Cork check question

[corlay]

A question for those who have experience crafting those clean cork grips on bamboo that feature no winding check or built-up thread hosel:
How do you do it?

If the foregrip ring is tight enough to the blank does it simply depress and tightly conform to the hex Shape?

Or do you have to file a hex shape to the ream hole?

I may want to try this on an upcoming build, and i'd appreciate some seasoned advice.

Thanks!

[SpringCreek]

You just want to ream the foregrip ring out to a tight fit. It will then conform to the cork, forming a hex shape.

Jim

[eotr]

I measure the blank and cut a hex hole in the cork that is about 0.005" smaller that the blank. I'm using a 1/8" dia. burr so there is about a 1/16" radius in the corners of the hex but they compress to fit the blank perfectly.

I made a "cork hexer" that in principal is similar to a pin router. The cork is held in a ring that has a hex cut in one side. The hex rides around a pin mandrel on the burr device (Fordham handpiece or laminate trimmer). The pin mandrels can be changed to suit the desired hex size. I made a set of mandrels to cover .25 to .50 hexes.

[RWHoffhines]

On a hex, if you ream it with a rat tail a bit smaller than the blank, the cork will compress to the hex form. I help the pentas with the flat side of a triangle file. Same with a quad blank, but its much more necessary to do so. I don't worry about precision 90 degree corners in the hole as it will compress like the round-to-hex. The trick with going round is to leave enough play in the corks that make the body of the handle then making the last one a gap-less compression/squeeze. If you're too loose, you risk a future squeaking handle, too tight and the flats of the corks won't nest and you have gaps. Go by feel and you'll be fine.

[bvandeuson]

I never use a cork check (except on my first rod because I thought that's the way it was done). I got into the habit of carefully selecting the front ring for density and freedom from inclusions (it should be the best cork ring of the whole grip), then fitting it down as close to the blank as possible. What everyone has said about making the hole slightly undersize is true, but taper the hole larger at the rear of that ring to make sure glue gets in where it needs to be.

BB

[Carpenter Bros Rods]

One thing I do is to put the rings on before you glue on the ferrule. You might already do this, but your holes in the cork rings can be smaller.

Cris

[tiptop]

On the last cork ring, which is reamed to the exact size of the flat to flat dimension at the point of the check, I make a small mark with a pencil at the six points around the circle sixty degrees apart. Then I make a small, relatively fine sanding stick the width of the flat to change the hole in the cork from round to hex. Err on the small side and the cork will compress and fit perfectly.

[Tim Anderson]

On the last cork ring, which is reamed to the exact size of the flat to flat dimension at the point of the check, I make a small mark with a pencil at the six points around the circle sixty degrees apart.

If you use a cork ring bored out to 1/4" or so, an easy way to mark for a hex rod is to insert a moderately snug-fitting Allen wrench into the hole and mark the corners on both sides of the ring. I happen to use a small triangular file to file out the hexagonal hole, filing from both sides of the ring, checking carefully and often to achieve a snug fit on the blank.

I really like Brent's (eotr's) solution, but doubt if I will be making the gadget soon.

Tim