Random ruminations on bottle stoppers.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

For various reasons I've been making bottle stoppers lately.

No, not the commercial kits, but something more old fashioned... simply turning knobs with dowels and gluing on pre-drilled corks.

I'm not really happy with the way I glue them together, though.

It seems the two main contenders for suitable glues are epoxy or CA... much the same as with pens.

Epoxy gives decent working time to slip the cork on, but can become rather messy. It's my preference though, as it glues the full length of the cork. Well... it should. :innocent:

CA often binds with the cork half on, so I'm more or less obliged to slip the cork on and then apply glue to the end of the dowel. This only partially glues the cork and - I've found - tends to discolour the end. (see pic)

Anybody have suggestions for other glues?


I've also given thought to turning the dowel separately, with a small mushroom head and drilling a hole in the knob for it to plug into. This'd mean the cork wouldn't need to be glued at all! A side benefit of this is I could seal the wood to minimise moisture absorption - which I can't do if I'm gluing the cork. I could even replace the dowel with corian or similar, avoiding the moisture issue altogether! :)

However, I'm undecided whether the extra effort is worth it, as no-one wants to pay more than a couple of dollars for these things anyway. :sigh: (Except for special presents, but they're always worth extra effort. :U )

Thoughts? Ideas? Alternatives?

[Waldo]

Strewth, you were motivated :2tsup: . You found the door where inside was a lathe. :D

What next, foundations?

Ideas, now you need to find a bottle to drink some of the contents so you pop the stopper in. :2tsup:

[dr4g0nfly]

Epoxy, CA!

How about standard woodglue, PVA or Yellow Glue (Titebond is approved for food use) - cheap, long open time.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

How about standard woodglue, PVA or Yellow Glue (Titebond is approved for food use) - cheap, long open time.

My first attempts used Titebond III. They worked fine, until the stopper was left in a not-so-nice bottle of white for a week. When next it was opened, the stopper came out but the cork didn't. :doh:


Strewth, you were motivated :2tsup: . You found the door where inside was a lathe. :D

What next, foundations?

:bricks:

(It's handy having several pallets of bricks lying around... :q)

[Waldo]

Careful, you'll need those bricks one day. :U

[TTIT]

............Anybody have suggestions for other glues?........I reckon that Gorilla glue I got at the WWW show would do the trick (polyurethane I think :shrug: ) It's waterproof(ish) and gives you about 5 or 10 minutes working time :;

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I reckon that Gorilla glue I got at the WWW show would do the trick (polyurethane I think :shrug: ) It's waterproof(ish) and gives you about 5 or 10 minutes working time :;

I did a quick google for Gorilla glue and came up with Gorilla PVA, Gorilla Epoxy, Gorilla CA and plain ol' Gorilla Glue. :doh:

I imagine it's the latter that's the PolyU?


Careful, you'll need those bricks one day. :U

Fairy nuff. I don't mind doling them out one by one. That way the fun lasts longer...

:brick:

[Waldo]

Bricks and stones won't something, something, something.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I imagine it's the latter that's the PolyU?

Never mind me. :doh: "Google is my friend." :B


Bricks and stones won't something, something, something.

:brick:

:U

[Waldo]

I haven't heard anything hitting the roof, so they mustn't be the real thing.

[RETIRED]

Skew, I would do as someone suggested and just try Selleys Polyurethane or one of the other from Bunnings.

Squeeze the bottle in the shop to make sure it is still liquid. They have a limited shelf life and if air gets in, welllllllllllllllllllll............. RS.

[thompy]

I like the idea of the corian, you could even thread it into the top and make the cork replaceable/serviceable? embedded nut in the top perhaps or some type of fitting such as a pool que joiner? otherwise yeh i'd revisit the pva tb3 and experiment more till you perfect it.

The challenge i'd face is not completly consuming a bottle of anything to warrant the need to use one...

Neal.

[corbs]

I'm not sure the PolyU would be the best option, it foams on activation and if you're not careful with the quantity applied could foam out between the join of stopper/cork? Anything I want to stay stuck gets hit with Techniglue although I don't see why Aralydite wouldn't be suitable for this application?

I like the stopper too:)

[Ozkaban]

Thick CA would give you plenty of time to to get the cork on, I reckon.

[hughie]

Depending on the quality of the cork.......... araldite the 5 min stuff would give you enuff time. But you would need to experiment with the quantity.If you wet the inside of the cork with a thin layer of glue and like wise the dowel and have a small counter sink on the cork hole that butts up to the wood this will take of any build up and squeeze out. as it goes together.
My Dad used to glues allot cork up for lamp stands etc back in the 60's, this was his method. Also if you wanted the top glued to wood just give it the same treatment and hold together with a light pressure, too much pressure and it will pull away from the wood in time.... too short a time :C

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

... and have a small counter sink on the cork hole that butts up to the wood this will take of any build up and squeeze out. as it goes together.

Ooer! I like that idea! The main prob I've had with araldite is it's messy. The dowel being a fairly tight slip fit means that the cork "pushes up" the glue as it's slipped on, creating squeeze-out between the top of the cork and the knob. And this is a PITA to clean up.

But a countersink would go a long way to alleviating that... :think:

[dai sensei]

What about using a tennon to fix the cork epoxied into the head. No need to glue on cork at all and no mess.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

What about using a tennon to fix the cork epoxied into the head. No need to glue on cork at all and no mess.

Yep! That's what I meant when I brought up the corian thing. I should've drawn a similar pic, but my fingers were lazy. :B

I like to tell myself that's how I'll be doing the occasional "special" bottle-stopper, but I don't think it's worth the effort most of the time.

[Sawdust Maker]

My first thought was polyurethane

I use it for pens (Vise brand)

But the foaming aspect would be a problem in this instance - I've had the odd blank forced off the tube - I reckon with a closed product there would be a greater likelihood of that happening - epoxy for me

[wheelinround]

Just a thought Skew if you finished that Rose Engine you could do some fancy stuff on it.:p


looks good to me:2tsup: