Guys I have a customer discussing his desire to see or accentuate the seams of a cork handle. As you know we do our best to hide the seams. LOL So I was thinking maybe stain the edges prior to gluing? Or maybe coloring the glue/epoxy in some manner?

Have you guys ever run into this before? How did you handle?


Gabe
Neal's Custom Rods

That would be accentuate not insinuate LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2014 12:50PM by Gabe Neal.

not all cork is the same tan, look at a few different suppliers an get a little bit from each supplyer that way the lines will stand out,
you cant stane cork, what ever you but on it will fade over time, or get some colored cork rings an go fron there ,
if you do go with the colored rings make sure that the frist an last ring is of the rubberised type, the other partical cork will break off
over time I think, Ps you can get the burnt cork cut in thin slicers an build the handle with it in betwine every ring
you should be able to get 1/16 inch slicers fairley easy from some one that cuts cork just an Idear

William Sidney
AK

Gabe,
If you use titebond III for glue, just try mixing some food coloring with the glue. This glue is water based and I expect that food coloring will mix with it just fine.

Do some testing on a test glue up before the final customer glue up to get the effect that you wish.

Be safe

Or, go to this page, and click on any picture that interests you to look at the page listing the product.
Lots of various products. If you use epoxy, there are some pigments on this page that are expressly for epoxy glue:

[www.google.com]

After you do a glue up on two or three rings, turn the grip on the lathe so that your finished product is as you want it to be. You could just try a bunch of different glue ups on a threaded rod, with a nut and washer separating each of the different glue ups.

Be safe

If you really want to show the seam you can use a vulcanized spacer material and they have several colors as well. Just put it between the cork rings and glue as normal.

[www.texasknife.com]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

you could burn the seams with a wire on a lathe stands out nicely.

tight lines

There is a very popular bamboo rod building supplier that actually carries dyes to do exactly what you are talking about. They are not a sponsor at left. But a google search for bambino rod building supplies should come up with one whose name starts with Golden.

If you're going to go that far you might as well suggest Golden Witch.

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Cork will actually dye with rite dye but just not very deep. A few coats of poly or marine varnish over the top of that will solve the wearing off problem fast. I have a few handles dyed in various colors for myself and my wife. It never really caught on for customers though.

After you shape the cork handle you might try to use a fine tip perminant Sharpie. in whatever colur you want and spin the handle on your lathe and using a rest. Just touch the seam with the tip of the Sharpi and you will get a streight line. I have not used this technique on cork but have used it on wood and it works on that medium.

Here is a picture of a rod I recently built. The thin black spacers between the cork rings are made from gasket material which can be purchased at any auto parts store. I use a 1 1/4" paper punch I got at Hobby Lobby to cut the rings and a regular sized paper punch to cut the center hole. Then just glue one in between the cork rings and turn down on the lathe as usual.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

And that's probably the best way to do it if you want very distinct lines there. Just make sure to use the thinnest material you can get your hands on.

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Great ideas Guys and Thanks!!!

Here's a possible option, but I've never tried it personally. At the icrbe, Cork 4U had some new rings cut so the "grain marks" (for lack of a better descriptor) ran in the opposite direction on the surface of the rings. You might be able to make the individual rings of a grip stand out more by alternating this style ring with traditional rings. This might give your customer the look they are trying to get without going to something like actual coloring to set off each ring.

I think Custom Fly Grips sells these rings as their natural wave cork rings.

Thanks John. Now for the trial and error.....and hopefully success.