Which is better & why? If turning on a blank what happens if you mess up? How much of a pain is it remove the messed up handle?

Thanks,
Tony

I glue and turn on a threaded rod. On the blank you make a Boo Boo you may mess up the blank? After your satisfied put on the blank and make final touch ups

I turn them on the rod because I think thats the best way to adhere the cork to the blank. Put some masking tape above the grip to keep from accidently scratching the blank, and mabye a wrap of tape where the blank contacts the lathe supports.

Work slowley, with sandpaper and its difficult to mess up the grip.

I'm in Bill's corner on this. Knowing my limitations I prefer not to risk damaging a blank during the turning operation. Some very capable rod builders turn grips on the blank however. You need to make the decision based on your available equipment, personal skill and comfort level.

Tony,
After utilizing both methods on many occasions, I have come to the conclusion that the mandrel method is better for me, for several reasons. To lump them all into one, basically there are several things that can at some point go wrong during the shaping process. You could mess up the shape of the grip, you could run into some bad cork, you could even damage the blank during the turning process, resulting in a ruined grip...and having to remove the grip because something went wrong is a lot of work, and wastes a lot of money and cork in the process.
I have heard a lot of people say that gluing the cork rings directly to the blank makes for a better glue bond. This may be true if we were to test the joint under an EXTREME load with direct pressure on the grip itself, but the fact is that if you are careful when you are reaming out your preformed handle (that you made on a mandrel) you can get an extremely good fit, with a joint that is strong enough to handle any angling circumstance you may everencounter.
I may be a bit biased because I make and sell mandrels specifically for this task, but I have used both methods, and the mandrel method offers many many advantages over the "shape on the blank" method in my opinion.

Andy Dear
Lamar Reel Seats
www.lamarreelseats.com

I use Andy's mandrels and find that is the way to go. No risk to the blank, and the mandrels are much stiffer allowing you to exert a little more pressure on them to get the job done.

I just finished turning a long rosewood casting grip using Andy's mandrels and it worked great. Thanks Andy!

Best Fishes,
Mark

Call me lucky or whatever. I NEVER turn a grip on a mandrel. I turn countless cork grips and have never had to go back and make a repair. I look at it this way: I make a grip on a handle and then turn it to whatever shape I desire. If that was on a mandrel, I would have to remove it,ream it and install it on my blank.If you are using rodbond on your cork then you have oodles of time to fix any mistakes. From the time I start the grip to the time it is done is usually 1 hour in most cases. I mix five minute epoxy and rodbond and get the best of both worlds. I can form it soon after the assembly and be assured it will stay there due to the rodbond.

Just my two cents worth

TCR,Inc,
www.tomaricustomrods.com

Tom,
I am talking about mistakes with the shape...perhaps you make it too small or the wrong shape...those types of mistakes are unfixable and would require that you shave the cork from the blank. OR what if you encounter a ring or two that has terribly bad pits that are much too intrusive to fill, or even a crack (which I have seen more than once). All of these anomolies would require the builder to go to extreme meausres to fix, or would require that the entire grip be removed from the blank and start over.
Where as if you had a set of different size mandrels, you could glue the grip, turn the grip, and then have all of 5 minutes of reaming all the while alleviating any possibility of ever having to remove a grip from a blank and start over.
I am not saying this is the only way or even the right way to make a grip....both ways are correct, to me though the mandrel offers MORE advantages than does the "on the blank" method.

Andy Dear
Lamar Reel Seats
www.lamarreelseats.com

Also,
Turning grips on the blank itself requires a much more extensive lathe set up with several sets of rollers and such do do the job accurately and safely. With the Grizzly Hobby Lathe, a drill and a few mandrels, a builder could get started turning cork grips for probably less than $100.00.

Andy Dear
Lamar Reel Seats
www.lamarreelseats.com

I have been turning grips on rods since 1980. During that time I have ruined one blank that whipped too much even with two ball bearing supports. This year I bought a Grizzly lathe, some mandrels from Andy and have turned a few grips so far. I don't think I will ever go back to turning grips on a rod. I have tried both methods and I prefer working on a lathe.

I use threaded rod. I drill out the rings to the size of threaded rod just smaller than the size of the blank, and have less trouble (fewer problems that cost me money or time) than with any other method I have used. I havn't used the purpose made mandrels yet, so I do not know if they are better or just different.