So I just bought a Wen 3424T lathe to turn cork handles. I have searched on here and watched Tom's youtube video. My question is for the surform plane, it looks like Tom is just using the blade of the plane alone, without the form. How do you get the handle concentric without using a rest or something to gauge a straight line. I have never done woodworking on a lathe so excuse my lack of knowledge. Also what is the best speed to turn cork at, and while I am asking questions, what is the best speed to run your reamers at, plan to use the lathe for that too. Thank you.

Keith Langford

You have to use a cutting tool, like a round nose scraper, to get the stock concentric to the bore. The Surform is just for removing the hard edge of the epoxy and quick stock reduction.

2500 RPM is a good turning speed for cork.

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A lathe is not the best application for a reamer. A hand rill works well.

Copy Phil's comment.
I have used a lathe for reaming. I have used a horizontal drill mounted on the bench. Did not like either one for reaming.

Rather, as Phil suggested, I use a variable speed corded drill simply because I never have to worry about battery life.

I just find it much more convenient if I sit down, put the grip in my lap and then use the drill held at about 45 degrees as I do my reaming. For myself, I use circular files of various sized turned backwards to do a quick and easy job reaming.

I always wear a pair of cloth gloves when reaming. In particular I use a glove on the hand that is holding the cork grip. By wearing a cloth or knitted glove on my cork grip holding hand, I can loosen my grasp from time to time so that I am effectively turning the grip slowly in my hand as I ream. By using this method, the hole stays centered in the grip when reaming.

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Planer

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[www.homedepot.com]

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Although I have others, I generally use this one when I need to use a plane:
[www.homedepot.com]


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But I will only use the planer for a minute or two when first knocking off the glue lines for the grip. Then, I will start with 60 or 80 grit sand paper for the initial shaping and then move on to 100,120,220, and normally finish with 400 grit paper.

When I do the first initial glue removal I will run my lathe at about 1/2 of top speed. But for everything else, I run my lathe at its fastest speed which is about 3600 rpm.
This speed is not for everyone, but I much prefer to sand with the belt moving very quickly -- if the work is stationary, or if the work is moving very quickly with the paper stationary as is normally the case when shaping a grip. So, I tend to use finer grit paper with a light touch at high speed, rather than coarse grit paper with a heavy hand as is required if the work is turning more slowly.

Best wishes.

Thank you all as always, I know this has been mentioned and debated but what are your preferences for gluing up the rings, epoxy or titebond III or does it matter. in my feeble mind I would think the epoxy would be a stronger hold. But again I am not a woodworker by any means, which being a carpenter framing houses for the first 12 years of my adult life you would think it would come natural. 2 different trades I guess.

Either adhesive will be fine for adhering the rings to each other. For installing the actual grip to the rod blank, use 2-part epoxy.

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Thank you Tom, would Threadmaster Optimum Flow Epoxy ( slow cure) be a good choice for gluing the rings up.

I'm not familiar with that product. Is it an epoxy finish or an epoxy adhesive? I'd stick with an adhesive, not a thread wrap epoxy.

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Tom, It is a liquid epoxy adhesive with pot life of 30-45 minutes and 6-8 hour cure time. It is on Mudholes website

I use a 5 minute high viscosity (thin) epoxy to glue my rings up with. Never had any problems with water or separation. After a couple of hours you can start turning. I also turn on the highest speed of my lathe and use a medium course bastard file with a flat side and a half round on the other side to shape with. When I get it close I use 100 grit sandpaper to bring it closer, then 225 grit and finish with 340 grit. I use reamers and a cordless drill to ream cork out after I have shaped it. If you shape EVA do it the same way but finish with fine Scotch Brite pads. For different cork types like rubberized or burl on the same grip piece you will have to sand them down separate because they will sand off slower than the natural cork that is next to them.

If it's an epoxy adhesive it'll be fine.

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Keith,
Years ago, I found that when working with materials that needed to be worked or sanded after gluing, it works very well if the adhesive sands at about the same rate as the material.

In this case, epoxy - 5,10,15,30 or 60 minute works very well and gets a full cure when everything is clamped together and even on a mandrel.

But, the epoxy is considerably harder than cork or eva and can present sanding ridges unless one is very careful to always use a backing board when sanding.

Then you can use Titebond III which is water proof when cured, but it does cure by evaporation. As a result, if you glue up the grip on a mandel, the glue cures on the outside. But, if you remove the grip from the mandrel after 12 hours, you will find that it is still
uncured on the inside of the grip where it was next to the mandrel. But, the fix is easy. Just leave the grip clamped together after removing it from the mandrel and let it cure for another 12 hours and you have a good solid grip. You will also find that the grip and the glue
will sand at about the same rate and thus is less prone to form glue line sanding ridges.

Another advantage of the Titebond III is that it easily cleans up with warm water. So, when the grip is glued up and clamped on the mandrel, one can use a nice wet cloth that has been wetted with warm water and you can get all of the glue off of the outside of the cork while
the glue is still wet and easy to wipe off.

Epoxy on the other hand requires the use of a solvent and is considerably more difficult to clean up.

Best wishes.

Thank you Roger, that is a very convincing statement for the use of Titebond III, I do believe I will follow your recommendations and use it. When I place the grip back on the mandrel to turn it on the lathe is it going to grip the mandrel well enough to keep it from slipping

Keith,
When I take the grip off the mandrel initially, I run a clean mandrel or thread rod the same size as the hole in the grip to push out any wet glue and to have the hole in the grip stay the same size.

When you put the grip back on the mandrel, if you have any issues with the grip slipping, you can put on a layer or two of masking tape in a couple of spots to mitigate slippage.

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There is another helpful way to ease the overall task of making grips.

I prefer t ream each grip before I glue up the cork rings. By doing this the final ream of the inside of the grip only takes a minute or so.

If doing this, I will then use an extended end to end clamp to hold the rings together.

For example:

[www.harborfreight.com]

[www.lowes.com]

Or, you can make your own clamp using threaded rod. Just take a piece of hard wood about 2 inches by 4 inches. I use my chop saw to cut a bunch. Then, in about 1/2 inch from each side drill 5/16th or 3/8th holes.

When you want to clamp some rings together, just take a pair of 24 inch threaded rod and thread them through the first block. Place the 2nd block on the ends of the clamps and put a pair of washers on the threaded rods and put nuts on each threaded rod.
The the expected length of your grip , add an inch to that length and adjust the nuts on each end of the threaded rod to have the inside measurements of the pair of blocks to be the length of your grip plus one inch.

Now, on your initial glue up, place the glued up wet rings between the blocks and tighten the nuts. As you do this, keep checking to insure that all of the cork rings stay aligned. The wood blocks, nuts, washers and threaded rod should be under $5. Not as convenient as the
trigger clamps, but much less expensive.

In using Titebond, be sure to clean your mandrel after removing the glued up grip, as Titebond can etch the metal if left on it.