Hello everybody,

I remember reading about adding a poker chip inlay in a cork grip and I thought it would be a cool accent piece between 2 types of cork. I am turning my first cork grip and I had some questions. I searched the Forum but did not find specifics about the following. I will be gluing rings to a mandrel and turning on a mini lathe. Since the poker chips will not sand the same as the cork I figured I would turn the chips down to final size first and sand down cork to same height. Since I will have to ream the finished grip to fit blank I assume I will have the same problem with the chip not "reaming" the same as the cork. My plan (if you can call it that) was to rough up the surface of the chips for better adherance to the cork, drill ID of chip to match position on blank and glue to cork on the mandrel. It just seems like too many things can go wrong. Is there a right way to do this? Is there a better material to use? I checked on Mudhole for colored EVA sheets but you had to buy a set of colors for $24. I kinda had my heart set on this kind of look and we greatly appreciate any advice you could provide to this newbie.

Thanks in advance
Rick

Rick,

For What It's Worth:

I am not familiar with the porker chip issue; but I did buy the colored EVA form strips from Mudhole and was disappointed. I was building a Fuchsia Metallic St Croix rod for a friend's wife and needed the pink and purple strips. The EVA form strips are much more rubbery, (if that is a word), and do not sand very well at all! After cutting multiple layers of the strips into pie shapes and glue them together and then into an EVA form grip I found the strips just do not sand, ever closely to the way EVA form sands. I had to fight them to get them to be reasonable acceptable and 'have not used them since.

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 01:32PM by Donald R Campbell.

The procedure you described is pretty much what I remember reading in this forum a few weeks ago, sorry but I can't remember who initiated the post. One additional point was offered by several...drill several small pilot holes through the plastic chip. These holes will act as channels when gluing up the assembly and will improve the adherence of cork//plastic//cork system. You might try a hobby store (Michaels, AC Moore etc) for a cheaper supply of colored materials for use as insert accents. I know there are lots of colors of sheet foams available; only issue in my mind is whether the hobby foam might be too compressible and cause problems down the road.

John

Rick,
Another way to do this is to ream each cork ring and the poker chip to the size of the blank - before turning.
Then, use masking tape to build up the mandrel so that the mandrel has the same shape and size as the rod blank.
This is very easy to do, if you have a caliper. Just take a blank measurement, and then add tape at that spot on the mandrel to be the same size.

Now, go ahead and slip all of the rings and sized down poker chip on the mandrel. But, before dong that, drill a series of 1/16th or similar sized holes in the poker chip to let the epoxy go through the holes to secure the chip like nails to the adjacent rings.

With everything glued together and reamed to the right size, go ahead and shape the grip to your desired shape.

Then, slip the grip off the mandrel with the matching interior hole size and glue it on the blank.
You might have to touch up the inside of the grip a touch to have a clean fit, but it will be very minor.

Be safe

Hey Roger - what a great idea! I was really concerned abot the centering of the ID of the grip when I started reaming, especially since the butt grip is going to be 15" long! I can't wait to start - thanks again.

Rick

Don
Email Billy V and see if he can cut you some strips from his hard eva blocks

I have used the ones from Mud Hole And yes they are soft Glued them in with contact seament and worked fairly well harder will work better
Also try to get plastic i have also glued it in with cork and used the contact for that Both worked pretty well
Try that hobby store as mentioned above When I did the plastic I washed it with alcohole then sanded with 220 paper They held very nice [www.rodbuilding.org]
And eva [www.rodbuilding.org]

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 03:28PM by bill boettcher.

Bill,

Thanks for the info. I used Weldwood Contact Cement when I glued up the pie shape pieces. I left the O.D. a little large than the EVA grip and thought it would sand down flush with the grip. No such luck. I thought of getting some colored EVA form from Billy when I do it again. Anyone want the color strips that I have?!

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

I already have some --- don't want no more

Thanks any way LOL

Bill - willierods.com

G'day Rick

I put up a post a few weeks ago regarding plastic milk bottle caps i was using not sticking to the cork.The problem was getting the plastic to bond
strong enough so when reaming they wouldnt split.

Not sure how thick your poker chips are but i have found the thinner the accent material the the sharper it looks if you are using them between cork
and burl.If you are just going to place poker chips in between the cork rings you may want to put a lighter or darker colour between the chip and the
cork.I have been using cork rubber gasket material from an auto shop you can buy a sheet and cut out your rings.Glues up the same as cork and
reams out easy.You could also use playing cards as suggested to me by Tom i havent got around to this yet so i cant comment on the results.

Drilling the chips out to the same diameter as the blank before gluing up is another option and also putting some holes in the chips as mentioned
by Roger.Also i have found if you turn down the harder rings first then use gauze to turn the cork down it ends up nice and even.These are the same
as used by plasterers.

Good luck with reaming out 15 inches sounds like fun and hope this information helps.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia