I am in the process of building my first birch bark grip. I used a threaded rod for a mandrel. Glued up the bark circles with Elmer's Wood Glue. It's been sitting for a few days.and Now I cannot remove the grip from the mandrel. I just tried heating the mandrel with a tourch with no result. Any ideas what I might try. The glued and compressed circles make up 4 inches. HELP!! Should not have used a threaded rod.

Harry T. Bell

Hm, well you might try drilling a hole in a piece of wood just large enough for your threaded rod to fit through, then use a vise or press and push the wood against the grip material to see if you can dislodge it. You could also try hitting the end of the rod to try to drive the rod through your grip (supported on the other side by the wood).

Yeah, I already tried knocking the mandrel loose. I put a 1/2 inch thick piece of pressed wood over the end of the mandrel to protect it and hit it a few times, very hard, with a hammer and drove the mandrel through the wood. I did wax up the mandrel and the washers. The washers did not bond to the birch, so I'm thinking the glue still got into the threads. I thought the heat would work and I'll try that again. I think boiling it will ruin the birch if it did anything at all.

Have you tried screwing it off? I had a section of birch bark glued onto a threaded rod recently, that I thought was stuck; it wouldn't budge when I tried sliding it off the rod; but then I tried unscrewing it, and it took some pressure at first to dislodge it enough to where it began moving along the threads but it worked with no damage to the bark section. Just took a few minutes longer. But yours may be stuck worse than mine was - I had a lot of mandrel wax on the rod, and the section of bark was only a little over 1" in length.

Hey, that sounds promising. I'll see what I can do. First I'll need to figure out a way to secure the rod so I can use a lot of force turning the birch. I can only think of a vise. Don't care if I riun the end of the rod, it's too long(2ft) anyway.

Since you used athreaded rod
Try loosening one of the nuts and tighten the other
Sounds like you used to much glue But this some times works grab one end with a good pare of pliers and tighten the other

Or even grap with the pliers and - Unscrew like said

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2013 07:05PM by bill boettcher.

Hey Walt! Great advice. Slapped it in a vise and it unsrewed by hand. Slick as Aunt Millie's skin cream! Thanks, Walt.

I think you're right Bill, I used a ton of glue.

Since metals contract more than the birch bark and the glue, you might put the mandrel and grip in a freezer for 24 hours or so. Then remove the mandrel quickly to a vise and twist the grip. It should break loose. You can use a threaded rod, but it needs a thick coating of paraffin wax before gluing the rings together on the mandrel.

Mike Blomme

You have it off, but if you encounter a similar situation, try this, put one end of the rod into the chuck of your electric hand drill and use the drill to turn the rod. Works every time for me.

I chuck the rod up in my drill and hold onto the grip and let the drill screw the rod out.

______________________________________
Super Tight Lines......Don

Thanks Don. That'll will be a lot easier. See you at the Branch meeting if not before.
Harry

Thanks, Phil. That will work a lot better next time.

Nest time use a release agent on the mandrel and you shouldn't have such a problem. a Teflon spray will work wonders.

Or, use teflon plumbers tape.

if all fails get a welder [ electric ] an heat the rod up as you will be removing the center of the grip an you will sand it out to fit the blank , , the welder tkraws pipes that way an it will work the
metal rod will get very hot an will not burn the grip

If the handle is SECURELY glued together you can utilize a rubber strap wrench to securely grip it. Before attaching the wrench run a couple of taps/nuts down the rod close to the handle. Tighten them up to each other, apply the strap wrench to the handle, and use a regualar wrench to turn the jam nut. With two wrenches you should have decent leverage to pop it free.

Harry Bell Wrote:
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> Thanks Don. That'll will be a lot easier. See you
> at the Branch meeting if not before.
> Harry


I am looking forward to it Harry.

______________________________________
Super Tight Lines......Don

Harry,
I use threaded mandrels all of the time.
I always use an electric drill to unscrew the mandrel.
Much easier to unscrew a thread mandrel, than a smooth mandrel.

After unscrewing, simply use a drill do drill out the interior of the bore of the handle to begin the reaming for the blank.

Be safe
Roger

get yourself some regular Rod Bond You do not need much at all I put three dabs on a ring Slid the next one onto it turn about eight times Then the next ring never had a handle break or stick to the threaded rod

Bill - willierods.com