned with the cork.I will be using some natural
burl and also some light and dark mix rings with the cork to do something a bit unique.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Automotive gasket material (fiber type) is thin, black, and cuts and turns well.

.................

Hello Ray,
I use acrylic plastic, which is available in many colors. I buy sheets of it and use a circle cutter to cut "donuts" with a drill press. The center hole is 5/16". The diameter of the ring or donut can be varied, but I usually cut it to 1 1/4 inches to match most cork rings. The thickness of the sheets of acrylic is 1/8 inch. You can also get black and white sheets in 1/16 inch thickness. I would like to use thin layers of metal, but am concerned about the danger in cutting metal while turning on the lathe. I hope this helps.

Mike Blomme

Ray

I've used wood veneer. You can buy an assortment of it from a Woodcraft Store if you have one in your area. It comes in a variety of natural wood tones but can also be dyed. It is thin and brittle so I'll normally cut it in small squares with scissors and then glue tho pieces together with the grain of one piece running 90 degrees to the grain in the second piece. When the glue dries, I drill a hole in the center of the square and glue them up between the cork rings. I have also seen tinted glue used between the cork rings with some interesting effects.

Sam

rubberized cork flooring samples. I can get 5-6 rings out of each and they came in a ton of colors. a lot of camo and granite looks. they were something like .25 each.

I thought of maybe using White Bleach Bottle Rings

Thanks for the replies so far.Has anyone used poker chips it was mentioned in the rod builder article ?

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

For shadows or outlines, the most effective form of such contrast, thinner is better. Per the article, you want the material used for the outline to go unnoticed - it's there to highlight the other material. So thinner is better. Too think and it becomes a player as well.

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Rings cut from sheets of acrylic, Plastic bottles (soap, bleach, etc), rings cut from thin sheets of aluminum, copper, brass,etc gasket material, just about anything you can find.

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!!

Black rubber/cork gasket material, rubber, viton, paper and other gasket materials come in many colors and thicknesses.

Mike Barkley is back! Must be doing ok, welcome back , Mike

Gift cards [www.rodbuilding.org] , Aluminum sofit material, beer cans, dyed veneers [www.rodbuilding.org] , corian, acrylics, [www.rodbuilding.org] . You are only limited by your imagination.

Thank you again for all the replies.Mark i cant even begin to describe the level of your work it is unbelievable.That is craftmenship
of the highest order.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia