Hello All,
What I would like to know is when reaming and glueing cork rings what is prefered fit. Do you want the rings tight or just slide smooth. I have noticed when they are reamed tight and epoxy is aplied it slides very easily. My concern is if it is a tight fit it will expand and split somewhere down the road. I am not forcing them on but they feel snug. Also after I fit the rings I take a small cope saw blade and notch rifle grooves (spiral )in the center rings, not the ends, to hold more epoxy. Is this over kill. Also, when I clamp the rings and glue oozes out what is the proper solvent to clean it with ? Denatured alcahol or accetone? Sorry to pack so much in one post.
Thanks in advance ,
Mark Schulte

Size your rings so that each one slides within 1/2 inch of the intended resting place. That's close enough and will not risk splitting anything. If you are working with a preformed grip, ream it so that it too will reach, on a dry fit, about 1/2 inch of the intended resting place.

Do make sure you apply your epoxy far enough up on the rod blank so that you can bring the grip down over it and by turning and spinning completely coat the inside of the grip. Once it is slipped into place, you should have some adhesive showing on the blank ABOVE where the grip is located. If it doesn't you have likely just squeegeed it down the blank and may have some dry areas between grip and blank that will come back to haunt you later.

Get plenty of adhesive in there between the grip and blank. A bit of clean up is better than a loose grip down the road.

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