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Post 13 Jan 2012, 17:28 • #1 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
I thought that this would be a fun way to make a handle. Plus, it winds up being inexpensive, if you don't factor in the initial cost of the wine and champagne.

I've used wine corks for a reel seat before, but thought it would be fun to do the handle from repurposed cork as well. The champange corks these days are mostly composite cork, (those that aren't plastic, that is) with natural cork rings at the bottom. So I also chose wine corks that were mainly composite cork with natural rings as well to continue the theme. In the off chance someone else choses to duplicate these efforts, I took a few pictures of the process along the way.

Firse, select some corks.
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Then boil.
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The boiling should relax the corks back to cylinders, making them much easier to work with. Image

Now drill 1/4" hole in center. I also chose to cut tapered top off of the champagne cork so tht I would start with a nice cylinder. The thin tapered parts can be seen in the foreground of next picture. Then put them on mandrel, glue and clamp.
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Then I shaped the handle just like any other. An added benefit is that while you work, the shop smells nicely of a wine cellar.
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Repeat with the wine corks until they fit the hardware you selected. My hardware wasn't pocketed, so I morticed the seat using a mouse-style sander.

Results
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In this last picture you can see I left the name of the vinyard from my home state. Image


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Post 13 Jan 2012, 19:01 • #2 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/10/09
Posts: 499
Location: US-PA
very cool! I often thought of doing the same thing, but never did, glad to see it turn out so good!


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Post 13 Jan 2012, 20:01 • #3 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 01/26/08
Posts: 1124
Location: US-IA
That is really cool; from the premise of recycling all the way to the label showing. I have a beginner question: what have you got running through that grip and chucked into the drill, the mandrell you glued on? Or, something else? And what grit sandpaper do you use to make the sanding block? I like the high tech workstation you use for shaping!

Happy Trails

The Waco Kid


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Post 13 Jan 2012, 20:05 • #4 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/14/06
Posts: 366
Location: US-TN
If you look at the first ring on the champagne cork, you'll see cork of amazing quality, better than any that's available for rod building. I've often considered making a grip of just these. But someone has to drink all the champagne. Oh darn.

--Rich


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Post 13 Jan 2012, 21:44 • #5 
Guide
Joined: 12/30/08
Posts: 264
Location: US-WV
Love the idea. Great looking grip and reel seat.


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Post 13 Jan 2012, 21:49 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
Thanks! And yes, I use the same 1/4" rod to glue up cork that I chuck into the drill to sand to size. The masking tape on the rod is to wedge the handle tight so it doesn't Spin during shaping. I have 120 grit mesh stapled to a 2x4 that I do the rough work with, then I use 150, 250, 400 and I'll usually follow with 2000 because I have it. I use the block for much of the shaping but get the curves where I like them by wrapping the sandpaper around smaller objects. I used the finished handle seen in the picture since it was handy.


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Post 14 Jan 2012, 03:14 • #7 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/06/09
Posts: 620
Location: US-WA
My brother made a handle on a spey rod out of wine cork and added a horn butt with it. He put pictures on Washington fly fishing site. It is awesome. He used a champagne cork for the first and last piece of the handle and wine cork in the middle and didn't really sand any of them. It is really cool. Awesome job!


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Post 14 Jan 2012, 05:44 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/29/10
Posts: 1048
Location: Osage Orange Range, North Texas, US
ColdPass is my new hero. Repurposing rocks; I love this project!

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Hope the industry doesn't go completely to these:

Image.
(Guess they could be used for cheap-and-cheesy butt caps.)


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Post 14 Jan 2012, 18:36 • #9 
Sport
Joined: 12/12/11
Posts: 39
Location: west linn , Or.
great use of the material.i just love using non traditional material,keep up the good work,steve


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Post 15 Jan 2012, 00:24 • #10 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/30/11
Posts: 1231
Location: Fresno, CA
great idea!

in the picture third to the last photo what is that intriguing green blank?


