I have seen several images of corn cob handles. I searched the forum and came up empty. So my question is how are these handles made. Are they epoxy empregnated like cork? I am from Nebraska and they would make perfect handles for a pair of rods I am thinking about building.

Thanks.

John

cork epoxy empregnated ???? I am not sure of that where did you see that ?????????? please fill us in on that .

William Sidney
AK

[rodbuilding.org]

[www.google.com]

[www.penturners.org]

They make pipes and pens out of them and they look great, I would search making corn cob pens for a start and maybe use a real slow set epoxy instead of CA glue. I think it's a great idea I bet you could even dye them or tint them for some color. Jaa

There's a video on YouTube of how to prep the corncob for turning. They soak them in a liquid that hardens them. They look amazing when done. Almost like fish scales. I think the guy is making pens out of the ones in video. I think you could use acrylic like the guys that make the wood/acrylic blanks instead of whatever liquid the guy uses. However, cool thing about that liquid is the guy uses it over and over.

[m.youtube.com]

That was pretty cool. The only problem I see is that you need a big diameter corn cob to make fishing grip! They look good.
Norm

I was thinking of the reel seat. About the same diameter as the pen he made. Only problem is its the wrong time of year to get corn cobs from the farms.

Save yourself some time and buy one that is truly stabilized, will hold up much better to the elements than one done with CA

Ron Weber

Some suppliers of pen maker materials have corn cob blanks already stabilized. Try Rockler.

John, I agree with you. I think the cob handles or reel seat would look amazing. I first saw stabilized corn cob as a set of knife handle scales from a friend who is a custom knife maker. He told me that it can be very difficult to work with and 1 or 2 out of every 5 he gets break during shaping (even though they're stabilized.) He has a really significant upcharge for the cob because it's such a hassle to work with. I still want to try it at least once, but have yet to find the appropriate build for it. Please let me know how it turns out and post pics. If you would like, I can see if I can find out his supplier and email it to you (or if one of the sponsors here has some, I hope they'll speak up.. I'd prefer to buy from a sponsor)

Here is a source for stabilized corn cob blanks www.exoticblanks.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2016 05:32PM by Phil Erickson.

Ok,

Here is what I have found so far. I found some cobs in a field from last falls harvest. Cleaned them well then soaked in a rit dye overnight. Rinsed with cold water the next day and let dry for a good 24 hours. Then into a bath of Minwax wood hardener. Again a good 24 hours. Let it dry for two days, then put it on the lathe. It initially turned really well. But as I turned it, I found the cob was not large enough in diameter to make a seat. I also found that the cob is not symmetric. So I got part of the turning down to the actual cob, the other part still had the "seed containers". Also the stain did not get to the cob, so it was the natural color.

So two problems so far. Color penetration and size. I took the cob and re-dyed it. Now the dye penetrated to the cob part and actually really looks great.

So, here is my next plan. First stabilize the cob with the wood hardener. Once dry, drill the cob and mount on my reel seat mandrel. I think mounting it will give me a better chance of "forcing" symmetry. Turn to diameter. Then dye it, let the dye dry and again into the wood hardener.

The size problem may be significant. I have heard some people get cobs from Walmart in the pet food section. I'll check that out and if I can find some larger cobs, give it a try. If not, then I'll use the smaller ones to experiment on and see how things turn out. In either case, I'll try to get some photos posted here when I get things to a point where it might be a viable process.

John