May 08 2010
Making a Half Wells Cork Fly Rod Grip
I am going to show you how I glue up a cork fly rod grip. This is a very basic grip for a 3wt rod, standard cork 1/4 inch center hole with one stabilized piece at the end over all length is just over 7 and 1/4 inch long.
Here you can see the cork rings and below them from left to right is the 1/4″ collet, 1/4″ mandel and the live tail stock. Note: I use just a little of bowling alley wax on the mandrel to keep the glued cork from stick.
I use Titebond III for just about all the grips I make, I have used several different epoxies but I prefer the Titebond III. Its waterproof, super strong and I have never had it fail. It ’s also easy clean up with just some warm water. I like to squirt out the glue on a small dish as you can see my trusty Bud tray (My parents bought me that when I was about 10 years old at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg, VA).
Little bit of glue to get me goin.
Place the cork ring in the glue tray, as I set the ring into the glue I move it in a circular motion to make sure the entire surface is coating with glue. I only put glue on 1 side of the cork.
I hold the mandrel in a small vise on my benchtop sliding each cork ring down the shaft.
More glue
All the cork rings in place
Here is a grip clamp we will use
Inset the mandrel into the clamp, begin to tighten the clamp. You will see the glue pushout from between the cork rings.
Clean off the excess glue off with warm water rag. This is an important step, without this you run the risk of chunking out the cork while turning on the lathe. Errrr not good.
I like to measure both sides, keeping them true. This way we can be sure the pressure is equal on both sides.
Let the grip cure for at least 24hrs before releasing the clamp. After removing the grip mount into lathe.