Gluing Cork

[kbproctor]

I am about to glue up my first cork grip. I got to thinking about glues and what I have read that folks use. The biggest share seem to use epoxy of one kind or another. While I have all kinds of epoxy, why epoxy for gluing up grips? Why not one of the polyurethane glues? Seems to me it would grip the cork as well as it would heart wood. For that matter, why not a carpenter's glue?

[baitwaister]

For cork to cork I use Titebond III. Some like to use Rod Bond. For wood to cork I also use titebond. For Bone to wood and wood to wood I use Polyurethanes. I found with cork that the poly's left a hard ridge that wouldn't sand at the same rate. If you use cork and craft foam I use contact cement in the red can.

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

Certain glues leave ridges that are hard to level out as mentioned by baitwaister. Also glues like most carpenters glues dry white in color and you will end up having glue lines of white show through. Best thing to do is use some Titebond or Ultimate Gel or any 2part 5-10min epoxy from your local hardware store. All work good for cork.

Steve

[Denny]

I am a retired cabinet maker/builder of fine furniture with many years of experience.
I do not know how many rods I have built. several hundred cork grips from scratch.
I have tried almost all the "glues" on the market. My vote will have to be for the Aliphatic resin glue.
( Tightbond) It has been around in the cabinet shops for over 40 years. I have used it as a pro wood worker and rod builder.
I would say more Pros use it than any other product. It cooks off under pressure for at least one hour. I made my own grip clamp, years ago, still use the same one. Have never had any problems in making a beautiful cork grip using it. Now for gluing bamboo strips into a rod, is another thing. Works for me!

Denny

[kbproctor]

Thanks for the quick response, guys. I wanted to get this glued up so I could move on to another project.

As I did add a couple of craft foam trim rings, I used the WeldWood Contact cement there and, after going to 3 different stores to find it, Titebond III for the cork. This is going to be a 9', 4pc, 8w for my lawyer, so I glued up a fighting butt, as well. I made a cork clamp similar to the one Yonks made for his switch rod project. Once I got the cork clamped and measured the two sides of the clamp to insure I had even clamping pressure, I pulled the mandrel. I will slide that back in when I am ready to turn things and after the glue is dry. The fighting butt is glued up on a piece of threaded rod.

[ColdPass]

Very cool. Sounds like you've got it down.

I'll have to look for some of the WeldWood Contact cement for adding in the trim rings. My last handle I glued up with Rod Bond, and I'm not impressed with it. Much more visible glue lines, and it doesn't sand as easily as the Tite Bond II that I use if I don't add foam. I suppose I could try TBIII, but it looks darker than TBII, and I don't want glue lines. TBII is rated for outdoor use, just not continually submerged use. I figure that even TBII is overkill, and TBIII is more insurance than I need.

[jw healy]

I just did two grips using TBIII. No glue lines. Just clamp tight and wipe off the excess glue that squeezes out with a damp rag then sand to shape.

[Bass_Bug]

Does anyone use Pliobond? I read that from several rod building sources several years ago before my first attempt at making my own handle. I've used it on several handles since and never hand any problems. It's flexible, waterproof, sands easy and there are no glue lines at all. It's best to let it set overnight (I give it several days usually), but then I've never been in that much of a hurry to glue up and turn the handle within the same hour.

[kbproctor]

I'm not going to post pics as yet, but have done two grips. First, the craft foam accents suck. It didn't much matter what I tried, they would not level out with the cork, but insisted on standing a tad above it.

I also discovered that the rubberized rings are tough and do not want to sand at the same rate the plain rings or even the burnt cork rings want to. Those were tooled with turning gouges to the approximate shape and then sanding was done to finish things off.

The second grip came out much better and I am very pleased with it. You guys and gals will get to see it when the rod is finished.

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

First, the craft foam accents suck. It didn't much matter what I tried, they would not level out with the cork, but insisted on standing a tad above it.

Kevin there's some tricks to using the craft foam that will work for ya. One thing is to make sure you coat the foam rings very well with epoxy when you glue them up. If they are saturated well with epoxy then it takes a lot of the "sponginess" out of them so they sand at a more even rate with the cork. The other thing you can do if they are still sticking up a bit over the cork is to wrap the sandpaper around a popsicle stick and use the thin edge of the popsicle stick to sand down just the thin foam flush with the cork.

Steve