Hi Gents,
I had some cork floor tiles left over from making my workshop benches and decided to try and make some grips to see what they would turn out like. I wasn't expecting a great deal especially after what they looked like when glued up. After turning on my drill powered lathe they looked pretty good and I was very happy how they turned out. A packet of floor tiles aren't expensive and if your careful how you lay and space out the circles there isn't a lot of wastage. I used a hole saw to cut out the circles then glued them up with some rubber/cork rings and thin black eva rings.
Some before and after turning photo's.
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2013 05:36AM by Col Chaseling.

You might be interested to know, that the resurgence of "exotic cork" came directly from a suggestion I made about 10 years ago to a component supplier to begin punching rings from cork floor tiles. He had much success doing just that.

The only downside to using these tiles is that most are coated with a polyurethane coating to make the surface more resilient. So if you don't remove this coating, or do as he did and source the tiles without the coating, you can get an obvious "glue ring" at each ring junction.

In any event, you're not crazy and are, in fact, doing exactly the same thing this vendor did and which rejuvenated the cork business some years ago.

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

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the info. The tiles I used were bare natural cork with no coating, something that has obviously helped. I doubt I would have tried it if they had and I'm absolutely positive I wouldn't be the first one to try it. With the way these turned out I will definitely be having another go!!

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

G'day Col

You should of put up a photo of before you turned them up.From an ugly duckling a beautiful swan emerged.

They look the goods.Bring the next one around and we will throw it on the lathe.

cheer

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Great stuff Col they look pretty good.

Cheers

Mark Newcombe
Old Bar NSW
Australia
markscustomfishing.com
American Tackle Pro-Staff

That "Sika" glue looks a goer I could not see any glue lines .Was it easy to work with? & how long did you have leave clamped .I might take up your offer when the "D-Blue blanks arrive & I make my mind what to do with them .How do the winding checks look are they up to scratch

Regards Baz

Bundeena
NSW Australia

They look fantastic Col. I have been using tiling for about 7 years now, and have suggested it here a few times. Sourcing uncoated tiles is quite easy. The tiling is available in 4 mm and 6 mm thicknesses. You do see a faint glue line under very close inspection, but it's no big deal. My friends and customers reallyvlike the tight grain and faint striping.

Good enough for me that I don't use normal cork anymore. I mix with burl, rubberised and exotic and they all look great with 2 coats of Tru-Oil.

Hi Ray,
I did post a pic of before but my bumble fingers must have mucked it up. It's fixed now and if you have a look you'll see why I wasn't expecting a great deal. Once I got rid of the excess glue and got everything levelled out it improved dramatically and got better the finer the paper I used. Turned out way better than I expected. I just need to get the carbon skinned grips right as the ends cause a few problems. If I got a result like this on my first attempt I would have been over the moon!! The old drill powered lathe does a decent job on these but I'll get to your lathe one day.

Mark,
Thanks for the compliment.

Barry,
The Sika glue was easy, just poured some into a cup so it started to foam before it went on. Just need to be careful not to pour out too much, not more than you can use in about ten minutes. I think you could get away with removing the clamp after two to three hours, much less and MUCH cheaper than the Araldite I normally use. I still use the Araldite to attach it to a blank but that stuff should be ok for that as well. Supposedly 100% waterproof.
Some of the winding checks had a few bubbles trapped right on the outer edge and aren't up to scratch. I'll get some casting resin and have another go with a bit of modification to how I poured it at your place. I have an idea or two to fix that.

Ted,
Thanks for the kind words. It just started as some mucking around with some left over tiles to see what would happen. Don't know anyone that uses cork that can glue it up without those faint lines and there isn't much on these despite the number of joins. These ones are from 4mm tiles but when their gone the local hardware store has got some unfinished 6mm ones for about $15 a packet. I will get at least three grips from a packet and a grip would cost less than $10 for materials which is a big difference from the $50 - $60 cost when using high quality rings.
Definitely looks a bit different from normal rings but they've got all the attributes of a cork grip and you don't have to fill any holes!!!
I new someone else had probably done it long before me but it was well worth the effort and now I have something that's a bit different.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Col,
When you get a chance, can you WEIGH your finished cork grip and compare that weight to the weight of a comparable cork grip made of natural cork?

