Gorilla Glue

Anyone ever use Gorilla Glue to bind the cork handle to a graphite blank instead of epoxy? It expands and I’m wondering if that would be a good choice to fill any gaps.

I’d be careful using G.Glue for that purpose, as noted it does expand and it is possible it will expand enough to buldge the cork. If there is that much of a gap between the cork and bank , I’d recommend starting over with new cork. If your just worried about filling the slight gap between the blank and the cork I’d recommend straight ol’ 2 ton devcon epoxy (which is what I use) or one of the other products like Rod bond.

I haven’t but I did have a friend who did, cracked the cork rings in several places because of too much glue and too tight a fit to the graphite. I actually prefer the Loctite 5 Minute Epoxy with the mixing tube tips, no mess, just put the tip on and squeese the plungers on the double syringe. Downfall is you only have 5 minutes from start to finish, and the tubes have to be thrown out after use, so plan well ahead. I usually do my epoxy work in groups, like 2 or 3 things at once, like the fighting butt, reel seat, cork grip, and rod tip in one shot. At over 5 bucks a package, I need to do as much as I can with that 1 package to make it cost effective.

Jeeze, another guy who uses epoxy on the rod tip-top? “They will get my ‘rod-tip’ glue stick when they pry it from my cold-dead fingers!” :slight_smile:

JC, here in Arizona that Hot Melt glue just melts while fishing. It’s 5 minute epoxy or lose your tip top! :smiley:

Wow must get awfull hot in Arizona JC – the tip top adesive I use takes over 200 degrees F to melt. Wait till the epoxy tip comes off while fishing and you dont have a stick of hot melt handy. BILL

Bill, I haven’t used the newer stuff. I understand it holds up a lot better than what I used before I went to the 5-minute epoxy.

I use gorilla glue for cork glue ups without much trouble except that it foams out of the ends for a while. Just mask the blank above the cork and below where the reel seat will go and it’ll be fine. I do think that the foaming helps with small voids and slight gaps(like those from a hex rod and a round hole in the cork). As to the expansion cracking the cork, it just doesn’t have enough force to do that. The case described above was due to too tight of a fit, not the glue. I’ve cracked rings trying to force them on and while getting too aggressive with the reamer but never during glue up.

I only use that with the Recoil Tips, as long as the rod blank doesn’t break, it will be there as long as the blank survives. I use the rod tip stick cement to hold the singlefoot guides in place when starting my wraps, I don’t use them for the tips anymore because the adhesive gets real soft when heated up on the dash of the truck or on a real hot summer day in the boat, and I hate watching the tip slide down the line towards a lure or fly because of adhesive failure.
Besides you can heat the epoxy up to remove the tip, just have to get it hotter than if it was the tip cement.

Actually it was the glue on that one, too tight was part of it, but he glued everything together and put it in a clamp to hold the rings together, the glue had nowhere to go but out. Shame too because it was a real mess to clean up without destroying the blank. It won’t fill in the voids, but it will expand out in the direction of least resistance, so be careful.