For those of you using a lathe, as opposed to a power wrapper, to turn cork, what are your recommendations for wax to use on the mandrel? Curious to learn if there is anything more useful than Gulf Paraffin Wax. Thanks in advance for any replies.

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2022 10:11PM by Hunter Armstrong.

My grandad handed me a box of plumber's candles a long time ago, still have some left.

Hunter
I use old birthday cake candles to wax the mandrels.
Rog

While I read a lot more than I contribute on this board, I'm happy to share how I do it.

I usually only buy 1/2" thick cork rings that are 1 1/4" in diameter with a predrilled 1/4" hole in the center.
I glue the cork rings in "clamps" made of 1/4" all-thread, fender washers and wing nuts. I use the gulf wax you mention on the section of all-thread that will hold the cork rings to be glued up. I use pro-paste and cover the entire 1 1/4" ring surface.
Once the glue is dry, remove the wing nut and fender washer from the short end of the clamp, put the other end of the all-thread in a hand drill and spin the drill in reverse to break the grip from the all-thread and spin it all the way off.
I then put (sometimes gently force, without breaking the cork) the grip on the 1/4" turning mandrel held by setscrew retaining rings and turn the grip to the shape I want in the lathe.

Whether because the glue gets in the center hole of the grip when the wingnuts are tightened, or because there is a thread pattern left in the center of the grip from the all-thread clamp, the grip turns fine on the mandrel at about 15-1800 rpm.

I use a roughing gouge on the lathe tool rest to get the cork concentric on the mandrel (big credit here to Mr. Kirkman's video on YT) and then go 80-100-220/400 grit sandpaper to get to the finished cork grip. Getting the grip concentric is essential to reaming out the grip for it's specific location on the blank and have the center reamed hole remain concentric. I use abrasive tape reamers in a hand drill for this.

Hope this helps. I tried to be detailed, didn't mean to run-on. With four, 10-12" sections of all-thread, the fender washers and the wingnuts I can glue up all four pieces (actually three grips and a reel seat insert) I use in for most of my split grip spinning rod handles assemblies.

Respectfully,
G H Mason

Thanks for the responses. This sort of confirms my suspicions that whatever paraffin wax is at hand will do. Of course, since LED lanterns became ubiquitous, I don't think that there are any candles left in the house. I have also reached an age where birthday candles on a cake present as serious fire hazard. Regardless, I think the question is answered. Again, thank you all.

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2022 09:12AM by Hunter Armstrong.

Of course all that stuff can be eliminated by turning the grip on the blank itself.
Herb

For myself, I do the following:

I first ream each piece of cork to match the diameter of the rod blank, where it will be located when the grip is finished.

This means that the inside hole in the cork is made larger to match the diameter of the rod blank.

Then, I use the largest diameter threaded rod, that will just fit into the smallest hole that has been reamed in the cork.

This typically means using either 3/8th or 1/2 inch threaded rod for the cork clamp and the mandrel to use on the lathe.

Then, I will use masking tape to match the inner diameter of each of the cork rings for a somewhat loose fit. I want the mandrel to be sized such that there is not much play on each piece of cork with respect to the location on the taped up threaded rod.

Finally, I will use Tite Bond III glue to glue the cork rings together. I use a fender washer at each end of the cork grip assembly and a wing nut to make everything tight.

Here is where a water base glue is nice to use for assembly. I use a wet cloth to completely wipe down the outside of the cork, and to remove any glue from any where that is exposed on the outside of the grip.
Now, I set the grip aside to dry overnight.

The next day, I remove the wing nuts and fender washers from the assembly. I chuck the threaded rod into a variable speed drill, put the drill in reverse and unscrew the threaded rod from the inside of the glued up cork.

Now, at this point the inside of the cork centers will still be wet, since tite bond III is an air cure. I will wipe off any glue from the taped up threaded rod, and then use the threaded rod in and out to continue to remove any wet glue from the inside hole of the glued up grip.

I will use the wet cloth to wipe off any glue from the threaded rod and masking tape. I now, leave the grip alone for another 24 hours, to let the glue holding the rings together to dry from the inside out.

