Well a while ago ,I had some new rod buttons ,two black ,two red off ebay ,they like vintage ones but not quite the same ,they look too new ,I use red ones on my own builds and black on rods i'm not keeping where genuine vintage ones isn't important.
it was while screwing one of these modern ones into a butt cap and must of over done things ,and the rubber (mushroom head) button came away from the little threaded bar (about 1" long) ,the button bit just twisted off. I kept the brass bar intending to re-glue it back into the rubber top sometime .well I had a rod come in that had a wooden button that was broken (half the button top missing) ,so removed it ,it wasn't threaded just a peg end that inserted into the rod so t cut the old one fron the wooden top and glued it into the rubber button's hole then fitted it into the rod.
and this closed season audit decided to fix the button ,but only had the threaded brass bit left ,so abandoned the idea ,but then by shear coincidence ,while walking my dog I found a champagne cork (sparkling whine) ,oooh I can make a float with that I thought.and picked it up.
well while sorting a few things out ,making sure rods had the right buttons etc ,after the walk I popped the cork into the work room my draw with the buttons in was on the table complete with the threaded centre .and I looked at the cork ,and looked at the centre ,looked at the cork and back at the centre piece and though actually I think I can go one better than a float...
So I cut the cork in half
don't worry ,the left over will make a float later...
I found a drill bit too match the brass threaded bar and drilled out the cork ,and glued in the centre piece
Not bad ,looks sort of ok on a rod ,if a little chunky
I could of left it there and just cleaned it up ,but you know what....
I chopped the end off and spun it up in my lathe (though a drill will do) ....
I used a red one as guide
turned out ok ,now I have a choice between ,red ,cork and classic black buttons
might be worth my while ruining a few more (of the black ones) in order to make my buttons cork
When will mass production start please?