I really like the look and feel of burled cork, which is essentially the same as cork tile cork - but the down side of either of these methods is the WEIGHT.
i.e. the glue that is used to glue all of the cork particles together has a noticeable weight. The really nice thing about cork grips made of this material is that there are 0 flaws in the grip.

On many rods, it is immaterial. On others - not so much

Be safe
Roger

wow the before looks horrible but the after looks excellent! great job

Just for the heck of it Check out Yoga blocks They need to be cut into 1 1/2 blocks
got a few and they do not seem bad at all

Bill - willierods.com

Yep, cheap as. Bunnings is great ain't it? The stuff I got has 6 tiles to a pack in 6 mm. Depending on the grips you make you'll get more than 3 grips.

Roger, yes, they weigh a bit more, but the way I see it, and for the great majority of my builds, it is weight in hand and behind the reel. Contributes to balance, looks really hot to boot. Win.

Col Iv'e also had a brainwave (don't get many of those).On Sunday you mentioned about syringes & that could be the way to go If there is one available with a large hole in the tip about 1-1.5mm .I am about to do a search & see what I can find .I let you know how I went

Regards Baz

Bundeena
NSW Australia

Hi Roger,
I don't have anything to compare it with that's not on a rod so I've done some measurements and compared the weight of the foregrip to a bunch of flor grade 11/4 x 1/4 rings the same length. Considerably heavier but like Ted said it's in the hand and I doubt it would be noticeable except to the weight gurus, which I'm not.

Foregrip length 175mm or 6.875inches
thickness 37.9mm or 1.492, 32.0mm or 1.27 37.4mm or 1.472, 32.0mm and 37.8mm or 1.485

Rear grips length 60.5mm or 2.38inches thickness 33.6 or 1.325 to 27.89mm or 1.097

weight for the three pieces is 122 grams or 4.3 ozs

foregrip weight 78 grams

flor grade weight 23 grams

Note that the diameter of the rings is 32mm which is less than mine and there was no glue or rubberised rings. At a guess I would say a cork grip the same size would weigh 30 to 35 grams. So the floor tiles would be about double the weight of one made from rings. Won't appeal to everyone but the cost of one of these is dramatically less than one made from "high" quality rings which won't get any cheaper.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Hi Barry,
Thanks for that. If you find something then buy double and I will fix you up. I will try some other ideas when I get some casting resin.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Looking good, Col!! For a change up from the craft foam. Get some 12" linoleum/vinyl floor tiles and use your hole saw. Make great trim rings and come in carious colors/patterns. VERY inexpensive

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!!

Hi Mike,
Good to hear from you and I hope you doing well.
Thanks for that with the lino tiles, neat idea and something else I can try.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Hey col looks good. How's the carbon grips going? I just got my blocks from billy bloody unreal product. Will have to post some pics when done scared of wasting to much but lol. So I can get the cork tiles from bunnings?

The whole idea of the blocks is no rings or holes
Plus with blocks it is easy to cut to add colored rings or make designs in them
The ones MudHole has are a little pricey Unless they keep there sale going
They ain't soft And weight Bore them out and put an arbor in Bore the arbor to the blank just like wood

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2013 07:55AM by bill boettcher.

Hi Chris,
Will shape another grip tomorrow and maybe get a carbon sock on it. Will try something different from the last effort. It was ok but the ends leave a bit to be desired. I see why a lot of the split grip pieces don't have much taper as it is pretty dificult to get a nice finish on the small end and there is only a winding check that you can use to cover it up.
Bunnings have got 6mm tiles in a "six pack" for about $15 and you will get 3 or 4 grips similar to mine from a packet so they're fairly cheap even if they are a bit heavier. Be a while before I get this one on a blank to see how it feels with these ones attached.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia