Drilling out cork

[JasonGotaProblem]

So we already knew Sheridan was awesome, but he really came through on this one. He not only procured for me the large diameter cork, but also very professionally reamed one out to the correct diameter for the butt of the rod.

I realized there might be a simpler answer to reaming out cork to fit properly on a given rod. And now to be clear I felt comfortable doing this because I'm doing a tiger wrap above the grip that would cover any scuffs that arise from doing this, but I just cut a 1/2" strip of sandpaper and wrapped it around the blank I'm reaming the cork for, and started twisting. It worked out pretty well. Some minor scuffs but really not so bad. Especially since its getting covered anyway.

Also shown in the pics below, there's a gap between some of the sections of cork. I'm thinking i should have taped it or something while waiting for the epoxy to dry. But I didn't.  So I'm assuming the answer is to put some wood glue or filler into a syringe or something and squirt it into the gap(s) before I spin it up to contour it? (Thanks go to Joe for the means to spin it!)

On that note, this cork is way fatter than any previous rod grip I'm aware of having used. I didn't think I'd like it, and had planned to be aggressive on my contouring. But after doing some test casting, I was right, I don't like it. I love it. It felt very natural in hand. So I'm gonna round down the transitions at the ends, and maybe give it a mild resurfacing after what I assume will be an amateurish filler job but the intent will not be removing a lot of material, just smoothing it a bit.

Btw Thank you everyone for your advice and guidance. I don't say that enough.

[philaroman]

careful w/ filler...  research & experiment
in my few lame attempts w/ surface crags, it always looked like filler (i.e., BAD)
and eventually came out, taking some more cork w/ it

[JasonGotaProblem]

careful w/ filler...  research & experiment
in my few lame attempts w/ surface crags, it always looked like filler (i.e., BAD)
and eventually came out, taking some more cork w/ it

See I don't mind normal cork gaps at all, in fact I feel they contribute to what makes cork a comfortable grip. Its the gap between segments that bothers me. And even still it's no huge bother, it just could look better, so if I can fill it in I want to try.

For all my previous builds I focused solely on performance. And while i am not ignoring performance by any means on this one, I also wanna see how nice i can make a rod look if I put in the effort.

[philaroman]

make your own burl, maybe...  cork shavings + right bonding agent (seek advice there)

inject/sprinkle/cure/repeat

[Midway Tommy]

Jason, you need to slow down a little bit and make yourself a cork grip clamp (see below). Make sure the joint fits, with glue in it, & clamp it together overnight. Any gap in the cork will eventually create a problem, especially when water and/dirt get in there & take over. Forget wood filler, it will eventually fall out. You could mix some cork sanding/filing dust with epoxy and force it into the gap. That will last for a long time. Elmer makes an Epoxy Wood Restoration Two Part Filler that is fairly close to the cork color, but it's kind of pricy for a little job like that. Any unmixed portions will last for a long, long time. I've got some that is 10 years old & it is still good. A protectorate cork sealer like Penetrol will protect the cork & filler from degradation and won't peel or flake off like urethane eventually will.

[steelfish]

So we already knew Sheridan was awesome

he is way beyond that.

I realized there might be a simpler answer to reaming out cork to fit properly on a given rod.......but I just cut a 1/2" strip of sandpaper and wrapped it around the blank I'm reaming the cork for, and started twisting. It worked out pretty well.

normally you NEED to have at least 3-4 reamers of different diameters, you can just buy them or make your own with broken rods, one of then will work for your desired ID diameter size.

.... I'm thinking i should have taped it or something while waiting for the epoxy to dry. But I didn't. 

that's the best way to learn, from our own mistakes.

sorry I cannot help much in this because I havent Work much on cork, so I have limited knowledge on this topic, but you can sand the cork and fill the Gap with the cork dust or use an actual cork filler, Im kind of OCD with my rods so, probably I wont like how it looks with the filler, so, you can use a bit of bling-bling here, fill the gap almost to the rim with the filler or cork dust and wrap some thread of the same colors of the guides on the filled gap, then add a really light coat of epoxy, it will look like those aluminium color trim ring as an accent.

[oldmanjoe]

 Titebond 3 and a boiled champagne cork or cork gasket material or just sand the champagne cork for dust and bitts to make filler 
  Make the slivers as wide as you need !!!!!!!!

[Swami805]

I use this garden variety wood filler. Easy to use and holds up well. Here's a butt on a high mileage rod about 15 years old and a new one that's never seen water.  The cork segments aren't always cut true so there's a few gaps and some voids since it's not high grade cork