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Post 15 Jan 2012, 10:40 • #11 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
The blank Is a Norie-like blank.
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That I stripped
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The water droplets are inside the blank as I took this picture right after rinsing. The citristrip alone didn't get the paint off, it required quite a bit of scouring.
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Then I painted the blank with transparent green enamel.
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The rod needs another coat of finish, so isnt ready for its close up yet, but I wanted to try it out.
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It seems even slower than the identical blank that I didn't refinish, although I haven't cast them back to back.

I just wanted to try building a translucent rod. Always fun to experiment a bit.


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Post 15 Jan 2012, 10:57 • #12 
Global Moderator
Joined: 03/21/08
Posts: 1417
Location: SW Oklahoma
Cool idea ... but I gotta ask, how did you deal with the cork screw holes?

Doug


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Post 15 Jan 2012, 11:12 • #13 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
I typically use a "rabbit" type opener that has a narrow gauge screw which causes minimal damage to the cork. So I didn't treat them at all and I don't have any problems. There are also are types of openers that don't puncture the cork at all. I've also got one that has two blades that you work into the bottle on either side of the cork then twist it out. But I am fairly certain I used the screw on these as they didn't have the blade marks on the sides.


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Post 15 Jan 2012, 11:14 • #14 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/19/07
Posts: 393
Location: US-MI
If you leave the large bulb end on the champagne corks they make gerat fighting butts on larger rods.


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Post 16 Jan 2012, 15:58 • #15 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/02/09
Posts: 1585
Location: People's Republic of Austin
I need a drink, but before I do: aren't the corks too narrow for a grip?


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Post 16 Jan 2012, 18:23 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/29/10
Posts: 1048
Location: Osage Orange Range, North Texas, US
Quote:
. . . aren't the corks too narrow for a grip?

Apparently not. . . unless you have the hands of Mr. Clean, Goliath, or André the Giant. (Note the larger diameter of the closures from the sparkling wines.)

Another technical question: How does one keep the hillbilly lathe (the drill) from wallowing ("wallerin') around? Using this fine tool, I was able to cobble together a functional replacement grip of cast-off juniper (cedar), but, to quote Dale Evans, it is discernibly whopperjawed.
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Post 16 Jan 2012, 19:17 • #17 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
Coldpass,
you done good. from the grip to the tip of that Norie like sweetheart! Something many of us have thought about but have been reluctant to do. Kudos to you for doin it and showin it off.

Swalewcat,
yeah, well, Pete's got a point thar ... i mean some -- but not all -- wine corks are created equal. Some is plain too small for a man's hand. But champagne and sparklin wine corks are bigger, more manly like.

by the way, got to say that's one fine lookin' whopperjaw grip you got there.

i wander too, how you keep that hillbilly lathe on the straight 'n' narrah while it's doin business with them wine corks?


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Post 16 Jan 2012, 22:42 • #18 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
Thanks all. Yes, the champagne corks are plenty large enough for the handle, but need to be boiled first to expand them back to cylinders instead of the mushroom shape they have when you pull them out of the bottle.

As far as my high tech lathe, I found by spinning fast and sanding slow, especially with the end of the mandrel in a notch of a cardboard box, I don't get too much wobble. If things start getting our of round, and it's happened before, then I keep the sanding block firmly on the table and slowly bring it to the handle so it just hits the high spots and gets back to round.

I'm very impressed that you got a wood handle turned with just a drill, swellcat! Nice. Did you start with round pieces to do that? Cool.


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Re: Cork and Cedar
Post 17 Jan 2012, 20:50 • #19 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/29/10
Posts: 1048
Location: Osage Orange Range, North Texas, US
Quote:
by the way, got to say that's one fine lookin' whopperjaw grip you got there.

I'm very impressed that you got a wood handle turned with just a drill, swellcat! Nice. Did you start with round pieces to do that? Cool.

Y'all are mighty kind. The wood with its gorgeous grain gets any positive credit, I'd say. (The grip looks like it was put together by someone who didn't know what he was doing. . . which happens to be the case. An FFR carpenter did what he could with advice from 7000 miles away, but don't blame him.)

