Getting ready to make my first cork handle and had a couple questions. Can I glue up the rings on the turning mandrel? I know it has to be waxed to avoid sticking. Does it need to be clamped? Are there any tricks to clamping while on the mandrel? I see these clamps that go in the blank. I don't plan to turn them while on the blank. I will remove and ream them as necessary. Thanks. Gary

Yes glue your cork rings on a waxed mandrel. I use Titebond 3, but any good waterproof wood glue will work, and you can also use epoxy. After gluing, clamp into a cork ring clamp. I make my own clamp. All you need is a 36" piece of threaded rod cut in half, two pieces of 2x1x4 hard wood, two wing nuts, two locking nuts, two hex nuts, two locking washers, and six washers all to fit the threaded rod. Clamp the two pieces of wood together, and drill three holes. The center hole will fit the mandrel, and the two outer holes will fit the threaded rod. Assemble and use it to clamp your cork on the mandrel. Cheap, easy and very functional.
Norm

Another option is use of an 18” hand clamp (under $10 at Harbor Freight) to clamp glued rings mounted onto a mandrel. Drill an appropriately sized hole through the brace on the end of the bar, and a shallow dimple on the handle brace. Glue and mount the rings onto the mandrel, manually pressing them together. Add a cushion cork ring on each end (I also add an oversized metal washer on the ends). Slide the mandrel out through the hole in the brace, set the other end of the mandrel into the dimpled brace, and tighten the clamp against the washers. It’s easy to get overzealous with the pressure - try not to do that. Once pressure has been applied to the rings, grasp the end of the mandrel and rotate it out of the rings. Hang the clamp somewhere safe while the TBIII dries. Now you can immediately wash the mandrel with soap and hot water. I can send pictures if you’re interested.

Forgot to mention, no need to wax the mandrel. Also forgot to mention that if you’re going to wipe excess glue from the clamped cork rings, do so while the mandrel is still in the rings.

Jeff

My original hand clamp modified for gluing rings. Current clamp is longer and set up to accept my 1/4" and 3/8" mandrels.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Cork rings glued and clamped
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Mandrel extracted from rings, allowing air to help dry glue from the inside.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Alternate use for modified hand clamp
[www.rodbuilding.org]

"The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge" - Daniel J. Boorstin



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2020 11:36AM by Jeff Shafer.

Gary,
I prefer to ream the cork to size - before gluing up the cork.
Start at one end of the grip and size each ring to be the same size at the location on the blank during the final installation.

Then, I just use a threaded rod to act as a cork clamp. I use the largest threaded rod that will fit into the smallest part of the reamed grip.

I use a large washer at each end of the cork ring grip and place a nut on each end o the threaded rod and tighten it down. When using threaded rod, it is easy to get all of the cork rings nicely aligned.

After the nuts have been made tight, use a wet cloth to wipe off all of the titebond III glue from the outside of the glued up cork. The pressure from the nuts and washers at each end of the cork prevent water from entering the glued up cork.

I let the glue dry over night and then, remove the nuts and washers from each end of the glued up cork.

I use a 1/2 inch variable speed drill to unscrew the threaded cork from the inside of the cork ring glue up.

The inside of the glue will still be wet, due to the tight fit of the washers on each end of the grip. So, Now I use a wet cloth to wipe all of the glue out of the threads on the threaded rod.

Then, using the variable speed drill, and the threaded rod, I run the threaded rod into and out of the glued up cork ring to remove any excess and wet glue, wiping off the excess from the threaded rod with a wet cloth. When as much wet uncured glue is removed from the inside of the cork glue up, I set the glued up cork aside and let the grip dry for a day.

With no mandrel or threaded rod on the inside of the cork, the titebond III will dry completely.

Then, using either a mandrel or a threaded rod with washers and nuts on the ends, put the grip onto the lathe and turn it to size.

But, since the inside of the cork has been reamed out, I will use masking tape on the mandrel or threaded rod, before putting the grip onto the lathe to fill the space around the mandrel or threaded rod that is in line with the inside taper of the cork rings.

Now, with the grip finished, remove the mandrel or threaded rod from the inside of the cork, using a variable speed drill to unscrew the mandrel or threaded rod from the finished grip.

Now, just to a final ream of the cork for the perfect fit on your blank and glue it up in place using epoxy along with the rest of the reel seat and butt cap and fore grip if any are going to be used on the rod.

By using this method, the titebond III works very well on the cork gluing, is inexpensive - compared to epoxy, and by pre drilling the cork rings before gluing up the cork, a large amount of reaming effort is eliminated from the final product.

Once you have your tools and parts assembled, the complete handle manufacture from cork rings go very quickly indeed.

Take care

Gary, do you have a lathe? If not you can turn cork (and other softer stuff) easily on a drill press by adding a lower "anchor" for the bottom end on the mandrel. If you need more detail, email me.

Thanks for all the help. Roger do you just buy a threaded rod at any hardware store?

Jeff and Norm, I will explore those options. I appreciate the help.

Micheal, I shot you an email. Thanks.

The easiest clamp is a piece of threaded rod (available at hardware stores) two large washers and two wing nuts. Wax the rod, glue up the cork on the rod with a washer and wing nut on each end tighten until glue squeezes out the seams, wipe and wait until set. Remove rod and put it on your mandrel to shape.

With threaded rod just use nuts and washers to load the rings, no clamp needed. I don't wax the rod. I will be reaming out the centers of the rings, so I carefully apply the adhesive so as to not get it on the rod.

It all sounds great to me what I do is a little more, I put Masking tape on threaded rod first before I put my wax on ,
use Bee's wax , ;STICKY] , it is just I had one stick once [ lost grip ] the same but a little different , MY 2 CTS it all works for the most part ,

William Sidney
AK

I never wax the rod.
I use titebond III to glue up the cork.
After an overnight drying of the cork rings, I remove the nuts and washers from each end of the threaded rod.
Then, I put the end of the threaded rod in the chuck of a variable speed drill and put the drill in reverse.
I pull the trigger and unscrew the threaded rod from the glued up cork.
Since the inside of the cork and glue will still be a bet wet, I then use the variable speed drill to ream out any extra glue that might be on the inside of the cork. I will wipe off the threaded rod a couple of times to get the bulk of any excess glue out of the inside of the cork.

Then, I will set the grip aside for an overnight drying cycle that will let the inside of the glued up cork dry completely.

I will also take the threaded rod while it is still in the drill and take it to my bench grinder that has a wire wheel on it. Then, with the wire wheel spinning, I will turn the threaded rod in the opposite direction and hold it against the spinning wire brush. This action will remove 100% of any glue out of the threads of the threaded rod so it will be ready to use again the next time with no glue on the rod to jimmy up the works.

Take care

I’ve built a lot of grips following the guidance of Roger Sieders who has built rods for over 40 years. Check out FlexCoat’s website and look at his instructional videos. Use Flexcoat Rodbuilder’s glue and you won’t go wrong