Then, on day 3, I slip the threaded rod /masking tape assembly back inside the grip - put the fender washers and wing nuts back onto the ends of the threaded rod, and put the assembly on the lathe, and turn it to shape using various grades of sand paper.

When finished, I will only have to do a slight touch up ream - to have a perfect fit of the grip onto the rod blank at the grip location. Of course all of the final grip to rod blank will be done with epoxy glue since titebond glue does not work well with graphite or fiberglass.

There is never an issue with removing or inserting the threaded rod into the cork rings or glued up assembly, because, any time that there is a slight issue, the threaded rod can be put back into the drill and either threaded into, or out of the grip assembly.

------------------------------------

Several advantages.
By pre reaming each cork grip, there will be little to no later reaming required.
By using threaded rod, there is never an issue with the mandrel being stuck inside the grip assembly. There will be no wax on the inside of the grip assembly, that could give rise to a poor job of adhesion of the grip to the rod blank, if there is any wax between the rod blank and the inside of the cork.

Titebond III is much less expensive than any type of epoxy glue.

Titebond III is water based and cleans up with water.


The disadvantage of using titebond glue is that it essentially takes two days of gluing and drying before the grip is ready for the lathe.

Note: I take all of the pieces of the larger diameter threaded rod that I use for mandrels and drill a 60 degree centering hole in each end. This allows for easy use of a live center tail stock in the lathe when turning the grip.

Note 2 - I do not use any 1/4 inch threaded rod for a mandrel , since there is just not enough stiffness in this diameter threaded rod. Rather, I use 5/16th, 3/8th, or 1/2 inch threaded rod - depending on the size of the rod blank where the grip will be placed.

I also seldom use 5/16th either, since 5/16ths is on the verge of being too small for reliable use as a mandrel.

Best wishes

Masking tape on the mandril, I surf so Mr Zogs Sex Wax the best wax for your stick, over the tape. Pretty much anything Roger says is golden, he has got it perfected.

Again, thank you for the additional responses. Roger has added some interesting ideas to the discussion. Among other things, while I also use Titebond III to glue my rings together, I use a threaded rod of much smaller diameter to hold the rings together. There isn't much of an issue removing the handle, but then putting it on a mandrel can be a chore. Of course, I don't do any reaming until the handle has been turned. I will have to consider the trade-offs, but one advantage of my sequence of production is that the reaming removes any wax residue which might compromise gluing the handle to the blank. On the other hand, using a threaded rod as a mandrel opens up other possibilities. Lots about which to think. Thanks to all.

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!

Wouldn't the reamer pick up wax? I had wondered about that so I picked up one of the Flex Coat reverse paddle bits to bore the center out and remove any residual wax. I'm not sure how well it will work on the split grip set up though. As those are not going to be very long pieces. Thinking it will work well on the full length grips I want to make, though

I will soon be building my first of several cork grips I want to make, so this thread has been a great source of information. I will be using my power wrapper though. I got my tool rest made, and have a few more cork rings along with a 3/8 mandrel coming from a board sponsor Custom Fly Grips LLC. Awesome place to buy from, BTW. Shipping is fast, you know if the items you order are in stock before you order them, and their product is really nice. I got some of their extra grade cork rings for practice, and they are as nice or nicer than rings I got from another vendor, that were double the price.

Anyhow....... I am really looking forward to getting started. I just have to put the finish on the guides of a build I have been working on, then I'll get to gluing and turning.

Hunter, if you’re open to the idea of not using wax at all, search my posts for a description of how I bond my cork rings together. Includes pictures of how I use a hand clamp to hold glued rings together while I extract my mandrel. After the glue cures, reinsert the mandrel and go to the lathe. My present hand clamp is set up to accept both my 1/4" and my 3/8" steel mandrels.

Jeff

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2022 11:53AM by Jeff Shafer.

Note:
For those folks who don't pre ream any cork before turning so that the center hole is only 1/4 inch - it is not a good idea to use 1/4 inch threaded rod for a mandrel.

A 1/4 inch threaded rod is simply not stiff enough, nor strong enough to hold up to the rigors of turning an object on a lathe.

Once a person is at 5/16th or larger - preferably 3/8th of an inch, then the threaded rod is plenty siff and strong enough to do a nice job as a mandrel when turning.