From split logs, rings (of differing thicknesses) were drilled out with a 1.25 inch hole saw bit. Tried to true 'em with a rasp, hand saw, and jig, but where's the fun in symmetry and absence of glue lines, anyway? Rest of the process looked much like what ColdPass shows above. A surprising sheen jumped out at 400 grit, something the carpenter attributes to natural oils present in the wood. Beyond that, no finish aside from the homemade beeswax-and-walnut-oil concoction used on kitchen cutting boards.

Just tested this cedar/juniper for four hours the other night in cold, wet conditions. I was pleased to find the wood warm to the touch and surprisingly "grippy". Any weight beyond cork is actually helpful in balancing, in this case, an old South Bend 3290 that sold for less than what just cork rings to replace the rotten grip would've cost. So, far from perfect, but good enough to be functional and get an old pole back on the water.
Image

Consistent with ColdPass's excellent waste-not theme, I'm simmering up some yellow dye from sawdust—juniper and Osage orange—from this grip project and with an eye toward dyeing tying materials. In case I haven't countried this place up enough already, get ready for some yeller possum flies.

Image


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Post 17 Jan 2012, 21:00 • #20 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
that griyup looks like it was made for that blank. real nice job. bile up that sawdust tea and dip yer possum hide in! can't wait to see the yeller possum fly.


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Post 17 Jan 2012, 21:49 • #21 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/16/10
Posts: 814
Location: South of Houston, TX
That is a very nice looking handle, swellcat. You did all the shaping with sandpaper? How did you ream out the handle? Very cool.


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Post 19 Jan 2012, 04:39 • #22 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/29/10
Posts: 1048
Location: Osage Orange Range, North Texas, US
Quote:
.. . all the shaping with sandpaper?

Pretty much — 80, 150, and 400 grit.

Quote:
How did you ream out the handle?

A spade bit close to the rod's diameter and some touch-ups with round files.

Your cork work, ColdPass, is much more refined than what I cobbled together, but I'm excited about the potential for both kinds of grips. Your thread is has been very educational; thank you for posting it up.

You know, most any New Year's Eve gathering would likely be a great source for the big corks.

I have baskets of still-wine corks—the reel seat-sized ones—but very few from sparkling wines. (If fat corks tended to come with cheap Scotch, I'd be in business.) If anyone is in the reverse situation, I'd be happy to do some swappin'.

A brief follow-up on the materials-dyeing using a double handful of sawdust and a quart of water:

Image.

Aside from the obvious dark areas, those were previously white materials—North American opossum, craft fur, synthetic flash and pillow stuffing, saddle hackle, chenille, and whitetail deer. Rendering the colours photographically has been difficult, but it should be obvious, at least, that the stuff is no longer white. Fun, and, I think, worthwhile—especially for a free by-product littering the garage floor.


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Post 19 Jan 2012, 19:05 • #23 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
very nice, sir, but wait, no yellow polecat hide? and "a double handful" of sawdust --- is that two handfuls taken separately or one with both hands scoopin at once? 8) ;) ;)


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Post 29 Jan 2012, 05:23 • #24 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
That is a neat project. Those corks are handy to stash away for building and repairs also. They are easily reworked into shims to be sanded to diameter under a reel seat, and they offer the length and texture that may match older 'glass rods, that used 1" rings of different cut/texture than 1/2" rings. They made for an easier insert-cork repair (rather than replacing the whole grip) on the green knockabout rod shown below, and for a funky cosmetic variation on the top and bottom of the grip on the yellow knockabout.

Image

Image


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Post 28 Feb 2013, 19:25 • #25 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/29/10
Posts: 1048
Location: Osage Orange Range, North Texas, US
Quote:
That is really cool; from the premise of recycling all the way to the label showing.

Agreed. Hats-off to ColdPass for the idea, (and hope I didn't junk up his thread too much).

Quote:
.. . corks too narrow for a grip?

The sparkling wine closures are huge, and even the still wine corks are plumping up to around 9/10 of an inch. That diameter feels pretty good to me, although it doesn't leave a lot a material for shaping, of course. I slid one down onto a Berkley handle last night, and the diameter matches or exceeds that of most of the grip.


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