Bark Grip

I got a chance today to finish the bark fore grip I've been working on. I really like working with this material. It's like a cross between cork and wood. As with the other grip all glued up, bored out this time to 16mm and a foam core inserted and glued. This takes a bit of the weight out.

You will notice the heavy amount of adhesive on the outside of the bark. The purpose of this is to give the bark some axial strength so it does not break before I glue in the foam core. Birchbark is made up of hundreds of very thin layers. Even though you glue to pieces together they can still come apart between the glue lines. Essentially it delamintes. The coat of adhesive gives it a sort of exoskeleton. Once its bored out and either glued to a rod, or in this case a foam core this problem of de-lamination is a non issue.
The grip ends are Birch Burl and Birch Burl dyed black with .040 corian trim rings in between.

True it up with a gouge slightly over the biggest O.D of the grip. Looks a bit more like a grip now than in that first photo.





This is it finished and sanded down to 600 grit. One coat of danish Oil to bring out the grain. Use one flood coat then wipe the excess. I'll coat this with a good urethane to protect it.

It looks really good in natural light but you get the idea. If I get a chance I'll put one up shortly.

Oh by the way finished weight is 1.9 oz or 54 grams. Just about the same as a standard burl cork grip.