I am putting more decorative cork handle together with normal and burl cork and would like to figure out how to get a thick ~1/32" black bond line between the cork and the burl to set off the burl ... so am asking for ideas on how to do this. Thanks!

Vulcanized fiber or G10 Spacer material

Ron Weber

Mix black Testors paint with rod bond and glue them up with a heavy load. Compress until you have the desired spacing.Then clean up grip as you normally would.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

A 1/32 glue line is a lot of glue. That work great for just a small definition line between the rings

Check out mud hole stacked burl cork SKU: #STBCR500, if not dark enough try dyeing it with ink or sharpe. I tcan be cut in half to get a single line.

Have fun
John

Using rod bond to join cork rings will leave a glue line with out even trying, 1/32 would be no problem.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Why don't you use slice of EVA cutted for desired thickness?

Black gasket paper, black rubber gasket material, etc.

Dwight

I build faux birch bark grips from 1/8" cork for which a black glue line is very important to define each cork ring and create the bark illusion. I use VooDoo Midnight Sky metallic epoxy marbling dust in TiteBond to glue up the grip. The resulting black glue line is not 1/32" wide, but the black glue line is clearly visible in part due to the contrast between the light, natural cork and the black line. An alternative to VooDoo dust is black Ritz dye, which I think does not work as well as the marbling dust.

Dwight, I sen to you an email with a link to the material I use. You will find it quite difficult to get a consistent 1/32" line using epoxy.

Epoxy line hard to get a good one you need to add some type of EVA or gasket material , check your local auto parts store , remember when you are shaping your handle at the different rings, you will have a problem getting it smooth
no bumps

William Sidney
AK

poker chips.
thin them down if you want narrower then they are

I use pieces of wood veneer that I get from from my local Woodworkers Supply. The veneer comes in a variety of colors so you can use the veneer to complement a variety of blank and thread colors. The veneer is thin enough to cut with scissors. Just glue a small piece or 2 of veneer between the cork rings the same way as you glue up the cork. You will not be able to pre-drill a hole in the veneer or it will shatter. As a result you will need to glue the veneer between 2 cork rings and let it dry before your can ream out the hole. Then just continue assembling the rest of the handle. It adds and extra step and takes a little longer but I prefer the look of the wood over gasket material, eva or other materials than are in common use for this purpose.

It sounds to me that Dwight doesn't want a sharp contrast of a solid black line between natural and burl rings, but wants a shade of darker material to soften the transition between the two opposing rings.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Bill Sidney Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Epoxy line hard to get a good one you need to add
> some type of EVA or gasket material , check your
> local auto parts store , remember when you are
> shaping your handle at the different rings, you
> will have a problem getting it smooth
> no bumps

be careful with gasket material from auto parts store.....used the sheet cork for inlays and it fell apart...I think its loaded with silicone...

I have used black, hard, dry-feeling gasket material, but have no idea of its specs. One issue with materials like this is that it is easy to have them stand proud to the surface since they don't seem to sand as cleanly as cork. Can be done, but you have to have the sandpaper mounted to a straight block and pay particular attention to this issue when sanding. A harder material would probably be better.

Another possibility is to burn it in with a wire while spinning the cork.

Thanks to everyone for a lot of great suggestions to try, I am going to prototype several and see what gives the best result. I am looking for a distinct line but it could be a thick bond line. Good advice on the hard sanding block I can picture the cork cupping around the harder inlay materials.

Or not biting on the softer ones.

Do let us now what works out for you , we all have our own ideas on what works , so do let us know on the outcome

William Sidney
AK

Finally got around to finishing the experiment, and have posted a photo in the photos handles and grips section not sure how to link it here; I got three good results of varying thickness. Shown in the photo starting from the left are 3 versions 1) paste epoxy with pigment and glass bead bond line thickness control clamped, 2) same as 1 but not clamped, 3 & 4) are 0.030 knife handle backing material, 5-9) are 0.020 dyed black veneer sycamore I believe. For the thinnest but definite bond line the pigmented epoxy works well and is easy to do and finish, for a slightly thicker line the veneer is easy to work with cuts with scissors and finishes easily, for the thickest line the handle backing material works well, cuts with heavier scissors, care must be taken when finishing as it is tougher than cork. The last statement is actually true for all variations epoxy and epoxied veneer are also tougher than the cork so you have to be careful sanding to finished shape. Hope this is useful info for others.